5 Ways to Use Custom Questions at Check in to Fuel Practice Growth

By Blakely Roth | January 18, 2023

Digital patient check-in systems, via kiosks, mobile and tablet, help practices improve data accuracy and reduce waiting times. When used strategically, these systems also enable specialty practices to tap into the needs of their most important stakeholder, the patient.

Here are the most impactful ways our customers use custom questions and how our customers are supported by our clearwaveCARE team to ensure success.

1. Capture Targeted Leads for Premium Services

Our clearwaveCARE team often works with practice leaders to help determine ways to best optimize workflows to meet practice needs. During these discussions, custom questions come up as a priority topic when practice leaders discuss opportunities to increase premium service revenue.

While traditionally, your staff may be responsible for asking the patient if they are interested in a premium service, this approach has setbacks. Your front-desk staff may be too busy or forget to ask about premium services. Front-desk staff may also feel uncomfortable asking about premium services, like Botox, which can sound offensive to patients who may not have been thinking about it. Adding a question to your check-in workflow is quick, simple and private.

By customizing your Clearwave check-in workflows, you can target the ideal demographic for certain premium services and capture new leads, at no cost to your practice.

For example, Botox is often targeted toward individuals between the ages of 30-50, with women making up 90%. Using that knowledge, dermatology practices can add a custom question to their check-in workflow for those patients, asking, “Would you be interested in learning more about Botox?”

One ophthalmology practice used this approach to increase LASIK appointment bookings and was able to save money on ad spend, due to the increase of leads they captured right from their own patient database. Watch the full discussion with Mann Eye Institute and see how they used custom questions to increase premium service revenue.

2. Determine Marketing Success

Ensure your market spend is being put to good use. Practice leaders can tailor custom questions to only be presented to a patient at check-in based on certain demographics. One common question our customers often add to their new-patient check-in workflow is “How did you hear about us?”

Answers to this question or similar ones, provide practices with a strong baseline to determine which marketing or outreach efforts create the biggest return and impact on patient acquisition.

3. Capture Patient Feedback

Asking for patient feedback on your healthcare services will provide your physicians, staff and leadership with a wealth of patient-centered knowledge that you can use to improve in-office care.

A recent survey found that 72% of consumers read online ratings and reviews before booking with a new healthcare provider. Use custom questions to source happy existing customers willing to rate your practice or provide a review for it. With this data, your staff can follow up with satisfied patients by sending a link to a review form or website. For less satisfied patients, encourage your staff to personally call on patients to learn more about potential challenges they faced while receiving care.

Working with practice leaders, our clearwaveCARE team has helped set up automatic post-visit survey emails through Clearwave, giving practices a way to gauge patient satisfaction. Automated post-appointment surveys help to reduce staff time spent following up and make it easier for patients to comfortably answer questions in their own homes, helping to improve accuracy. With this hands-off approach, staff only need to intervene to follow up on negative feedback or hopefully, to send a “thank you” and review link to a satisfied patient.

4. Gather Research for Growth Initiatives

In a rapidly evolving healthcare and consumer environment, the more you understand what your patients want from a healthcare provider, the more competitive you can become. Source that information directly from your patients by strategically adding custom questions to check-in workflows. Here are a few questions our customers have used to uncover opportunities to drive practice growth.

• What is your preferred scheduling method (at the office, online, phone, etc.)?
• How many reminders would you like to receive ahead of your appointment?
• Would you be interested in walk-in appointment availability?
• Would you be interested in earlier or later appointment times? If so, which times?

Whether you’re considering a new care offering or want to adjust patient engagement strategies, use custom questions to validate your next steps. Review the custom question answers and compare them by practice location, age demographic, etc.

5. Stay Compliant

There may be specific patient information you’re required to capture and report on depending on your practice, local government and care offerings. We work with many Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and in order for these systems to receive funding, they must capture certain patient information and bundle it to be shared for compliance reporting. The FQHCs we work with leverage custom questions and the Clearwave dashboard to capture pertinent patient information and compile it in a way that’s convenient and compliant.

The FQHCs we work with find the functionality and flexibility of Clearwave make this process simple and easy for their already overworked staff. Hear more about how health centers can use Clearwave to keep their practice operations running smoothly.

Maximize the Potential of Your Clearwave Check-in Solutions

Digital patient check-in systems provide a unique way to poll patients on important practice initiatives. Define what questions you need to be answered at patient check-in and how best to leverage that data to improve patient experiences and practice results. With a Strategic Succes Manager and clearwaveCARE resources, you can ensure you maximize the full potential of Clearwave.

Learn more about how we help our customers do more with clearwaveCARE.