Automating Routine Tasks

Continuing with the theme of the last post, we're taking a closer look at one of the main challenges faced by medical practices according to the 2011 MGMA member survey. For the past few years, operating costs have been rising faster than revenues for the average medical practice and this trend is expected to continue. 

For additional information, please visit Webley. 

An automated patient messaging service can be just what your staff needs, if you find that understaffing and/or inefficiency are plaguing your practice. By automating time consuming, routine tasks such as appointment reminder calls, lab test results notifications, and account balance due notifications, reminder call software offers the following key benefits to your staff:

Reliability and tracking. The service automatically tracks when messages were sent and message outcomes (e.g., someone answered the phone, message was left on an answering machine). Because of this tracking, your staff will know with certainty whether the reminders and other messages were sent. 

Time savings. Your staff can save hours a day by using this service and reducing the number of calls that they need to make. This is time that they can spend on other tasks, such as greeting patients.

Improved communication with patients. Your messaging service can use multiple communication channels (phone, email, text) to reach patients according to their communication preferences and it can do this when your practice is closed. Your staff will appreciate the ease and effectiveness of automating routine patient messaging. 

Your staff may have some concern that automating calls will reduce their usefulness and possibly their job security. While this is a natural concern, a good manager will find better uses for his/her employees and since this should improve the overall health of the practice, this benefits all employees. 

I recently read a Fierce Practice Management article called Master the three A's of staff retention. The article identifies three non-financial reasons for staff satisfaction: (1) autonomy (empowering staff to make decisions), (2) action (feeling that they have helped a patient), (3) assessment (feedback on their performance but also allowing them to assess their managers). These three A's relate to having a sense of authority and competence and feeling valued by one's organization. 

What it leaves out is the importance of the relationship with one's manager.

Surveys have shown that 39% of employees leave their organization because of their poor relationship with their supervisor. "What staff want in a leader is approachability; to work "shoulder to shoulder"; tools and equipment to do their jobs well; appreciation; efficient systems; and opportunities for professional development."

Managers have a responsibility to increase the efficiency of the organization.

Automated patient appointment reminders have been effective at (1) reducing no show rates, (2) decreasing the amount of time the staff needs to spend on making manual reminder calls - possibly saving hours a day, (3) increasing the reliability of reminder calls.  

Automated answering services offer many of the same features of a healthcare answering service, including new message notification and call screening. Automated answering services have the important benefit of eliminating the middleman, so that the on-call physician can receive messages immediately.

For additional information on how medical office automation technology can help your practice, visit Webley.

* Source: 2009 MGMA cost survey

There are very few medical practices out there that would not benefit from using broadcast messaging to automate routine outbound patient notifications. If you're not convinced, check out our top 8 ways that all medical practices can benefit from automating patient communications. 

1. Attractive to new patients, aids in retaining existing patients - Studies have shown that 1/3 of patients are more likely to choose physicians who use email to communicate. In other words, using new communication technologies can be a source of differentiation, one that appeals to new patients. According to a Harris Interactive Poll, 77% of adults “would appreciate” an email from their doctor. Some patients have expressed that they are likely to change doctors just to get their preferred form of communication. Patients like the greater convenience of automated communications.
2. Better tracking - With electronic messages, you can easily track whether the message was received. When you make manual calls, tracking is still possible but much more effortful. 
3. Relieves stress on office staff - How relieved would your receptionist be if he/she didn't have to make hundreds of reminder calls every week? Automation frees up your staff's time to do other important tasks.
4. Gives the image of progressiveness - Automating communications shows that your practice keeps up with the times. 
5. Saves the environment - Keep electronic records on your computer instead of hard copies on paper. You can now recycle your hard copies and save paper.
6. Eliminates the need to overbook - Many practices feel they must overbook to make up for potential no-shows. Automated reminders are proven to reduce no-shows by 30% so you won't have to overbook again.
   
7. Increases patient satisfaction - By providing your patients with the communication they want, you are being responsive to their preferences and also increasing your chances that they will receive your messages. This increases satisfaction with your practice..
8. Saves an enormous amount of money - The cost of phone calls and labor are greatly reduced by automating routine messages, saving your practice thousands of dollars a year. 

These are only a few of the many benefits of automation. To learn more about the benefits of automation, please visit Webley.

Several months ago, IBM's supercomputer, Watson, made headlines by defeating "human" contestants on the game show, Jeopardy. Watson demonstrated that "what it can do much faster than a person is collect...information, analyze it and use it."

