The emergence of electronic appointment reminders via text messages and the Internet has provided physicians with a new avenue to accommodate their patients. This type of service benefits not only the doctor and the doctor’s medical staff, but also the patients.
Taking into account all the different features of automated appointment reminder programs and services, the following have been considered the most important advantages of this technology:
1. Compliance with appointments
A patient is more likely to keep an appointment when he or she receives an alert via SMS, email, and voice calls. Because they are informed of the date, time, and name of the doctor, there is little chance that they will miss the schedule or be late. Doctors can also use appointment reminder software to keep track of their meetings with colleagues or consultation times with patients.
2. Reduction of waiting times
Patients who know what time to attend clinic visits do not have to queue for their consultation. As a business, clinics can leverage this technology as a form of customer service strategy. The more satisfied your patients are, the more likely they are to seek medical assistance again.
3. Potential for revenue growth
The many benefits that an automated reminder can provide to patients ensure quality customer service and can translate into higher revenue from repeat visits and treatments.
4. Multiple communication portals
Email reminders are ideal for patients who have regular access to the Internet or those who use their emails as part of their work. Voice calls are more beneficial for older people, who spend less time online and know less about mobile phones. SMS text messaging is perhaps the most effective patient appointment reminder, as it sends the message directly to the device of the person involved in the appointment. Doctors and their staff can use any or all of these options to help patients remember their schedule.
5. Compliance with the rules and trends of electronic records
In the United States and in a growing number of countries around the world, the public and private health sectors are shifting to a paperless record-keeping system. Appointment reminders are often part of web-based offerings that help organize and store patient information. Ideally, these programs comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act under US health care law, which means they are considered part of the treatment covered by insurance.
6. Customer service functions
Many automated reminder services are available in multiple languages to serve patients of different nationalities. Patients can also respond to the reminder by confirming or canceling the appointment upon receiving the call. In addition, they may have a feature that allows the patient to opt out of the reminder service.
7. Doctor-friendly features
Clinicians can customize files based on specialty to make scheduling and patient appointment reminders more organized. They can also attach additional notes to the reminder call or message. Many programs offer unlimited text message reminders.
8. Profitability
Although appointment reminder tools may seem to add cost to a medical facility, they can actually save clinics money in some way. Since the calls are automated, physicians do not need to hire additional staff to contact patients for their next visit. Administrative staff can be assigned to perform other tasks instead of organizing patient appointments.
9. Data security
These programs come with robust security features that ensure the confidentiality of patient information. They also have maintenance features that allow daily database backups and reduce the risk of data misuse.
10. Hosting multiple clients
Automated reminder programs can handle simultaneous calls, emails, and SMS messages to a multiple number of patients. This saves time, money, and the hassle of keeping the patient waiting.
