How to make wait times at your medical practice a better experience!

How often have you seen patients fuming in the reception and have been able to do nothing about it? With hundreds of newly insured patients and limited staff it is getting tougher by the day for small and medium sized medical practices, to handle appointments. There is nothing worse than seeing patients, in need of medical care, waiting listlessly for it.

A third of staff time is spent on scheduling, handling no-shows and rescheduling appointments. There are ways to make appointment scheduling and patient wait times, smarter and shorter.

Make use of apps…

There are applications and software’s that can help physicians get a handle on their numerous appointments. Web based tools such as MedWaitTime help physicians to streamline everyday workflow and manage appointments. The more effectively you manage appointments, the easier it is to shorten wait times.

Is your medical practice a Wi-Fi zone?

How many of us read magazines strewn at a reception desk? Very few! Flipping through pages randomly can be frustrating after a while. A Wi-Fi enabled wait room can keep patients engaged. It may also help them to complete office tasks or keep tabs on them, while waiting in your office. This will make wait times more productive and fun.

Get paperwork out of the way!

Filling out medication lists or making patients fill myriad forms is a time drainer. And make the wait time for patients longer. Encourage patients to fill out information online a day or two prior to the visit. Have patient information and other pertinent details in hand, before meeting patients.

Make use of patient portals to share and receive vital information. Built into your EMR or integrated with it, work with patient portals to save on time.

Keep your patients in the loop!

Inform your patients about how long it will take to see them. Have the front office staff update patients periodically on what’s going on in the physician’s room. If there is delay state the reason for the delay and how long it will take to get things back in order. Knowing the reason for the wait, will let patients know their time is being valued.

Keep in touch!

A follow up mail that thanks your patients for visiting, for waiting for your medical care and how important each visit is to you, can make all that wait worthwhile. Never forget to ask for feedback and suggestions. It will increase your referrals and ensure there is a steady stream of loyal patients!

Here’s a presentation view about how you can accomplish your medical practice in full flow.