Doctor’s Guide to Managing Online Appointments

The recent increase in patients and practitioners using online healthcare services has accompanied a shift to digital appointment scheduling. Patient scheduling can be a complicated task, but it is easier for both patient and practitioner if an online appointment schedule is used. 

Different patient scheduling software allows patients to directly book their appointment into the practitioner’s schedule, eliminating the hassle of a third-party and making the process as efficient as possible. These services cater for flexibility and often lead to an increase in the number of patients attending a medical practice. The inclusion of online appointment scheduling reduces unnecessary resources and time-consuming tasks by modernizing the process to suit the needs of both patients and practitioners.

Online appointment scheduling allows patients to selectively choose a time and day for their appointment that works with their schedule, without the need to go through a third party. Online doctor appointment booking also presents various benefits for the medical practice:

• Reduces Empty Appointment Times: Having an online appointment schedule often results in reduced empty slots. Patients can also often make same-day appointments, filling up the times that might usually not have booked appointments. 
• Payment Online: Most online doctor appointment scheduling systems have a payment associated with them, meaning that patients will be less likely to miss or cancel their appointments. 
• Reduces Administrative Time and Staff: Scheduling appointments online eliminates the need for staff who book appointments and valuable time spent on administration work. Reducing unnecessary administrative staff will be financially beneficial for the medical practice and free up time to complete other, more useful work. ‍
• New Patients: The benefits of booking appointments online for patients are extensive; they can work around their schedule, book an appointment at any time of the day, and don’t have to call the practice up. Happy patients lead to new patients and are an excellent incentive for medical procedures.

Online appointment scheduling services allow patients to book, reschedule and cancel medical appointments online. They are accessible 24/7, meaning that patients who have demanding schedules can book appointments at their convenience. 

For practitioners, online appointment schedule services work by requiring the medical practice to set up their business hours, lengths of appointments, and the days and times that their staff are available. This process allows patients to be selective in the appointments and practitioners they are choosing, increasing the likelihood of patient satisfaction. For example, female patients may only feel comfortable seeing female doctors for certain services, a choice they can make more efficiently with online appointment schedules. The general process of booking an appointment online looks like this:

• Patient books service at a specific time with a practitioner and receives a booking confirmation and reference.
• Around 24 hours before the appointment, the patient gets a reminder.
• The patient attends their appointment with their booking reference.

Using a new system to book appointments can seem daunting, and specific methods can assist in selecting the exemplary service for your practice.

• Prioritization of Appointments: As is well known, appointment services vary in importance and consultation time. When setting up the online appointment service, it is critical to keep these two factors in mind to ensure that patients who require longer appointment times or relatively urgent care can meet their needs. This can be provided by conducting brief phone or email consultations with patients who do not require a full-length consultation. 
• Keep a Waiting List: Cancellations and rescheduled appointments are difficult to manage regardless of whether bookings are completed in-person or using an online service. The best way to effectively manage time and resources is to keep an updated waiting list so that patients who haven’t yet had the time to see a practitioner can be seen in the time slots emptied. If your medical practice decides to use a waiting list, it is important to let patients know they are on it and receive a call. 
• Modified Wave Scheduling: This is a method of scheduling appointment times where more than one patient is booked at the beginning of the hour and the end of the hour is left open. This allows a grace period if appointments have taken longer than expected and generally reduces wait times. 
• Confirm all Bookings: Missed appointments are a concern for medical practices regardless of whether bookings are made in-person or online. To reduce the number of patients who forget about appointments, automated confirmation, and reminder texts should be sent to all patients immediately after they make their booking and 24 hours before their appointment.
• Automated Recall Communication: Sending automated emails, calls, or texts as part of a patient recall system encourages patients to return to the medical practice for check-ups and helps maintain a full schedule for practitioners. It also increases patient satisfaction and develops the relationship between practitioners and patients.
  

Selecting the best online appointment software

There are many options available for selecting an online appointment service for your medical practice, and there are certain critical aspects that these need to include. Online appointment services should be HIPAA-compliant, customizable to suit your needs and integrate effectively with your EHR. Smart software for healthcare teams will often have most of these elements, so the next step is simply figuring out what works best for your practice. 

The development of online appointment scheduling services has allowed for greater flexibility and effective use of resources and time for both patients and practitioners. Hopefully, the information we have provided has given you the confidence to select an online service that suits your needs and demonstrates how these online appointment scheduling services can be managed effectively.

Further Reading: 

• AMA Telehealth quick guide
• Telemedicine: Your Everyday Guide to Virtual Care