There is more to being a healthcare practitioner than providing patient care and treatment. Many practitioners have turned to software to help them with their practice management needs. While there are many options on the market it is crucial to look at the benefits of practice management software for your practice. Software is more than just a tool to manage the business aspects of your practice. It can also improve the experience that your patients have when they interact with your practice.
Regardless of whether you are having a software custom-built for your practice. If you have installed a software package, here are eight points to keep in mind to improve the patient experience.
1: Reduces Waiting Times
The use of practice management software, enables your administrative staff to be more efficient. This automatically translates into decreased waiting times for your patients. Which leads to greater well being on the part of your patients.
2: Easier to Set Appointments
Most practice management software includes a function to allow patients to make their own appointments. By automating this process, your patients save time using their computers instead of having to wait on the phone while someone checks the appointment options. This also allows the practitioner to set their available times and ensure that they have adequate gaps between sessions.
3: Less Paperwork
There is no argument that healthcare practices have a comedic amount of paperwork that patients need to fill out. The problem is, that this paperwork needs to be stored somewhere for record purposes. This usually means large filing cabinets and contracts with storage facilities to house the records. While this paperwork is important, repetitive requests for the same information can grow tedious for patients. Practice management software can help with these forms and ensures that you only have to enter patient data once.
4: Automating Follow-ups & Reminders
Software will enable you to automate appointment reminders, saving yourself and staff times and reducing the number for missed appointments or no shows. Management of accounts is also made easier with automatic payment reminders. Life happens and sometimes friendly reminder can nudge a make payment on an invoice that they may have overlooked.
5: Remote Access to Data
Whenever you can eliminate barriers to information, your patients benefit greatly. Practice management software lets you or your team check in on your diary for example while at home or on the road. This means that they can quickly assist a patient without having to take a message and call them back. Access to your medical billing information means that you or your staff are able to quickly submit a claim or update a patient file without having to be in front of your office computer.
6: Medical Aid Verification & Benefit Checks
You are about to see a new patient. Don’t make them wait at in reception while you or your staff is on hold with the medical aid to verify benefits. Instead your practice management software allows you to verify the membership and do a benefit check before the patient arrives for the appointment. This reduces patient frustration and wait times.
7: Access to The Latest Medical Aid Tariffs
Every year the rate that medical aids will pay for procedure codes changes, having software ensures that the latest tariff changes are automatically updated. This ensures that you are billing patients correctly and reduces any friction around updated or amended invoices. This also saves your self and your staff time as you do not have to spend hours pulling the latest tariffs from the various medical aids manually.
8: Ensure Patient Privacy
With the introduction of the POPI Act using practice management software helps yourself and your staff remain compliant with all POPIA requirements regarding patient confidentiality. Sofware is password protected and encrypted. Ensuring that should your computer be lost or stolen that the information on your practice management software is secure.
Conclusion
Focusing on both a patients health and their experience of the practice is key to the ongoing success of your practice. By taking advantage of the benefits of a well designed practice management software, you can help keep them happy. Happier patients typically refer their family and friends, which is vital for business growth in today’s highly competitive market.
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