Scheduling patient appointments is one of the most important tasks if you are starting your own practice or working in a medical office.Ensuring that no patients get lost in the system and that both the patients and physicians have a pleasant experience will be achieved by keeping your appointment schedule well-organized.If you maximize your productivity, you will be able to book more appointments and increase your office's revenue.
Step 1: Patients can book appointments over the phone, in person and online.
You should make sure you get the most patients possible and not lose any potential patients who can't make appointments in one particular way.Patients can book appointments after hours if you allow them to make appointments online.Patients report feeling more comfortable and less burdened by online self-scheduling than by making appointments over the phone, in addition to this added efficiency.You can buy online appointment scheduling software to use in your office.Appointment Plus, Booker, and Thryv are some of the most popular software.If you have coding and development skills, you can build your own scheduling software.
Step 2: Patients can be offered multiple time-slot options for their appointment.
Make sure you give your patients as many options as possible so they can choose the best time-slot for their schedule.It is very important for keeping your patients happy and reducing the chance of them having to cancel their appointment because of a time conflict.For example, instead of asking a patient if Tuesday at 1:00 works for them, give them the opportunity to choose any available time slot that suits them.
Step 3: Each scheduled patient's contact information should be taken down.
You will need to be able to contact them to remind them of upcoming appointments.When booking an appointment, ask for the person's phone number, email address, and mailing address.Ask the person if they want to make the appointment in person or over the phone.If they make their appointment online, you should have an area for patient contact information in your online portal.
Step 4: Reminders should be sent the day before the appointment.
If patients forget their appointment time and don't show up, this leads to a lot of wasted time in your schedule.The risk of patients failing to show up for appointments is reduced by using reminders.Since they are more likely to notice an incoming call or text than a new email in a short amount of time, calling or texting patients is the best way to remind them.Patients can feel more in control of their appointment times if they have a reminder system in place.
Step 5: It's a good idea to have an appointment scheduler in your office.
If you are not solely in charge of maintaining the appointment schedule for your office, you can hire someone to be the principal appointment scheduler.The responsibility for scheduling appointments with one person will allow for a more regimented scheduling procedure and lead to a schedule that better reflects patient needs and the preferences of individual physicians.If one person is in charge of scheduling appointments, they can focus on things like matching patients or conditions with particular doctors instead of being distracted by other tasks.
Step 6: Group patients with similar conditions on the same day.
Doctors appreciate treating similar patients back-to-back, as it adds consistency to their job and puts them in a more focused medical mindset.Your patients will receive more effective treatment if you organize your appointment schedule this way.If there are multiple patients scheduling appointments for skin conditions during a particular week, try to set it up so that their appointments all fall on the same day.
Step 7: If you want to prioritize appointments based on seriousness, use a triage chart.
The criteria that should be included in the chart are reported symptoms, appointment urgency, and appointment length.If you decide to book the appointment on the same day, in the next few days, or within a few weeks, you must refer to this chart.Since a person's condition could be very serious, fit them into the schedule as soon as possible.You can use the chart to determine which appointments can be postponed if there is no room in the schedule to see someone with an urgent condition.
Step 8: Double-booking new patients and patients with complex issues is not a good idea.
It will take more time and attention to make these appointments.Instead, schedule work-in patients who require little attention alongside new patients, so that nurses can perform the initial check- in on a new patient while the physician works with the work in patient.Double-booking can help you to see more patients in a day, but it may lead to issues when unexpected circumstances arise.Double-booking is a must to avoid problems down the line.Triaging patients based on their needs is a good way to leave more appointment space for those with more serious issues.
Step 9: It's a good idea to plan your schedule around seasonal fluctuations.
You will probably see a lot of appointments being booked around the same time of year based on the demographic of your clientele.Predicting the seasonal fluctuations using past experience will leave adequate room in the schedule to accommodate your patients needs.A large number of people scheduling check-ups for their children at the start of a new school year will require you to leave space for these appointments before and after school each day.The start of a new school year, allergy season, and flu season are the busiest times of the year for doctor's offices.
Step 10: You can organize your schedule with a weekly timeline.
How many patients your office needs to schedule each week, how many hours staff members can work, and how long a patient can wait before seeing a doctor should be included in your timeline.You can balance patient needs with those of office workers by having this information on your timelines.If you know you have enough patients to meet the needs of your office for one week, you can schedule patients who don't have urgent conditions during the next week.
Step 11: To avoid patient build-up, use modified wave scheduling.
The end of the hour is left open and patient appointments are clustered near the beginning.When appointments run longer than expected, the open space at the end of the hour works as a buffer.The modified wave scheduling model will lead to greater patient satisfaction.If you have empty time at the end of the hour, you can use it to catch up on other tasks in the office, such as filing paperwork, making phone calls, or holding staff meetings.
Step 12: If you use a waiting list, you won't lose schedule space after a cancellation.
If a previously scheduled appointment is canceled, you can add patients to the schedule at the last minute.When a patient cancels on you, your office will lose time and revenue.You can instantly send out a text or email to patients on the list when a schedule slot opens up by creating your waiting list in a digital format.Patients on the list can be contacted by phone, but this is more efficient.
Step 13: Arrival times should be set 20 minutes earlier.
This will give the staff at the check-in station plenty of time to gather all the necessary information from a patient before their scheduled appointment with the physician.Delays that can throw off an entire day's schedule are prevented by organizing appointment times this way.If a patient has an 8:00 am appointment and they arrive at 7:55 to check in and fill out required paperwork, they might not be ready to see the doctor until 8:15.Patients are frustrated because appointments are pushed back for the rest of the day.