8 patient appointment scheduling challenges and their solutions with +Physio

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Imagine a situation where a patient is trying to book his/her appointment but is constantly facing long waiting times or unavailable slots. Even in cases of emergencies, there is no priority scheduling policy. Situations like these can be very frustrating from a patient’s point of view.

When people want to buy food or book a movie ticket, they prefer doing it online just with the click of a few buttons. However, due to the lack of availability of online portals in healthcare businesses, people are not able to do the same.

In a 2021 Consumer Experience Trends in Healthcare report, Press Ganey observed that patients depend on online bookings twice as much as they do on doctor referrals from other sources or people.

Also, one can say that besides making the patient experience more dissatisfying, it has a major impact on the clinic’s overall productivity as well.

This blog will provide you with an overview of the importance of effective appointment scheduling, what are the different challenges faced while scheduling appointments, and their solutions.

Importance of effective appointment scheduling

The first step clinics must take to improve convenience for patients is effective appointment scheduling. This enhances patient satisfaction and boosts clinic publicity. A well-structured scheduling system improves patient experience, attracts more patients, and increases clinic productivity.

From a patient’s perspective, proper scheduling ensures immediate care for emergencies and reduces waiting times. When scheduling runs smoothly, clinics can focus on delivering quality care without administrative hassles.

8 patient appointment scheduling challenges and their solutions

Now, from the outer world, it may seem that appointment scheduling is a piece of cake. But one does not know the hardships faced by healthcare staff, just to manage patient care and also maintain the clinic’s work efficiency.

Long waiting times frustrate patients. And the same goes for doctors as well when patients tend to cancel their appointments at the last minute. So, following the right approach is essential.

Let's look at some typical appointment scheduling challenges and solutions:

1. Long waiting time for appointments

It is a fact that longer waits always hurt the patient experience. This could be due to various reasons—inefficient scheduling of appointments, more number of patients who visit the clinic—or it may be due to a lack of slots available. Due to this, patients get frustrated and try switching to other options (clinics)

Solution: Clinics and hospitals should introduce online appointment scheduling systems that make the process of appointment booking more convenient and patients can also view available slots with access to real-time booking.

2. Manual scheduling systems

Many healthcare institutions still use paper-based scheduling or outmoded manual methods, which leads to mistakes, multiple bookings, and inefficiency. Manual scheduling also costs staff time and raises the possibility of mismanagement.

Solution: Utilize patient appointment scheduling software like electronic medical records and practice management software to enhance the scheduling process. These technological solutions offer a unified platform for appointment management, minimizing errors and optimizing workflow efficiency.

3. Lack of online scheduling options

Often it is observed that clinics have fewer options available for online scheduling of appointments. They often have to make calls or come to the clinics to schedule their appointments. Now, this can turn out to be very frustrating for the patients as it becomes less convenient and comfortable for them.

Solution:A great solution to this problem can be to introduce a system of online appointments and mobile applications. This can do wonders for the clinic, as now it will be more convenient for patients to book appointments and will also make things easier for the clinic (for maintaining records).

4. Appointment overbooking

In some cases, people may have seen long waiting lines at clinics or hospitals, which can be frustrating for anyone (patients as well as doctors). Due to these emergency cases, they also get overlooked frequently.

This happens because the number of appointments booked is greater than the number of available doctors. This leads to an increase in the waiting time; in some cases, doctors may consult the patients in a hurry due to more number of patients waiting.

Situations like these are not favorable for the patients, which leaves them dissatisfied.

Solution: The solution to this problem can be implementing an automated appointment system. This software will be beneficial in solving problems as it will help prevent patients from booking their appointments more than one time. As well, it will help in suggesting available time slots that will balance the frequency of patients.

5. Lack of patient reminder systems

A handful of patients tend to forget the time at which they had scheduled their appointments. It may sound weird but it is true. In most cases, it has been observed that if patients are not reminded about their appointments, they tend to forget about it and do not show up. This can be of great loss for the clinic in terms of waiting time and revenue generation.

Solution: A great way to make sure that patients remember their appointments is sending them reminders via calls, messages, and WhatsApp channels. Adding to this solution, if they are not comfortable with the timing, clinics can provide them with rescheduling options, which makes a win-win situation for the providers as well as the patients.

6. Poor communication between staff and patients

Another factor that significantly turns down the number of patients is miscommunication between the staff of the clinic. Moreover, it creates a sense of confusion and frustration among patients when cancellations or delays are not being communicated internally.

Solution: To improve the efficiency of communication internally in the clinic, the use of automated messages can be practiced. Alongside this, patient portals can be used for the purpose when patients want to check details regarding their appointments or communicate with the staff at the clinic.

7. Patient not showing up and appointment cancellations

As a doctor or a member of the nursing staff, imagine the situation of a patient not showing up or canceling the appointment at the last minute. Sounds very frustrating for both of them. It reduces the efficiency of the clinic as it results in a waste of time and loss of revenue as well. Some patients tend to walk in last minute, which clinics are not able to handle, which also decreases efficiency.

Solution: To handle the problem of patients not showing up and canceling their appointments at the last minute, clinics should introduce cancellation policies in which patients would be able to cancel their appointments a few hours or a day prior to their appointment time.

8. Demand and supply mismatch

This is the most common issue, which is faced by every other clinic globally. Sometimes, such situations may arise where the number of patients waiting for treatment may not get proper consultation, even in emergency cases. This happens because patients are more in number than the doctors available for treatment.

Solution: To avoid these kinds of situations, a waitlist should be maintained and every appointment should be confirmed following the doctor’s schedule. This will ensure that patients are consulted cautiously and will not overburden the doctors at the clinic.

Conclusion

As we’ve seen throughout the blog, effective appointment scheduling plays a vital role in improving patient retention and experience and increasing the efficiency of clinic operations. Several factors can contribute to patients' dissatisfying experiences, such as long waiting times, a lack of doctors available onboard, and other factors that can be frustrating. But, with the right strategies, obstacles can be turned into opportunities.

It is a fact that using approaches to resolve these factors has improved problems for clinics. Increasing the usage of automated reminders, scheduling online appointments, and maintaining waitlists, and ensuring proper communication between staff and patients makes the way for better efficiency.

Finding the solution provider that offers all these solutions can be difficult. But, +Physio is the one-stop solution for you. From scheduling online appointments to sending reminders to avoid patients not showing up, we’ve got it all covered. We at +Physio believe that implementing these practices in your daily routine will resolve patient appointment scheduling issues and will engage more patients. This will also lead to better productivity for the clinic, as it will help increase the revenue.

FAQs

1. What is a 40/20 appointment model?

According to healthcare businesses and hospitals, it has been observed that the 40/20 appointment model is a great way to manage patient appointments as it creates a waitlist for patients. For example, in the case of 3 patients, if the first one arrives at 10 AM, then the rest of the two patients will be seen at 10:20 AM and 10:40 AM, respectively.

2. How can hospitals ensure that their appointment scheduling systems are accessible to all patients?

Some great ways to make sure that your appointment scheduling systems are accessible to all patients are introducing mobile applications, online portals, and making better use of in-person appointment scheduling. Another proven strategy that has been observed is providing multi-lingual support for patients which can make them feel more comfortable and convenient.