It should come as no surprise that medical practices face scheduling challenges day after day. Older technology, including telephone reminder systems, is a large contributor to these challenges. As the healthcare industry continues to usher in the digital age, innovative technology will replace these outdated systems. mHealth applications, specifically, are key players in solving scheduling challenges take a look at some of their key benefits!
Appointment and procedure reminders
mHealth applications generally feature an appointment and procedure reminder system, allowing patients who utilize their practices app to be reminded of their appointment or procedure via text, email or push notification. This eliminates the need for the practice manager to track these patients down via phone, greatly improving and streamlining the reminder process.
Confirmation
Only very few apps incorporate a confirmation feature, which prompts patients to notify their practice regarding whether or not they will be attending their upcoming appointment.
Decreased number of cancellations and no-shows
Confirmable appointment and procedure reminders, in turn, lead to a decreased amount of patient cancellations and no-shows. Since these reminders need to be confirmed by the patient, practice managers can develop a more predictable daily schedule for each of the practices physicians. Additionally, with this knowledge, practice managers can fill in empty appointment slots with other patients.
Decreased patient unpreparedness
Some mHealth apps on the market allow medical practices to set up personalized procedure preparation steps for each patient, send text, email or push notifications to complete these steps and require confirmation that each step was completed. These confirmable procedure reminders greatly decrease the number of patients who show up unprepared for their procedures.
Easy communication
mHealth applications serve as a replacement for ineffective phone systems. Instead of practice managers having to track patients down by calling them multiple times and leaving voicemails that are never received, they can communicate with patients via text or email. Additionally, using mHealth applications saves practice managers quite a bit of time, freeing them up for other pressing office activities.
Is your practice in the market for an mHealth application? Using mobile technology can dramatically improve your practices scheduling. Take a look at Smart Clinic a unique mHealth application that acts as a one-stop-shop, providing the key scheduling functionality that you desire, including confirmable appointment and procedure reminders.
Interested in learning more? Watch our demo video!
