Patient scheduling is one of the most important processes in the medical world. The ways in which your office does it should not be neglected so your patients always have a good experience when finding time to visit your office. Use these methods to make scheduling as easy on your patients as possible.
Offer Flexible Hours
Extending or changing office hours is a good solution to making scheduling easy on your patients. Many patients work and cannot come in during the regular 9-5 business day. Offering appointment times on some nights or weekends can increase the number of patients able to come to your clinic for services, which will likely result in more revenue. If needed, your clinic can hire additional staff to cover increased operating hours, or you can simply shift operating hours around by opening and closing later on particular days of the week.
Offer Online Scheduling
Online scheduling offers numerous benefits for both the practice and your patients. Patients find this a more convenient way to schedule than by taking the time to call your office. For clinics, online scheduling makes it easier to fill appointment slots because most patients are looking for the first available appointment. You can even implement a conversational interface technology platform to answer patients’ questions and schedule their appointments online.
Send Out Text and E-Mail Reminders
People’s lives get busy and it’s all too easy for them to forget appointments. This results in lost revenue for your practice as well as embarrassment for clients. Sending out automatic appointment reminders makes it much less likely patients won’t show up for appointments and they will appreciate the reminder if they forgot to add the appointment to their calendar or otherwise forgot about it.
Have an Employee Dedicated to Scheduling
Scheduling at your clinic can get very confusing if patients have to deal with multiple employees when making appointments. This can easily lead to confusion and mistakes if employees do not communicate scheduling information correctly. Instead, consider having a single employee who is responsible for all patient scheduling. This way, patients know exactly whom to talk to for scheduling and other employees know who to consult regarding the schedule.
Patients who have an easy and painless experience scheduling with your clinic will want to come back. Be sure to make this process as easy as possible for them. Always be striving to improve your approach to scheduling as well.
