Finding Efficiency: Three Things You Can Do Now to Steer Your Front Office in the Right Direction

Efficiency. It’s at or near the top of the “goals and objectives” list for every healthcare practice. As it should – improving efficiency can have a meaningful impact on the business, from boosting the bottom line to creating a better patient experience. But legacy technology and processes keep getting in the way when it comes to finding those opportunities for improvement. For example, complicated, repetitive and outdated methods for collecting patient data and checking in patients demand extra work, time and attention from front office staff, slowing down the process.

Luckily, new technology has emerged to replace those out-of-date patient intake systems as practices seek to upgrade the front office experience to align with high-quality care. Patient engagement solutions and electronic self-check-in are examples of such innovations. They augment front office teams by simplifying and automating the administrative aspects of patient engagement so that staff can focus on high-value 1:1 interactions. Essentially, it’s the perfect partnership between humans and machines, and the results can be transformative.

Efficiency and Ease for All

Of course, you would never want to replace human interaction when it comes to patient engagement – patients and physicians alike need communication and collaboration to reach the best possible medical outcome. However, there are ways that automation and technology can bolster efficiency on the administrative side and facilitate that connection. Let’s take a look at three ways innovation drives front-office efficiencies:

Improve Patient Flow – Patient check-in and data collection are two very different processes, but they shouldn’t appear that way to the patient, which isn’t always the case. An example is an orthopedic practice using a legacy intake system that required front office staff to split interactions between two tablets: one for patient check-in and the other for data collection. This process created an awkward situation for office staff having to handle multiple tablets and explain the often-confusing process. It also prevented physicians from quickly and accurately collecting data and supporting the upfront patient check-in process via a single device. Then the practice implemented Clearwave’s electronic self-check-in kiosks, giving them a one-stop-shop for all their check-in and data collection needs and a cohesive, tightly integrated solution to improve patient flow.

Make Verification a Breeze –Having all visit information ready ahead of time is the most efficient and transparent approach for both patients and staff. For specialty practices, it’s important that a patient’s eligibility is verified early on in the process to accelerate reimbursement and collections. Take co-pays, for example. Many older systems don’t make co-pay information readily available, limiting collections and creating extra work. That’s why practices are turning to robust electronic self-check-in systems, like Clearwave. Clearwave helps practices verify eligibility immediately and present co-pay information early in the process. It simplifies collections for patients and streamlines collections and claims for the practice.

Clinical Data On Demand – It’s not a good use of front office staff’s time to be printing out sheets of data and then manually entering them into patient management systems. But that’s exactly how many legacy systems operate. This process is a burden for staff having to input data by hand, and it prevents them from using that time to focus on the patient experience. With patient engagement and electronic self-check-in solutions like Clearwave, practices can now gain the insights that matter most. All reports are contained in one place, so you only see what applies to you, eliminating the need to spend time digging for critical information when needed.

When it comes to driving front office efficiency, practices mustn’t let legacy systems drag them down. Patient engagement and electronic self-check-in solutions solve this problem. They automatically shoulder the administrative and reporting burden so your staff doesn’t have to, allowing them to get back to what matters most – creating a quality patient experience.