Patient self-service scheduling tools are an increasingly important patient engagement option that enables medical practices to cater to consumer convenience while boosting efficiency and freeing staff to focus on more important patient-facing activities.
To this end, TrustCommerce is proud to announce the addition of self-scheduling capabilities to its industry-leading Health iPASS platform. The new functionality allows practices to offer patients the ability to submit a request for the appointed time and the front desk then reviews and approves.
Why? Today’s patients are eager for additional online interaction with their clinicians, driven in part by behavior changes that were accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent national survey conducted by the self-scheduling capabilities. The survey found that 58% of patients would like to have more online access to their healthcare providers.
Younger patients have a stronger desire for online access to providers, with 68% of patients aged 18 to 54 expressing interest, compared with 43% of patients aged 55 or higher. Many providers have recognized this shift in consumer preferences and have begun increasing digital patient engagement accordingly. The ability to self-schedule is the first touchpoint patients have with a practice, so this tool is particularly important.
What? To help providers boost digital patient engagement, the Health iPASS platform offers Book My Doc, a self-scheduling tool that plugs into providers’ websites. When combined with other components of Sphere’s healthcare payments platform, the self-scheduling tool enables practices to digitally engage patients during all phases of the healthcare journey – from pre-visit check-in to post-visit billing.
Health iPASS offers three different options for practices interested in adding patient self-scheduling services.
How? For patients, online appointment scheduling begins with clicking a link on their provider’s website that connects to the provider’s scheduling tool. Through a clear, user-friendly interface, patients then choose an available time, enter their personal information and are automatically matched with their preferred provider. New patients can be pre-screened by specialty, insurance type and condition prior to scheduling their appointments.
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