IBM followed the win by announcing their plans to use Watson in the health care field. Watson represents the more sophisticated version of what's currently available to those in the health care field today, including mobile applications, self-serve check-in kiosks, EHRs, and more.

Scientists are currently working to develop "friendlier" robots to help look after the elderly, gather basic health information from patients, and more. Cameras, robotic arms and so forth help the remote patient gain access to a healthcare provider.

While some of these applications may seem pie in the sky, there are many healthcare technologies available today that can help practices increase productivity and decrease operating costs. 

Computers are an essential part of healthcare because when it comes to information retrieval and routine tasks, they are faster, more cost-effective and more accurate than humans.

Virtual medical receptionists are growing in popularity because they are inexpensive, easy to adopt and effective. The efficient use of communication technology - especially automated appointment reminders and after hours care - can help your one receptionist do the work of many.  For example, with automated notification technology, one person can send out hundreds of messages in just a few minutes - and those messages can be for more than just appointment reminders.  Automated messaging services can send out notifications for account balances, lab test results and more. Unlike their human counterparts, virtual medical receptionists can offer automated messaging services and answering services 24/7.  

One third of practicing physicians in the U.S. are over 65 years old. The aging of the physician population brings up issues of willingness to learn and use new medical technologies such as eprescribing and EMRs. One implication is that the champion for the adoption of new technologies that can improve patient care, provide self-service options to patients and improve efficiency, will likely be the practice manager. 

While the practice may have a mix of younger and 65 plus physicians, most physicians aren't going to spend the time to investigate new technologies, contact vendors, and research options. They may learn of a new technology from a colleague and tell their staff about it, but that's usually the extent of their involvement. Obviously the task will fall on the staff and the staff is managed by the practice manager. Adopting tools (i.e., automated appointment reminders) and managing the allocation of resources to improve the practice's bottom line shows initiative and increase the chances that the practice will remain a viable entity. Adopting new ways to communicate with and serve patients keeps the practice relevant and helps maintain the right image of a practice that is forward thinking rather than behind the times. For example, if most of your patients want to e-mail physicians, staff members empowered by technology, could relieve some of the burden of responding to routine inquiries.

Today when margins are thinner than ever, the savvy practice manager needs to stay informed of innovations that can help the practice thrive. As for those physicians over 65, there is hope for them. Many people, including those over 65, send and receive emails and search the Internet for information because doing so is simple, useful and convenient. 

Every year the MGMA surveys medical practices across the country, identifies top-performing practices, and looks at how these top-performing practices excel. The 2010 report found that top-performing practices often:

1. Use a greater number of nonphysician providers (NPPs). NPPs handle routine cases while physicians focus on more complex medical conditions. You can apply this lesson to other areas of your practice. For example, consider automating routine tasks handled by your staff, such as appointment reminder calls, informing patients of normal lab test results, providing basic information such as hours of operation, and so forth.
2. Adopt measures to minimize the impact of no shows and last minute cancellations. Smart practices know that no shows directly affect the bottom line. They don't just let them happen but they are proactive. They send appointment reminders, ask for appointment confirmations, and follow up with patients who miss appointments.
3. Increased accessibility by using open access scheduling and/or offering extended hours. Increased accessibility provides greater convenience for patients. Technology can also increase accessibility, e.g., econsults, patient portals, helpful practice websites, a social media presence, and so on.

Better performing practices are able to see more patients and be more responsive to patient needs. They're run like smart businesses who understand the value of the individual patient.

Did you know that your practice could be losing up to $180,000 per year? As shocking as that seems, it is very likely to be true. Most practices suffer from a steady percentage of “no-show” rates that take great chunks out of their annual income.  If your practice sees 1,000 patients a  month, has a no show rate of 20% and earns $75 per visit, no shows cost your practice $180,000 a year in lost income.

It is easier than you think to get most of that money back.  There are three simple steps to regaining lost revenue by reducing your no show rate:

Step 1: Get Answers

Ask your patients how they would prefer to communicate with your practice. How can your practice most effectively remind him or her of an upcoming appointment?  For many patients, the most effective appointment reminder is going to be something other a call to a home number during the day or an appointment reminder card.  Plus knowing how your patient would like to be reached will also come in handy when you need to reach him or her for lab test results, account balances, etc.

Step 2: Be Flexible

Being flexible in your communication is going to reap multiple benefits for your practice. Not only will your patients be pleased with your technological savvy, but it's going to keep them from forgetting appointments, thus keeping them healthier. Plus, you will be able to count on patients coming in. You will even attract new patients who want to be able to communicate efficiently with their doctor; studies have shown that 1/3 of patients are more likely to choose a practice with electronic communication systems over one that does not offer this convenience.

