Accurately managing and streamlining patient flow benefits everyone involved, from improving patient safety, satisfaction, and health outcomes to increasing healthcare provider productivity, retention rates, and profitability.
Every healthcare provider can benefit from patient flow best practices, and even minor improvements in processes can have a significant impact.
Here, we offer four digital solutions to supercharge your patient flow management and create a happier, healthier, and safer environment for everyone.
1. Digital registration
Patient flow management begins well before a patient arrives at your healthcare facility’s doors.
Registration is one of the worst bottlenecks to patient flow, adding significant time for patients in the waiting room as they manually fill out the necessary paperwork.
It can also be a time-consuming burden for staff trying to juggle menial data input tasks alongside patient-facing tasks that have a greater impact on patient flow and patient experience.
Digital registration streamlines patient flow and practice efficiency by allowing patients to fill out all their paperwork online ahead of their visit from the comfort of their own homes.
In addition, self-reporting accurate demographic, medical, and financial information before their appointment – via their preferred mobile device – can significantly improve patient-reported outcomes (PROs).
Additional benefits of digital registration include:
- Drives patient satisfaction
- Improves accuracy of data
- Reduces medical claim denials
- Protects patient privacy / improves compliance
- Reduces overhead and allows healthcare facilities to utilize their staff better
- Eliminates non-value added tasks
- Brings in personalization and reinforces your brand.
PatientTrak’s digital intake forms improve workflow, give your patients an all-round better experience, and are easy to implement.
2. Online scheduling
With over 75% of patients reporting that the ability to book, reschedule, or cancel appointments online is important to them – and that they make healthcare choices based on the availability of this option – healthcare providers cannot afford to ignore the importance of investing in an online booking system.
With the right system in place, once a patient has scheduled an appointment, they will receive automated appointment reminders and valuable information about what to do before, during, and after their visit.
In addition, they can be notified on the day of any delays, along with estimated wait times, enhancing queue management.
Online scheduling is a major step towards better patient flow and an engaging patient experience while also relieving pressure on your staff.
Engaged patients are also more likely to attend their appointments prepared, and on time, so your facility will benefit from fewer delays and no-shows.
Other benefits of online scheduling include:
- Efficient appointment management
- Reduced admin workload
- Enhanced staff efficiency
- Smooth resource allocation to avoid over or under-booking
- Streamlined workflows with self-service capabilities.
3. Mobile check-in
Traditional queuing at the front desk of a healthcare facility waiting to check-in for an appointment was replaced by many providers with self-check-in using self-service kiosks, which somewhat helped improve patient experience and flow.
However, since Covid-19, these self-service models have moved increasingly towards mobile solutions.
Mobile check-in apps are a safer option for most patients, allowing them to notify their provider when they arrive for their appointment (from outside the facility), avoiding long queues and risky contact with other patients.
They can then receive notifications directly to their mobile device about waiting times and go directly to the treatment room when called.
In addition to improving patient flow, the benefits of mobile check-in include:
- Enhances patient safety and reduces exposure to infection
- Improves patient satisfaction
- HIPAA and PCI secure
- Reduced stress on admin staff
- Enhanced staff efficiency
- Fewer missed appointments.
PatientTrak Text Messaging, Online Reservation, and Text to Sign-In can help your healthcare facility create a virtual waiting room that allows you to implement flexible sign-in, communication, and flow options to meet your changing needs.
4. Patient tracking
Patient tracking systems allow healthcare providers to log and monitor each patient’s progress throughout their healthcare journey.
Solutions can be as simple as a manually updated whiteboard or as advanced as a digital information system that integrates with EHRs, patient check-in/check-out systems, etc.
Digital patient tracking solutions help keep track of patient wait times and provide staff with access to accurate and current information – so that healthcare providers can manage their patients’ journey as safely and effectively as possible.
They can significantly impact patient flow as they ensure the patient location and medical information are updated and communicated in real-time throughout a healthcare facility.
This means administrators, medical staff, and family members know the exact location and status of a patient at all times.
PatientTrak offers world-class patient tracking solutions to manage the patient flow process in any healthcare setting.
From single healthcare provider practices to multi-facility healthcare organizations, our systems are affordable and scalable.
Using digital solutions for patient flow management is gaining in popularity, especially as it comes with multiple benefits for both patients and providers.
Smart healthcare providers are continually looking for new opportunities to improve patient flow, including investment in mobile applications and system software.
They understand that for patient flow best practices, they must view patient flow as requiring system-wide attention, use multidisciplinary teams to identify any opportunities, set goals and parameters for tracking progress, and select digital solutions based on the precision and accuracy their facility requires.
PatientTrak offers a full range of digitized solutions to help modern-day healthcare providers improve patient flow, along with experts to help you choose the right solutions for your specific needs.
Book a demo today, and we’ll show you how.
