6 Critical Steps for an Efficient Patient Check-In

Updated, March 23, 2023, by Blakely Roth

Patient check-in can be the difference between a high patient attrition rate and loyal patients who even refer others to you.An efficient experience can considerably increase the satisfaction levels patients have for your practice. Point-of-service collections and your billings process are highly dependent on the standards you set through your check-in workflows.

Here are six essential steps to make your practice more efficient when checking in patients.

1.    Reminders

Most of your patients don’t intentionally miss their appointments – but they can occasionally forget them. The first proactive step to keep your practice running smoothly is to send patients automatic reminders about upcoming visits. You can request confirmation of their next appointment via text or email.

A confirmation helps to keep your schedule optimized and helps your patients to keep track of their appointment. Sending timely, customized appointment reminders drastically reduces the number of no-show appointments each day and improves practice efficiency at the same time.

With a confirmation, patients can also begin the check-in process and pay co-pays without waiting for the day of the appointment.

If you’re struggling to reduce no-shows at your practice, see how an effective reminders strategy and tool can help you adjust course.

2.    Pre-Registration

Traditional manual patient registration is prone to data entry errors and tedious for both patients and front office staff. But a top-of-the-line digital solution like Clearwave’s Pre-Check empowers practices to offer a user-friendly intuitive self-check-in experience.

With a few simple clicks, your patients will quickly enter registration information such as their driver’s license and insurance information, clinical intake, medical history, pre-screeners and other information. Additionally, you can easily add questions tailored to your particular workflows to help you capture necessary patient data or remove duplicate or repetitive questions for certain patient demographics.

Your patients will be able to conveniently complete their information from anywhere and in their own time, enabling your practice to improve data accuracy and post-appointment claims processing.

3.    Dashboard

A consolidated dashboard is a powerful tool that automates data capture and allows your front desk to control activities right from their desktops. As such, your practice can prepare for the day’s visits effectively using the information collected ahead of time. For example, with real-time insurance verification, your practice can solve any insurance issues prior to a patient’s arrival, ensuring you get paid for their visit.

The dashboard enables your staff to see patients’:

• Verified insurance information
• Completed demographic and medical history information
• Signatures for treatment or other consents
• Paid co-pays and outstanding balances
• Any flags or tasks to take action on, for example, where updates or further information is needed

Your staff can also monitor check-in status and fill open slots at any time. Less time is spent double-checking on things with patients when staff has all the information right at their fingertips in a clear, easy-to-understand overview.

4.    Arrival

Once a patient arrives for the scheduled appointment, there are several ways to welcome them in for their visit. Your practice can continue to leverage safety protocols, or guide the patient expertly when they enter the practice. These opportunities pave the way for a smooth entrance and visit, enhancing the patient experience.

5.    Check-In & Payment

Patients can self-check-in using Clearwave’s patient self-registration via, mobile, kiosk, tablet and pre-check. These secure, patient-centric technologies ensure a convenient and more efficient check-in. Your patients will be thrilled with the quick, effortless patient intake process.

Self-registration tools can also be configured to always ask for accurate patient co-pays, outstanding balances, and even estimations. Since Clearwave has integrated real-time verification tools and integrates with 50+ practice management systems, you can present accurate patient responsibility at check-in and capture payment, all without staff intervention. See how practices are unlocking their revenue potential.

6.    Visit

Your patients can text your practice to inform staff they have arrived before coming into the building. This will considerably reduce the amount of time spent in waiting rooms. At the same time, your team can control the number of people inside your clinic, simplifying social distancing in the wake of the pandemic. Even if your front office is busy, patients will still see their check-in status. Once their appointment is ready, the staff will let patients know when to come in.

Delight Your Patients with Clearwave

By embracing a frictionless and efficient check-in process, you’ll significantly improve the patient experience, motivate patients to return and accelerate collections. With Clearwave, patient check-in becomes seamless and easy and increases satisfaction for your patients and your staff, as well.

Find out how well your practice can drive efficiency and patient satisfaction with Clearwave —try our ROI calculator!