But how can you increase your flexibility when it's already a challenge to make telephone calls?

Step 3: Get Technical

Automated patient notification systems make it quick and easy for you to communicate with patients using multiple channels.  For example, reminder call software can handle routine appointment reminder calls for your staff.  This means that your staff will have more time for other tasks around the office including spending time with patients at the practice or who require assistance over the phone.  When your staff has more time for patients, your patients will be happier.  

On a good day, your front office staff has time to answer the phone, greet patients, make those appointment reminder calls and more.  But in reality, there will be days that the staff just doesn't have time to get to all the important tasks of the day.

As Rosemarie Nelson, principal with the MGMA Health Care Consulting Group observes, "All too often when I'm in a practice, I see a last minute scramble by the staff to race through those calls at 4:30 in the afternoon. They leave rushed messages on answering machines and in voice mail without really confirming with the patient. And suppose they do reach the patient. If he says he can't come in after all, it's too late in the day to fill the slot with another patient."

Automated patient call reminders are superior to having your staff make calls because these call reminder systems are more reliable, capture patient confirmations automatically and track results. All this happens with little effort on from the staff and a cost savings to the practice.  Reminder calls can be scheduled to go out a day or two before the appointment, giving staff members a chance to fill in time slots that open up due to cancellations.

Rosemarie Nelson estimates the cost of a reminder call from a staff member who leaves a message to be $0.42 cents per call, and the cost of a call that reaches a patient to be $0.63 to $0.82 cents. Automated calls typically save the practice at least 50% of the cost of a call from a staff member. With that extra time that automated reminders can save the staff, they can turn their attention to more rewarding, non-routine tasks.

At larger practices, making manual appointment reminder calls can take hours a day and so many of them have found it economical and practical to use automated telephone dialer software.  What many smaller practices don't realize is that using employees to manually make your appointment reminder phone calls is still a losing proposition.  Appointment reminder software does much more than just place appointment reminder calls; it will single-handedly make your practice more productive and efficient.

Appointment reminder system will save your practice time and money, not only by freeing employees to focus on other less routine matters, but also by improving customer relations and communications.

Automated caller software reliably delivers routine messages and makes it easy to track confirmations and cancellations

When you rely on an employee to make routine reminder calls, there will be days that there just isn't time to make all the calls or the task is forgotten. An automated service is a more reliable way to deliver appointment reminders.  Most reminder appointment calls are routine and automated notifications service can easily convey the appointment details to your patients.

An automated reminder system allows for flexibility and choices in the type of messages that are sent to your patients.  This includes offering an automated way to respond to the reminder message.  The patient can press a button on his touch-tone telephone to confirm that he has received his reminder and that he will be attending his appointment. Or he can press another button to cancel the appointment. Responses are automatically tracked and can be easily viewed online by your office staff.

Time once spent making phone calls can be spent with patients

For your staff, adopting an automated notifications service means that you recognize that they could use a helping hand. They'll have more time for other valued tasks, including assisting patients.

Frees up phone lines

Automated reminder calls can be made without tying up your phone line and since your staff is no longer making reminder calls manually, your patients will find it easier to get through to a live person when they call.  

Provides valued service to your patients

Today's patients prefer to communicate by cell phone and e-mail.  Today's medical practices can respond to changes in patient communication preferences by using a multi-channel automated appointment reminders service.  A good automated reminders service sends interactive messages that allow patients to easily confirm (or cancel) the upcoming appointment, whether that message is sent by e-mail or by phone.

Reminder postcards and reminder calls from your front desk are no longer as effective as they used to be.  Automated notification services are more effective at reducing your no show rates.  And lower no show rates mean that you'll have more money to invest in your practice and your employees.

Every practice uses reminders in some form or another. That doesn't mean that you can't get better results than the average practice with your appointment reminders.  

You could be making three large mistakes by believing that your  current reminders get the job done.  Consider the following: 

1. You are assuming that reminder calls from your receptionist are working well for all involved.

We often hear that having the receptionist make reminder calls adds a personal touch and that patients like hearing the familiar voice of the receptionist.  Perhaps some of your patients do want to chat with your receptionist but reminder calls should be pleasant and transactional.  Tell the patient the date, time and any special instructions, and move on to the next call.  Often times during the day an answering machine is reached.  For the receptionist, these routine calls are monotonous, time-consuming and boring.  Perhaps she may even sound a bit bored when making some of those calls.  

An automated system that uses high quality pre-recorded messages can convey a consistently professional image to callers and the system reliably makes all reminder calls. The calls can go out in the evening, when your patients are more likely to be home.

