Meeting Room Management for Healthcare Facilities

Reducing Overhead While Adding Patients

Jan. 10, 2011

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Imagine you're an engineer, one who builds and designs car engines. For your whole career, you've been working on refining the existing internal-combustion engine, bringing the concept that was developed over a hundred years ago to a new evolutionary stage. Year after year, through careful modification, your engine improves: more horsepower, less fuel consumption, from 25 MPG one year to 27 MPG the next.

Then, one year, the boss brings in the engineering team to go over the next project, and Instead of expecting slight gains, the company wants a complete overhaul. Double the fuel economy, cheaper price point, longer engine life, better performance. Now, as you sit at the drawing board, looking at a picture of an engine, you realize: there's no way you can meet those expectations with this antiquated engine idea. You need a blank piece of paper. You need to start over.

Such is the state of the United States healthcare facility at the beginning of 2011. Visiting the doctor or a hospital is a mess for both patients and providers. To Illustrate, let's take a look at a typical checkup from both sides.

• The appointment is scheduled. In some cases, it's a simple phone call and computer input, but in most instances there's significant legwork on the provider side. Several people might be involved to determine the need, listen to phone messages, pull relevant paper charts, and call the patient for scheduling options and reminders.
• The patient arrives, fills out paperwork, verifies documents and information, and waits. This is of course tedious and the most widely discussed problem of a doctor's office. From a provider perspective, this time Is mostly about double checking paperwork.
• The examination takes place. A nurse calls in the patient, takes vitals and weight, reviews medications and provides other personalized care for the patient. After that, the physician visits and examines the patient. The doctor might write a prescription, which necessitates updates to the patient medication list and charts. The patient leaves.
• After charts are filled, the billing process begins. Payment without red flags pass through a few systems and arrive at the billing office, where If applicable the patient is billed for their balance. During this process, there is a lot of wasted time. The patient spends about an hour of their own time before they see the doctor for twenty minutes. Much of that time is spent filling out papers, sending papers to be verified, and then waiting on those verifications.

Fixing this system won't happen by refining the already fixed elements. Like the engineer, we need a blank piece of a paper and a fresh approach to best manage these problems. In the interest of brevity, our focus will be the first step of an appointment: The scheduling.

First, the good news: The use of medical appointment software by family physicians to schedule appointments has seen a double digit percentage increase over the last few years.

There are several factors driving the trend. On the doctor's side, it's primarily based on the need to add patients while simultaneously balancing overhead expenses. It's also a reflection of the physician's increased comfort with technology; the numbers are steadily rising on electronic health records and electronic prescriptions. Medical scheduling software can help providers tremendously in these areas.

For patients, getting a doctor's appointment has become increasingly difficult. Flipping through a directory of specialists isn’t an ideal way to find a physician. Medical scheduling software gives patients a way to easily plan a doctor's visit.

With medical appointment software in place, the first step becomes radically different. A patient can browse for their doctor, choose a convenient time and location, and then set the appointment online. Once a patient does that, the staff can view the reason for the visit and call up relevant medical records on the computer for review. A confirmation call is made, and then It's on to step two. Merely by using medical appointment software, doctor's offices and hospitals can save money on staff hours. Patients using medical scheduling software enjoy an easier process and save time.

Let's return to the parallel of cars. For many decades, the basic premise of a personal automobile has been the exact same: four wheels, engine, pedals, etc. Only recently have a series of radical changes been made in prototypes; cars with three wheels, half as wide as current sedans that cost one third as much to make. Manufacturing plants that rely on computer-based 3D printers can change production design in seconds with a software update.

A shorter way of saying that is: soon car manufacturers will offer a better product that costs less with more options for consumers. Which can give hope as it relates to the future of the medical industry. With a little optimism, the doctor visit in 2020 might look like this:

• Medical appointment software allows for quick scheduling, with a minimum of staff work.
• Check in. Computers will verify patient identity and instantly process paperwork.
• The doctor, working with a scribe, spends more time evaluating and talking to the patient. Notes made are instantaneously updated across several fields; prescriptions are filled electronically in a matter of moments.
• With advanced software, billing and payment can be made at soon as the visit is complete.

In any case, the first step is already there to be taken. Medical scheduling software can mean a better beginning to a physician visit.