In a world where technology seems to be constantly advancing, it's no surprise that there are now more options than ever when it comes to scheduling appointments. While online appointment schedulers have become increasingly popular in recent years, phone call scheduling is still an excellent option for both doctors and patients.
If you prefer phone call scheduling for patient appointments, here are a few tips on how to make this method more efficient.
If you are still creating schedules from a combination of emails, fax, and phone messages, then you know how much time, money, and resources are wasted.
Streamline your medical office operations by implementing a robust physician practice management software, complete with automated phone call scheduling capabilities.
Scheduling software allows you to share schedules with your staff in real-time, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
What a Phone Call Scheduling Software Can Do
- Access schedules from any Internet-connected device.
- View real-time schedule information.
- Control permissions on multiple levels.
- Notify staff of changes to the schedule immediately.
- Quickly identify who, when, and what changes have been made to the schedule.
- Allow your accounting team to know instantly how many shifts and total hours each physician is working.
- Create facility-wide schedules up to one year in advance.
Further Reading:
- Types of Appointment Scheduling Your Practice Could Use
- Appointment Setting Software: Patient Scheduling Made Easy
- Discover the Best Meeting Scheduler Apps for Your Practice
Benefits to Your Organization
Healthcare facilities often have many incoming communications from patients, doctors, and other parties. These can include fax, phone, and hand-written messages, as well as requests for information on who is on call. To streamline this process, integrating an SMS forwarding app can reduce time-consuming paperwork and back-and-forth communication by automatically directing messages to the appropriate recipients.
By using a web-based scheduling solution, you can automate many of these tasks, saving your staff time.
No matter where your employees are, they can access their schedules and update them as necessary. This lets you rest easy knowing that when an emergency occurs, your medical staff will be alerted and know who is on call.
With phone call scheduling software, each department can be its own admin and make changes in real time. By letting each department head make their own changes, our clients have seen an increase in productivity and improved employee satisfaction.
Reducing No-Shows and Cancellations with Appointment Reminders
It's frustrating when patients don't show up for their appointments. Not only does it waste the time of the medical staff, but it can also throw off the entire schedule for the day.
But there are ways to reduce no-shows and cancellations with appointment reminders.
Here are some tips.
1. Send Reminders in Advance
By sending a reminder a few days before an appointment, patients are more likely to remember and show up on time.
You can use a phone call scheduling system to automate this process.
2. Make Sure Your Contact Information is Correct
It's important that your contact information is accurate so that patients can easily reach you if they need to reschedule or cancel their appointment.
3. Follow Up
If a patient doesn't respond to your first reminder, send another one closer to the date of their appointment as well as follow up with a phone call.
4. Offer Incentives
If you find that a patient is consistently canceling or not showing up for their appointments, offer them an incentive to come in.
This could be anything from a discount on services to freebies like pens or t-shirts.
5. Be Understanding
We all lead busy lives and sometimes things come up that are out of our control.
When this happens, try to be understanding and work with the patient to reschedule their appointment for another time.
5 Tips for Optimizing Your Phone Call Scheduling System
1. Systems Integration
Make sure your phone call scheduling system is integrated with other systems such as your appointment scheduling software.
This will make it easier to keep track of appointments and schedule calls accordingly.
2. Use an Automated Phone Call Scheduler
Automated calling can help reduce no-shows and cancellations as well as make the scheduling process more efficient overall.
3. Include All Relevant Information in The Patient's File
This includes contact information, preferred days/times for appointments, and any notes about special needs or requests they may have communicated previously.
4. Group Similar Patients
When creating a schedule for calls, try grouping together similar types of patients (e.g., those with follow-up questions vs new patients) to minimize disruptions throughout the day.
5. Block Calls When Necessary
Take advantage of call-blocking features offered by many telephone companies so you can avoid unnecessary interruptions during important meetings or while trying to concentrate on complex tasks.
Further Reading:
- Key Principles in Patient Scheduling Workflow
- Why Scheduling Patients Should Be Priority for Your Practice
- Patient Self Scheduling: The Future of Healthcare
Conclusion
If your organization is still using a manual process to schedule on-call physicians, it's time for a change. Phone call scheduling software is designed to automate the process and improve efficiency.
If you are looking for scheduling and telemedicine software that can help your team, large or small, then look no further than Upvio.
Upvio allows for seamless calendar synchronization across your team, eliminating the risk of calendar clashes and double bookings. The software also offers easy setup for both recurring appointment series and one-time bookings. In addition, it allows for flexibility in setting virtual and in-person locations, making it perfect for hybrid teams.
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