2. You aren't asking patients how they'd like to receive reminders.

While your practice might rely on the phone to communicate with patients, this doesn't mean that this is also your patients' preference.  Communication preferences have changed and some of your patients may prefer an emailed appointment reminder.  Most people use email and many businesses offer the convenience of communication by email.  With an automated reminders system, it's easier than you think to send voice and email messages to patients.  

3. You don't consider the labor cost of sending manual reminders.

Did you know that the average appointment reminder call takes 3 minutes?  It takes time to dial the number, listen to the phone ring, and leave a message or talk to the person who picks up the phone.  Your practice is paying the front office staff to make these calls.  Sending postcard reminders also takes a considerable amount of time and expense.  

By not automating routine tasks, you are wasting money and adding to the tedium of the day's work.  If you think your front office staff is talented, why not give them more rewarding work?  
 
Automated appointment reminders can improve no show rates, bring relief to your front office staff and accommodate patient preferences.  

Peter F. Drucker, the father of management, offered the following advice for managers:

"The productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager."

"Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed."

"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all."

Like any business, medical practices need to be concerned about productivity, resource allocation and time management.  Successful, well-run medical practices didn't achieve their success by accident.  They have good managers and good organizational processes in place.  It isn't enough to have good workers.  

While you may have an efficient, experienced front desk, your staff might spend too much time on routine tasks and not enough time on higher value, more complex tasks.  Your staff most likely spends too much time answering the phone, making routine calls and sending out routine correspondence.  They may not realize that many of those tasks could be automated at a cost and time savings.  It is the responsibility of the manager to learn about new methods of improving the medical practice.

Automated appointment reminders have been effective at (1) reducing no show rates, (2) decreasing the amount of time the staff needs to spend on making manual reminder calls - possibly saving hours a day, (3) increasing the reliability of reminder calls.  

Automated answering services offer many of the same features of a healthcare answering service, including new message notification and call screening.  But automated answering services have the important benefit of eliminating the middleman, so that the on-call physician can receive messages immediately.

Both of these technologies save your practice time, money and effort.  Many practices are choosing to automate in some form because automation allows for faster, more convenient access to information, error reduction and improved record keeping. 

Dealing with patients in the office and on the phone can be stressful.  Routine calls are some of the most time consuming and most dreaded tasks your receptionist faces.  If your practice is busy, it can be hard to set aside the time to make those calls.  Perhaps the calls need to be made in a noisy environment with the potential for constant interruptions.

One of the disadvantages of having your receptionist make hundreds of appointment reminder calls per week is that the calls are typically made in a busy environment.  This can affect the quality of the call that the patient receives.  It's hard to convey cheerfulness in that type of environment.  

It is a normal human response to tire easily of repetitive and boring tasks.  It is not your receptionist's fault that making hundreds of three- to four-minute calls a week is less than stimulating. The solution is to find a replacement that does not tire or get bored and can be depended on to always make your appointment reminder calls.

The only thing that we know of that doesn't mind repetitive tasks is a computer program.  An automated call service can make all your reminder calls for you and will always deliver consistent, professional messages. 

How often do you wish there were more than twenty-four hours in a day? Having more time each day seems like it would open up so many more opportunities to get things done, while still having time for what is truly important in life. Everyone at the practice feels the same way, including the receptionist.  

What would having more time mean for a medical receptionist?  

1. Never leaving work again feeling guilty that she didn't have time to make all those time consuming routine calls
2. Time to spend with patients at the practice and on other tasks that require her skills and knowledge
3. Time to gain new skills and knowledge by attending workshops and classes

One easy way to make more time in the day is to use an automated outbound notification service.

The benefits of switching to an automated outbound messaging system are enormous when it comes to time savings. Instead of your office staff spending hours a day on the phone, they only need to take minutes run a report with patient appointment information and send it to the service provider. Automated phone messages are not restricted to just appointment reminders, either. They can be used to notify patients of lab results, outstanding account balances, vaccines, preventive health screenings, etc. 

With such an efficient tool in her hands, the receptionist will find her work more rewarding and see her productivity increase.

Even the best employees can get stuck in a rut. Repetitive routines to lead to office ruts, where inspiration and job satisfaction steadily decrease with the daily grind.

These ruts can lead to what is known as employee fatigue. Jeffrey Denning, a practice management consultant in La Jolla, Calif., says employee fatigue “usually sets in after the four- or five-year mark when staff members show up for work, but check out on creativity.”

