Online booking systems empower patients to view and book medical appointments for themselves. Providing patients with self-service options increases both patient satisfaction and clinic efficiency. However, with so many options available, how can primary care clinics select their ideal solution?
Our two-part guide to online booking systems will help you navigate common features and the full benefits of online booking, and how to choose an OSCAR Pro online booking app for your primary care clinic.
What to consider when looking for an online booking system
The most important consideration is that the app you choose for booking appointments must integrate directly with their EMR. For OSCAR Pro users, every online booking system featured on apps.health is compatible with your EMR, taking the guesswork out of your research!
This integration is crucial because a smooth, seamless flow of information between your online booking system and EMR streamlines clinic workflows and reduces time wasted answering calls and the resulting admin work.
It’s also important to remember that as EMRs and app-providers evolve, online booking systems are changing too. Many of the solutions on apps.health include online booking within more holistic sets of features, usually as these platforms aim to automate more than one clinical workflow.
For example, online booking is often part of patient engagement or practice management platforms. These comprehensive platforms can include physician or staff scheduling, options for check-in kiosks, and automation for clinic workflows. Again, it is vital that your EMR and add-ons integrate to ensure you feel the full benefit.
The wider functionality of many apps also means that it can be worth considering the full scope of an application and thinking about the overall value it can bring when integrated with your EMR.
So, to help physicians and MOAs find their ideal online booking system, we have created a guide for physicians and clinic staff.
Common features of appointment scheduling apps
If you are looking for an online booking system, it can be hard to compare options. For example, it could be helpful to understand common features and compare those features included in more comprehensive patient engagement or practice management apps.
To help you decide, let’s look at some common features that online booking systems often include:
- Patient-friendly Interface
Providing a convenient and reliable user experience is essential. After all, the goal of an online booking system is to empower patients with a self-service option that benefits them. As a result, your online booking system should be user and mobile-friendly.
- Self-Service Changes & Cancellations
It is also vital that patients can easily cancel or amend their appointment, which is a common feature with many online booking platforms. Without this, you are unlikely to benefit fully from reduced call volumes at peak times, and you will not free clinic staff from time-consuming admin.
- Automatic Patient Confirmations & Reminders
Automated appointment confirmations and patient reminders reduce no-shows. You should consider how you can benefit from these patient engagement features, as these notifications can reduce last-minute cancellations and no-shows by prompting patients to confirm, cancel, or change their appointment via a link in an SMS or email.
- Patient Intake Forms
Whether for new or existing patients, clinics can replace paper and pen with digital patient intake forms that streamline clinic workflows and reduce admin time. These forms can be tied to the online booking system and your EMR, automating an important but time-consuming process.
- Customizable
No two clinics are the same! So, your online booking system should allow for adequate customization. In practice, this could mean anything from consistent branding to allowing existing patients priority over new patients when booking. Platforms that allow roster checks and guide patients to appointments with their family doctor or MRP help clinics further.
Benefits of online booking systems
The momentum behind online booking has been building and new apps have emerged to help clinics offer self-service booking. The COVID-19 pandemic has also accelerated both the demand from patients for self-service and the need for clinics to find more efficient ways of scheduling appointments.
Let’s recap why online booking systems benefit both patients and clinics.
For patients, online booking systems offer more:
- Convenience
Patients can view all available appointments and then book a time without calling and requiring MOA assistance.
- Flexibility
Most booking platforms allow patients to cancel or rebook appointments at any time.
- Engagement
Automatic reminders can help reduce last-minute cancellations and no-shows, prompting patients to make changes ahead of time.
It’s clear why patients benefit from online booking as they gain more convenience, which improves patient satisfaction.
But what are the benefits for clinics?
- Avoid staff burnout
Online booking systems reduce the number of phone calls your clinic has to handle, which is a huge benefit and prevents staff avoid burnout due to constant phone calls. It also allows MOAs to focus more on the patients who are in the clinic, improving experiences.
- Reduce expenses
Free from time-consuming manual booking, clinic staff can focus on better supporting physicians. Clinics can also better manage their costs, scheduling MOAs at peak times and reducing overstaffing during quiet periods.
- Increase revenues
A seamless online booking process can help more patients view available appointments and reduce cancellations, helping fill up available time slots. Overall, this allows clinics to see more patients and improve revenue by better managing their time.
All these factors combine to make a compelling case for every clinic to deploy online booking systems. The next step is to look at the different options available through apps.health.
Choosing your Online Booking System
If you’re now looking to add an online booking platform to your EMR, apps.health has you covered!
‘Top 5 Online Booking Systems for OSCAR Pro’ is the second part of our guide to online booking. There we’ll cover the different clinic appointment systems that integrate with OSCAR Pro and how to get started.
