3 Creative Ways to Increase Patient Volume​

By Blakely Roth | September 4, 2024

Increasing patient acquisition while facing rising healthcare costs, staffing shortages, Medicare payment reductions and economic uncertainty, is a constant battle. Not to mention competition and advertising costs are higher than ever. Amidst this landscape, it can be hard to stand out and maintain a profit. High-growth practices are implementing innovative strategies to attract new patients, retain existing ones and ensure maximum patient throughput. Read on to find out how they’re getting the job done, so you can follow in their footsteps! 

1. Get More Patients with 24/7 Online Scheduling Availability

In today’s digital world, patient self-scheduling is a non-negotiable for prospective and existing patients. Research reveals 82% of patients prefer a provider who offers online scheduling.   

Many patients dread having to call an office – to the point where they’ll even procrastinate until they feel well again. Additionally, when forced to schedule via phone, patients with pressing last-minute healthcare needs may opt to look elsewhere rather than having to wait until office hours to make an appointment. In both scenarios, a practice that only provides phone scheduling loses out on prospective and once-loyal patients. Alternatively, those that offer patient scheduling software reap the benefits, by getting more patient bookings.  

Don’t be left behind! High-growth practices are using self-scheduling tools that offer 24/7 online booking in a few simple clicks, meaning anyone that finds a physician in an online search can immediately book an appointment. In short, patient scheduling solutions drive acquisition and loyalty and allow you to fill scheduling gaps automatically. Practices with an online self-scheduling platform have increased new patients by 51% on average! Additionally, they’ve seen 45% of online bookings take place after hours and 34% at the last minute.   

To get maximum ROI from your self-scheduling investment, look for innovative solutions that offers: 

• The convenience of booking anywhere, anytime, 24/7 

• An automated waitlist to fill open time slots without staff involvement 

• Smart workflows to ensure appointments meet provider and practice requirements 

• Eligibility checks during booking to reduce errors and speed up verification and claims processing 

• The ability get appointments booked and integrated into your PMS/EHR, versus just offering a request-only process 

• A user-friendly experience with minimal clicks and clear instructions 

• Analytics on how many patients complete the scheduling process, the percentage of new versus existing patient bookings and insight into when bookings occur (last minute, after hours, etc.), so you can refine the scheduling process for maximum adoption 

 This video covers how practices are already putting scheduling on autopilot to increase patients and profits! 

2. Increase Patient Throughput with Self-Registration

Patient scheduling software isn’t the only way high-growth practices are increasing patient volumes. They are also transforming patient registration to streamline efficiency and get patients to their providers, faster. 

Rather than forcing patients to arrive 20-30 minutes prior to their appointment to fill out a stack of paper forms, forward-thinking practices are sending appointment reminders via text and email that include a digital link for patients to pre-register. Patients simply click the link to fill out all the necessary demographic, clinical intake and medical history information, including pre-screeners and consents, in advance of their visit – anywhere, at any time. Smart patient reminders can also help your practice drop now shows, down to just 4%, further boosting daily patient volumes. 

When patients can arrive much closer to their appointment time and practices can offer shorter check-in and waiting room times, enhancing the patient experience and driving loyalty. Using this approach, practices can actually increase patient volumes, since schedules run efficiently, meaning they could even open additional slots in their daily schedules. 

The faster registration and check-in times that can be achieved with digital self-registration software empower your practice to see more patients each day and keep provider schedules full!  

3. Drive Premium Service Bookings with Self-Registration

Premium services such as LASIK or Botox are extremely lucrative for practices and a fantastic way to boost patient volume, but getting patients to sign on can be tricky and costly. High-growth practices are leaving old tactics behind and instead turning to self-registration software to promote premium services through targeted digital messaging without hefty advertising costs.   

With this strategy, providers simply embed custom questions about premium services within the digital registration process – calling patients’ attention to relevant services at a time when they have their full attention and in a way that promotes awareness rather than a sales pitch. Interested patients simply opt-in to learn more! For example, when checking in for an annual well-care exam, a patient might see a question such as, “Would you like to learn about Botox services?” If a patient responds with interest, they might be redirected to an online scheduling link or provided with a phone number to learn more. 

The most effective registration software will even allow you to go one step further by targeting patients of interest, based on demographics such as age, gender, service type and more. By targeting patients who are most likely to book premium services, you’ll not only be more successful, but you’ll also reduce the risk of offending patients.  

Promoting premium services with targeted digital messaging during the registration process can help you quickly identify interest without spending a single dollar on ad campaigns – and the combination of free leads and increased bookings means steady revenue for your practice! Learn more creative ways to increase patient volumes by promoting premium service awareness and see how it could work for your practice. 

Try All 3 Creative Ways to Increase Patient Volumes

Today’s healthcare challenges don’t have to weigh down your practice. Digitizing scheduling and registration processes can help you attract new patients and keep existing patients happy for maximum patient throughput and revenue – no matter what external factors may be banging at your door.   

If your practice hasn’t yet implemented digital patient scheduling and registration, or it’s not working as you intended, now is the time to make a change. See how Clearwave is already helping practices get more patients in the door!