One of the major ways to help your receptionists avoid employee fatigue is to automate tedious tasks. Simple yet repetitive tasks are often jobs that a software program can perform just as a well as a person. Automating tasks like making appointment reminder calls will free up time and energy so that the staff can work on things that are more intellectually challenging.

In addition to automating routine tasks, you can make the job more rewarding by assigning special projects and recognizing accomplishments.  Projects like coming up with new marketing ideas, ways to make the office even more efficient, or even redesigning the waiting room help break up the routine and give employees a sense of making a contribution to the health of the practice.  
 
A great mind is a terrible thing to waste. Everyone has more than one talent, and it's unlikely that the receptionist's number one talent is not making appointment reminder calls. 

When your office staff is proud of where they work, it will be apparent in how they treat your patients and each other. Automation can open up so many opportunities to increase patient satisfaction.

“If you get people who are proud of themselves and proud of the place they work, you don't get people in ruts,” says Denning. By automating routine tasks and giving employees a creative challenge, you increase morale by giving them pride and satisfaction in their work. 

One of the most attractive features of an automated phone reminder system is its time saving capability.  Saving time is something that appeals to most practices, but the benefits of automated appointment reminders can go well beyond time savings.  If you manage your staff well, they can use the additional time they've gained to accomplish things they never had the chance to tackle before.  While the project will vary according to the needs and circumstances of each practice, in almost every case, your staff time will be better spent working on non-routine tasks (e.g., billing and coding, assisting patients at the practice) than on routine tasks that could very easily be automated without any detriment to your patients.

Automation is about allocating resources properly.  Some tasks are better performed by an automated system.  And most patients are used to receiving automated messages.

When your staff is no longer chained to the telephones, making call after call, they will immediately become re-energized. No one enjoys spending hours on the phone making those routine reminder calls. These types of calls are better made by a reliable automated service.   

The automated phone messaging system can free up hundreds of hours per year for your staff to put their great minds to use, focusing on other projects that are far more productive to your practice.   

Many patients are anxious about visiting their physician. Even if the physician has a charming demeanor, the doctor's office is a stereotypically unpleasant place to be, with screaming children, sick and wheezing patients, old furniture and a scent of bleach in the air.  It's a place that sick people frequent.

To practice can counteract the patient anxiety by focusing on delivering a pleasant patient experience.  Phone interactions are an important part of that experience.  It helps when you can count on your telephoned patient appointment reminders to be courteous and professional every single time.

The only problem is that humans who make routine calls find it hard to sound upbeat, courteous, and professional every single time. Often an exhausted, fatigued receptionist can sound bored or harried over the telephone.

Because of fatigue and boredom are natural when it comes to routine tasks, it is better to use pre-recorded voice messages for appointment reminders. These messages deliver a consistently pleasant tone, every single time.  And the system takes far less time to contact your patients.  

Even better, automated patient reminder calls can each be personalized according to the patient's demographics and preferences, including delivering the message in another language.  Webley MD uses professional voice talent to record the messages and ensure that messages are clear and courteous.  To hear a sample of our voice messages, visit Webley.

Busy practices may find that they simply don't have enough time to keep on top of important patient communications.  A virtual medical receptionist is designed to alleviate this situation and improve patient-practice communication.  Rather than burdening your staff with a long list of calls to be made, your virtual medical receptionist can be put to use by making those routine calls for your practice.  Even better, the virtual receptionist tracks attempts to reach patients and the outcome of each call.

Appointment reminders
Most appointment reminder calls are routine.  The caller often reaches an answering machine and leaves a message with the date and time of the appointment.  When a live person is reached, confirmation and cancellations can be captured.  A virtual medical receptionist can perform these identical tasks, including allowing the patient to confirm or cancel the appointment.  The virtual medical receptionist can also call in the evening, when the practice is closed and patients are most likely to be home.

Account balance notification
Are mailed payment due reminders not working for your practice?  When it comes to collecting account balances from patients, it can take multiple calls to reach the patient.  It's frustrating for your staff to make these calls.  The automated phone dialer program can deliver the same message without burdening your staff.  

Lab test results notification
Patients are naturally anxious about their test results and they may call your office multiple times to get their results.  You can minimize these types of calls by keeping patients better informed.  Tell them when they can expect the results and that they can expect a call when the results are in.  The virtual medical receptionist makes it easy to deliver lab test results to patients. 

Health screenings and vaccines
If your practice has the capacity to handle additional appointments, your virtual medical receptionist can call patients and suggest that they come in for recommended health screenings and vaccines.  Target your existing patients for these type of messages.  Your patients will appreciate the extra step you take to keep them healthy.