In a world and time where almost everything is a click or tap away, it doesn’t make sense to spend time making a call and staying on hold for long minutes to book an appointment to see your doctor. Does it?
That’s what patients – used to convenience and options – think these days, which makes it mandatory for doctors to adopt an online appointment scheduling system.
Online scheduling and payments are much more efficient – and appreciated – in handling day-to-day activities than traditional methods.
Apart from helping patients be attended to as quickly as possible, an online appointment scheduling system reduces stress for the doctor and helps him or her stay organised and plan your days and weeks around patient meetings.
Still now sure? We give you the top reasons that every doctor needs to adopt an online appointment scheduling system.
1. It means round-the-clock accessibility
The traditional method of taking appointments meant patients could only call during clinic hours. But going online means they can schedule a visit as and when the thought strikes them or when the need arises. This means that they don’t miss out and leads to an increase in bookings during off-hours.
2. It offers your clients convenience
An online appointment system is one of the many ways you can offer convenience and accessibility to patients and potentials. The fact that they just need to go online to schedule, re-schedule, or cancel appointments simplifies life to a great extent and also results in savings on time – at their end and yours.
Most new patients also prefer checking you and your website and booking an appointment online rather than connecting with an unknown staff member.
3. It means patients don’t need to wait long hours
The traditional method – be it calling or coming to your clinic to book an appointment to see you –often meant they needed to spend more time doing things they don’t really like. This is especially not done in a time when other doctors out there are offering similar services with a booking system that makes appointment scheduling quick and stress-free.
A happy customer is a satisfied customer and is sure to keep returning to your clinic or dispensary once they know that they can book an appointment online and don’t need to sit for hours in the waiting room.
4. It reduces patient no-shows
In today’s busy, fast-paced world, patients can often forget that they have a doctor’s appointment and end up missing it. This means the loss of a patient and your time, which could have been used in a better way.
An online appointment system sends reminders and confirmations to patients after they book an appointment, which means that the chances of them not showing up drop drastically.
5. It saves you and your employees a lot of time
Doctors across the world have relied on their staff to ensure manual bookings. But keeping track was often difficult, and resulted in over or under-scheduling.
If your patients and prospective clients go online and book their own appointments, it saves you from doing data entry – personal information and medical history.
6. It ensures you to better manage your schedule
For long, you, as a doctor, have relied on the flow of patients to chart your schedule and workday. But an online appointment scheduling system gives you an overall picture of what your day, week, and month look like.
It lets you make quick changes to the schedule and detail out information such as how long in advance patients can cancel an appointment or the days when you are not available. The system puts you in control of your schedule and appointments.
7. It creates an online patient data library
An online scheduling system lets you enter all patient-related data – history, test results, diagnosis, medicines, and follow-ups. Since everything is online – and can be backed up on the cloud – you can access the information you need from anywhere, anytime. This also reduces dependence on registers and files and reduces paperwork drastically.
8. It boosts overall productivity
With appointment scheduling no longer part of their workday, the staff that used to handle phone calls or emails requesting appointments are freed up. They can use this extra time – it mounts up to considerable chunks over the week – to finish other tasks, boosting productivity at your clinic.
9. It increases your chances of discovery
The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdowns have changed customer behaviour. Instead of stepping out and travelling long distances, most of them want services close to them. An online booking system and the rise in ratings can improve your search rankings and improve your chances at being discovered when a potential patient searches for a “doctor near me”.
10. It helps expand your client base
A user-friendly online appointment scheduling system enhances customer experience and makes sure that it gives you an edge over other medical service providers. When your patients see how easy it is to book an appointment with you, and observe that you are an extremely competent doctor, they are likely to spread the word. That means an organic way of expanding your client base.
11. It enhances your brand value
An online system not only eases the booking process for your patient but allows them to rate your services online. In a time when almost everyone checks reviews and ratings before making a decision, this could create a strong reputation, increase website traffic, and enhance your brand value.
Boost 360 app offers an appointment booking solution along with many features specially designed for doctors, clinics and hospitals.
