In order to design an effective solution, our team needed insight into the various scheduling methods our consumers had already set in place at their practices. A large percentage of our customers predominantly relied on a staff member to monitor the influx of phone calls that came through on a daily basis. The conversations would almost always involve a staff member to go back and forth multiple times to verify which available date and time suited the patient’s preference, sometimes they would even have to consider specific providers. On average the phone calls would range anywhere between 10-20 minutes depending on complexity of the request. This constant interaction weighed heavily especially for high volume practices that would average over 50 phone calls a day. Sometimes all that effort would also fly out the door if the office did not accept the patient’s insurance.
Once we had a clear understanding of the process, we drafted out a userflow that would optimize the staff members ability to fill-in the potential gaps in their schedules. The application would have to handle the following:
• Automate the process of updating the schedule with their practice management system.
• Highlight the available dates so that patients can manually select a convenient time.
• Display the types of services available at the practice.
• Indicate to prospective and existing clients the availability of specific providers.
• Collect Insurance and payment information prior to the visit to prevent delay on arrival.
• Notify and remind patients of upcoming appointments.
.png)
