online scheduling: boost revenue and patient satisfaction

Online Scheduling: Boost Revenue and Patient Satisfaction

www.patientpop.com

www.patientpop.com

IntroductionIf appointments are the vehicle that drives your practice, scheduling them is the fuel. And with the rise of

a tech-savvy consumer base that relies on the internet for their shopping and services, the demand for

online scheduling is higher than ever before.

According to Accenture, by 2019 64% of patients using U.S. health systems will book medical appoint-

ments online, generating $3.2 billion in value. But while online scheduling services are on trend to be the

most popular way to book an appointment, currently only 11% of all U.S. healthcare appointments were

scheduled online due to a lack of doctors offering online booking.

The good news is that there’s a major opportunity for the early adoption of online, self-scheduling tools.

In this whitepaper, we’re going to tell you how online scheduling will boost your revenue and patient

satisfaction, streamline your processes, and ensure your day is fully booked.

The Bottom LineOnline scheduling turns an otherwise tedious process into a quick and easy one-click process. You can

integrate this digital tool into your website, allowing patients to instantly and securely book appoint-

ments across any web-connected device, saving patients a ton of time and providing them with a

better experience.

Patients Prefer It


1

With today’s patient showing increasingly adoptive online consumer behaviors and expectations when

researching health care, accessibility and ease becomes more important than ever. Research conducted

by PatientPop showed that 42% of patients surveyed preferred online scheduling vs. making an appoint-

ment by phone, but only 17% of patients reported ever getting the opportunity to schedule a doctor’s

appointment online.

Figure 1

PatientPop Survey: I would prefer to book an

appointment with my doctor from a website or

mobile app, without having to call the office

www.patientpop.com 2


Increased Patient SatisfactionBy offering the convenience of online scheduling, you’ll increase patient satisfaction by eliminating the

wait time to see a doctor. In today’s web-driven society, patients expect to be able to conduct

transactions online.

24-Hour SchedulingBy offering the convenience of online scheduling 24/7, your practice can expect to see gains in new

patient acquisition. PatientPop reports that 63% of appointments scheduled online were from new

patients, with 34% of those appointments scheduled after business hours.

Figure 2

PatientPop Data: 34.3% of appointments scheduled online were scheduled during closing hours

You can expect to gain new patients simply by being available more hours of the day and at times

beyond the 9-5, when they’re at work themselves. It’s more efficient for patients to find and book an

appointment, resulting in patients receiving more timely care than if they had to wait to call and schedule.

That’s a huge discrepancy -- and a chance for you to offer a high-demand service that most providers

haven’t tapped into yet.



Fill Open AppointmentsEvery open appointment slot costs you money. The average patient visit for primary-care providers is

$100-$150. If you allot 10 spots a day per provider and fail to fill 20% of them, you’re losing $1000 a week

in revenue.

Simplify and StreamlinePreviously adequate may no longer be effective as you scale your practice. Manual management of

appointments has the potential to drive up operating costs because of the added resources required to

maintain that level of service. When this happens, it’s imperative to seek out new ways to deal with

patient growth.

For example, a large medical facility may typically schedule 100 appointments daily. Each call is fielded by

a staff member who spends an average of four minutes on the phone — that’s an average of 400

minutes, or almost seven hours, spent booking appointments every day. That’s a lot of time, and extra

staff, needed to handle that workload. When patients are given the ability book online, your front office

can devote less of their time to the phone and more to the in-office and post-appointment experience.

Online booking also allows your practice to automate appointment confirmations and reminders through

email or text message. This process improves the patient experience without requiring extra staffing

resources.

A recent Accenture study showed that on average, it takes as much as eight minutes to schedule an

appointment over the phone, and at least 30% of that time is spent on hold. Adding hold time and other

delays to the scheduling process is frustrating, and you could lose new patients before you even get a

chance to see them. Existing patients could very well abandon you for a more convenient, accessible

experience. By simply offering them an easier and more available, way to book an appointment, you’re

starting off -- or continuing -- your relationship right.

An increasing number of prospective patients have changed their expectations and behaviors regarding

the availability, timeliness, and convenience of access to your practice. Online scheduling is no longer

considered a luxury, it’s a necessity.

Providers -- including many of your peers -- are losing revenue by failing to adapt to a tech-savvy,

internet-oriented consumer base. Online scheduling is a must-have for a 2016-ready practice. Grow

your patient base and retain existing patients without taxing your resources.

Conclusion

https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-patient-engagement-digital-self-scheduling-explode.aspx

http://go.patientpop.com/l/121582/2016-02-23/7mvlpg/121582/98461/Website_Appointment_Request_Analysis.pdf



Resources

Figure 3

PatientPop Data: Online Scheduling Allows Patients To Fill Open Same Day and Next Day Slots

• 6% of appointments scheduled online are for same day slots

• 20% are for next day slots

• 26% of appointments scheduled online

were for same day or next day slots

Online scheduling is crucial for last minute and same-day scheduling. PatientPop’s research shows that

6% of online appointment requests were for same day appointments, while 20% of online appointments

were made for the next day. Online scheduling also works to fill unused capacity due to “no-shows”,

which account for about 14% of all appointments on average.

PatientPop is reinventing the way physicians market

and grow their practice. By combining technology

with best practice marketing strategies, PatientPop

provides an automated, all-in-one solution for

patient acquisition, reputation management,

retention marketing, and business insights.

About Us

PatientPop's practice growth platform leverages the

growing number of patients searching online for a

physician. This all-in-one practice growth solution

boosts a medical practice's web presence to drive

new patient traffic and integrates online booking to

improve new and returning appointment conversion

rates.

In addition, PatientPop manages and automates

appointment reminders and post-appointment

patient feedback to provide a better patient

experience and remove barriers to promoting

positive online feedback.

Key business insights are tracked and available on

an easy-to-read dashboard so that physicians can

always see the ROI of their marketing activities.

Products & Technology

Contact1221 2nd Street, Suite 400Santa Monica, CA 90041

Phone: 1-844-487-8399

Customer [email protected]

[email protected]

www.patientpop.com

online scheduling: boost revenue and patient satisfaction

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