Buyer's Guide for Patient Appointment Management Software

Buyer's Guide for Patient appointment management software

 

 The patient appointment management software market is surprisingly complex for such a straightforward application. Most software providers offer some degree of medical appointment management functionality, resulting in a fragmented market with hundreds of options for just about every medical specialty and size of organisation. This guide helps buyers understand the medical appointment management software market and know where to begin their research.

What is Patient appointment management Software?

Electronic patient appointment management systems are designed to help alleviate the burden of no-shows and last-minute calls to reschedule appointments. These systems help practices manage the process of setting patient appointment bookings and follow-ups. At the individual level, systems help practice managers and receptionists record patient contact information and demographics, appointment times, reasons for visits and notes, and billing or insurance information. The primary goals are to help practices automate the appointment booking process, minimise no-shows and cancellations and maximise the number of patient visits.

More advanced Patient appointment management systems will provide automated email and SMS text message reminders to patients, and allow patients to book a confirmed appointment times and complete forms online.

Implementation Strategies

Medical appointment management software buyers will have the option to purchase a standalone system or a full suite of integrated appointment management and billing modules. The right deployment option will depend on the buyers' requirements and budget. In general, most companies that offer medical appointment management software require buyers to purchase multiple modules in a suite.

However, standalone medical appointment management software can be more affordable than complete suites.

Another viable option for buyers looking for an affordable deployment option is to consider software as a service (SaaS), or online Patient appointment management Software. In addition to being a cost-effective way to get a Patient appointment management system up and running, web-based solutions can be easier to host and maintain because the system is installed off-premise and supported by the vendor rather than internal IT staff.

What Type of Buyer Are You?

Before you can evaluate appointment management systems, you’ll want to know what buyer category you belong to. We believe 90%+ of buyers fall into one of these categories:

 Standalone buyers. These buyers are looking for a straightforward solution without lots of bells and whistles, but something robust enough to support their primary needs.

 Complete suite buyers. These buyers work for practices that are looking for appointment functionality integrated with billing modules.

Cost-conscious buyers. These buyers have the most basic needs and are typically looking for an affordable option. They may be open to a online software, but due to their budget they will likely implement an on-premise system.

 Multi-location buyers. These buyers work for practices that need to access appointment data from multiple locations, including satellite offices, hospitals, or home. They often prefer online deployment due to ease of implementation and sharing of data. 

The Patient appointment management Software Markets

These market trends should be considered as you select a system.

SaaS. SaaS solutions have become very popular and comprise a large portion of appointment booking implementations. Web-based deployment makes it easy for smaller practices to implement a system without IT staff, and it also helps large practices share data across multiple locations.  

Patient portal. More and more vendors are offering patient portals that allow patients to request appointment times online. These portals are typically integrated with systems that offer electronic medical records and/or billing. 

Online services.  Online appointment management software is a combination of both a SaaS solution and a Patient portal and allows patients to make their own confirmed appointments online and automates the appointment reminders.

Appointment management software should benefit the providers, front reception staff and the Patient.

Buyers should expect to realise the following benefits when implementing online Appointment booking systems:

Organisation and efficiency. Reception staff should be able to see quickly when providers are available. They should be able to gather patient information and finish the call quickly, allowing them to focus on providing quality service to their patients

Improved provider-patient communication. By receiving automated appointment reminders via SMS text message and email, patients are much more likely to confirm and show up for their scheduled appointment times.

Improved patient experience. By streamlining the appointment booking process, patients face fewer of the annoyances they can face when calling to book an appointments - long hold times, back-and-forth determination of suitable appointments, and lengthy explanations of chief complaints and contact information.

Reduced no-shows. One of the biggest challenges for outpatient health care providers is reducing the number of patients that simply fail to show up for their appointments. This results in wasted time and money. Online appointment management software can help staff track and analyse no-show trends within their practice. In addition, the system can assist in determining the most effective method for managing and sending appointment reminders.

Walk up appointments. Online appointment management software could also permit doctors to offer walk up appointments. While this would require additional staff support to continuously monitor and evaluate appointments, no-shows, and waitlisted patients, it could lead to greater patient satisfaction and revenue.

For more information about online patient appointment management software features.