Improve Patient Onboarding

It's a known fact that the health care industry has always lagged behind when it came to adopting new technologies and providing great customer service. Maybe because it sells a product that is so coveted (health) that it can afford to provide bad customer service and still be highly profitable. Simple market dynamics.

However, this study suggests that this picture is about to change. Patients are acting more and more like consumers. As they learn more about their medical needs and the quality of different providers, they flock to the best ones.

Making an effort to provide your patients with the best experience is more important now that it has ever been before.

Onboarding

Onboarding is the management of the early stages of a relationship between a business and a customer.

The hottest industry of the moment -the tech industry- is obsessed with the client onboarding experience and has been using it as a competitive differentiation strategy for a long time now.

Borrowing a little bit of their obsession with the onboarding process and applying it to our patients can do us a lot of good.

If we look at the current intake experience offered by most practitioners, it's easy to realize why we get the bad reputation. The onboarding usually involves lots of paperwork and waiting.

Not many people enjoy filling out paperwork and our patients are probably not the exception. Most of them are already using the internet for most things, like applying for jobs, investing, renewing their drivers license, shopping and even looking for partners.

Many times, attempts to provide a better patient experience are stifled by rigid regulations and the deep-rooted bureaucracy of our health care system.

However, the patient intake process doesn't need to be that antiquated. We have enough technology at our disposal to make the process smooth, safe and efficient, at a much lower cost than 10 years ago.

Offering electronic intake forms is the easiest and most inexpensive way to improve your onboarding process.

How it is better for your patient

• Instead of the waiting room time constraints, your patients will fill out the forms whenever it's convenient for them;
• No waiting room clipboards. Your patients will complete their forms from wherever they choose;
• Patients are not required to print forms, fill them out and bring them to the appointment;
• No paperwork! It's no wonder handwriting rates have been dropping steadily. When given the option, most people prefer to type. It's usually faster and easier to correct errors.

How it is better for your practice

• Eliminate costs associated with a paper system: printing, transcribing, scanning, shredding;
• Receive the intake forms prior to appointments;
• Better completion rates and legibility;
• Increased customer satisfaction;
• Validate patient's insurance before they arrive.

You can start improving your patient onboarding experience today by trying IntakeQ for free.