Running late may be unavoidable, but informing your patients is not.
Doctor-on-Time®
Our unique Doctor on Time feature can be added to your website or be incorporated into a website design or redesign. It is perfect for any profession that schedules appointments and wants to notify patients or clients when running behind schedule. It posts your appointment time status online in real time. Changing your status takes seconds and can be set from a smartphone, tablet or computer.
Doctor on Time (DoT) is a simple and inexpensive web-based system that publishes your appointment delays in real-time, so patients can adjust their arrival to your office when you are running late. They spend less time in the waiting room, improving your office’s atmosphere and lowering stress for you, your staff and patients.
Doctor on Time was developed to address long patient wait times for a physician in New Jersey. During his daughter’s pregnancy, he heard how she waited two and three hours for routine office visits with her obstetrician. His exasperated daughter challenged him to find a way to alert patients to longer wait times so they could plan accordingly. We applied web technologies to meet the challenge, and after witnessing and researching the benefits, continue to offer this function to other healthcare professionals.
Besides the obvious courtesy to your patients, DoT removes the pressure of appointment backlogs or crowded waiting rooms. It allows you to deal with interruptions, emergencies or spend extra time with patients who have complex medical issues. Our New Jersey doctor found greater satisfaction in practicing medicine after using DoT.
Reducing wait times benefits both doctors and patients and can contribute to improved patient outcomes.
Research at Harvard University found “. . . physicians face increasing stress to see more patients in the same or less time. This leads to crowded appointment schedules and increased schedule disruptions. …when primary care physicians fall behind schedule, they truncate appointment duration, perform fewer in-office procedures, and record fewer diagnoses . . . Implications may include higher health care spending and lower quality care.” 1 This may contribute to lower compensation with Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/hannahneprash/files/neprash_jmp_november2016.pdf
Generates better online reviews
Patient wait times show notable impact on satisfaction scores. Do a google search on doctors near me and read those with low scores. Likely you will find comments about long wait times. Again, research supports this.
“When patients aren’t languishing in a doctor’s waiting room, it’s good news not just for health consumers but for the doctors themselves, who receive better patient satisfaction scores the less their patients wait, according to a new study by healthcare consumer engagement group Vitals. It found a strong correlation between wait times and doctors’ star ratings. Doctors with 5-star ratings have shorter wait times.”
Online reviews are an important factor when searching for a new doctor.
A widely published study by Vanguard concluded that only 4% of patient complaints were related to medical treatment. “The nearly unanimous consensus is that in terms of impact on patient satisfaction, the waiting room trumps the exam room.”
https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2016/04/28/top-patient-complaints
If you want to build your practice, recognize that good reviews and a professional website will help.
Patient wait times show notable impact on satisfaction scores.
Doctors with 5-star ratings have shorter wait times. Vitals.com, a physician review website and healthcare consumer engagement group, conducted research on how patient wait times impact patient satisfaction scores.
Source: Patient wait times show notable impact on satisfaction scores, Vitals study shows
Doctors who think their time is valuable, not yours.
ABC News listed patient frustrations with their doctors. Waiting in the doctor’s office was their top issue. One patient wrote, “Showed up on time but then had to wait. . . Also, I hate feeling like I am being rushed in and rushed out.”
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/WellnessNews/story?id=7916635&page=1
The Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation spotlighted Doctor on Time® in an article, “Simple, Web-based Enhancement Shows Appointment Wait Times: Lessens Patient and Provider Frustration Alike”. The Doctor on Time™ concept was awarded as an innovation to help physicians use technology to reduce costs and improve patient care.
https://innovation.cms.gov/Files/x/cpcipsl2014-2016.pdf (April 15, 2016 – page 28)
Changing your status takes only seconds by selecting buttons on your Internet-connected smartphone, tablet or computer. It can be done while going from one exam room to another, and does not have to involve the office staff. The doctor selects radio buttons to display the status for morning, after-noon or evening appointments, with customizable time options: On time; 15 minutes late; 30 minutes late; 45 minutes late; or 60 minutes late. Patients simply access the doctor’s web page to view the appointment status.
There are two subscription options: either a Doctor on Time® web page or website. Have a website, but want to provide your patients with this function? We will work with you to add the DoT feature to a web-page, or we will design or redesign your website. We provide signs for your office to promote DoT, and patients can be advised to check your web page for appointment delays when reminder calls are made.
For more information visit www.doctor-on-time.com, email: [email protected], or call 800 284-9792.