Doctor-on-Time
Our unique Doctor on Time® feature allows patients to minimize wait times in your office by checking your webpage. This courteous service can be added to your website. 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. It is perfect for any profession that schedules appointments and wants to notify patients or clients when running behind schedule.
Contact us for credentials to setup a demonstration of this feature.
Running late may be unavoidable, but informing your patients is not.
WHY THIS SERVICE BENEFITS YOUR PRACTICE AND PATIENTS
Quality of care improves when you don’t feel the the time pressure created by a crowded waiting room.
Google ‘research on doctors being late’ and you’ll get 8,980,000 responses.
Higher cost and lower quality care —
Based on data from Athenahealth, Inc., Hannah Neprash’s research at Harvard reveals that “…when primary care physicians fall behind schedule, they truncate appointment duration, perform fewer in-office procedures, and record fewer diagnoses. The likelihood of a patient revisiting the primary care practice within two weeks significantly increases as a function of delayed appointment start time. In particular, physicians who run behind schedule increase antibiotic and opioid painkiller prescribing and increase referrals of a new patient to a specialist. For patients with preexisting prescription drug regimens, physicians running behind schedule are less likely to change the existing course of treatment. These findings suggest possible unintended consequences of the increasing time pressures placed on physicians by policymakers and private payers. Implications may include higher health care spending and lower quality care.” 1
1 Hannah Neprash, Better Late than Never – Physician Response to Schedule Disruptions, (Harvard University, Nov. 2016), 1, https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/hannahneprash/files/neprash_jmp_november2016.pdf
Missed appointments —
Over 12 million appointments in primary care are not attended each year: this is about 6.5% of the appointments made. Their research showed that a number of factors contributed to missing appointments and cited that “the efficiency of appointment booking systems” played a part. Poor patient–staff relationships was given as a reason for non-attendance, while missing appointments was seen as making relationships worse. Inefficiencies in the appointment booking systems were perceived as key in this ‘relationship’ context.” 2
2 Chris Martin, Tracey Perfect, Greg Mantle, Non-attendance in primary care: the views of patients and practices on its causes, impact and solutions, Oxford Academic, July 2005), https://academic.oup.com/fampra/article/22/6/638/497972
http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/ct-doctors-office-waiting-20180123-story.html
“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
Setting the Status
The doctor’s interface uses radio buttons to display your message which is customizable. The original concept was to be funny.
- On time – it’s a miracle.
- 15 minutes late – we told him to hurry up.
- 30 minutes late – don’t blame us.
- 45 minutes late – he’s old and slow.
- 60 minutes late – it’s time to retire.
Patients have access to the doctor’s status.
Appointment times are adjusted. You post that you’re running a half hour late so your patients can arrive a half hour later — saving a half hour of waiting. They check your website from their computer, smartphone or tablet.
- Patients can leave home later.
- They can run extra errands or shop longer.
- They will appreciate spending less time waiting.
- Minimizing contact with infectious patients.
https://youtu.be/O-6aagfP9hs
