Patient check-in is a crucial process that maintains a healthcare provider’s workflow. Before telemedicine, patients showed up in clinics and filled out long and time-consuming registration and intake forms. Then, they would wait for the office staff to enter their information into a system before proceeding with their doctor’s appointment.
Today, virtual patient check-in or digital patient intake has a huge impact on medical practices. Telemedicine simplifies how health providers and patients interact. By providing easy accessibility and the use of digital patient forms, convenience benefits patients and office staff. Telemedicine software has features like virtual patient check-in to enhance the patient experience, making it easy to collect and confirm patient information, whether before an in-person or virtual appointment.
The COVID-19 virus prompted a major demand for innovative digital solutions to limit in-person interactions. For example, with electronic intake forms, your patients reduce their exposure to other patients in the waiting area because their time there is decreased. Not having a group of patients filling out forms because they have already provided their information through the virtual check-in process means your practice can effectively manage the patient intake process.
Why is patient check-in important? And how does optimizing the patient check-in process benefit your practice and improve the patient experience?
Digital tools decrease the time needed for patient intake.
Eliminating paperwork saves a huge amount of time. The best way to decrease congestion during patient check-in is to use patient management software to automate filing and key data capture processes. Curogram is a HIPAA-compliant patient texting check-in software solution that uses digital forms to capture important demographics, financial and insurance data, and patient medical history.
Curogram’s innovative patient management software allows patients to sign and complete consent forms and make payments using a computer or mobile device. Using Curogram to manage patient check-ins skips the manual paperwork and paper shuffling duties office staff perform, virtually eliminating wait times for processing. Curogram makes the process of sharing data efficient because it was built to manage electronic health records (EHRs); the feature is fully integrated, instead of a third-party interface.
In addition, there is a reduction in the risk of missing patient health history with EHR since previously recorded data from past visits is in the EHR database.
Here’s how integrating a patient management software like Curogram reduces errors during patient check-in processes and how it helps your practice.
Minimizes Data Entry Errors
Using digital forms for a virtual patient check-in minimizes data entry errors by having the patient enter their information directly. Data errors frequently happen during the patient check-in process. When medical staff finds penmanship difficult to read or when the entry is rushed, errors can happen.
Data entry errors can mean drastic problems for healthcare providers, impacting the patient experience, clinical decisions, and even billing. That is why the process of patient check-in is crucial to a medical practice’s workflow.
Also read: What It Means To Be A Data Analyst Intern
Eliminates Crowded Waiting Rooms
With Curogram’s electronic patient forms uploaded directly to the patient’s chart, you can record everything efficiently. The virtual patient check-in process can save valuable time to your patients, now that they don’t have to be in a waiting room for long, as this process decreases wait times. Your front desk staff can now focus on more important tasks because they no longer have to spend much time on data entry.
Provides Convenience
Virtual patient check-in forms offer convenience and accessibility through the patient portal. Convenience is essential to patient engagement and patient experience. With encrypted technology, your patients can complete their information online securely. Curogram’s patient portal is easy to use for all of your patients, and further increases how they may conveniently engage with your practice.
Enhances Patient Experience
By implementing effective patient virtual forms into your system, you improve the patient experience. Now that most patients expect processes to be digital as part of their medical experience, without digital solutions, your patients may experience longer waiting times and miscommunication — impacting their patient experience and review of your practice. You can greatly improve the patient experience by streamlining the intake process and meeting expectations with virtual patient check-in.
But, you won’t be able to improve the patient experience if your practice doesn’t have an advanced virtual patient check-in platform like Curogram.
Also read: Benefits of Using Practice Management Software
Find the right software to enhance the check-in process.
The patient check-in process has a significant influence on patient experience; use Curogram to make this crucial process more convenient and error-free.
Patient check-in can either improve patient satisfaction or drive patients away. The process can make a great first impression on patients, so healthcare providers must integrate an effective medical collaboration tool into their practice that can upgrade their system, enhance their patient check-in process, and make it digital.
By using Curogram’s electronic patient check-in software, your practice can dramatically reduce patient wait times that excessive paperwork from traditional processes creates. Patients tend to be more dissatisfied the longer they have to wait, which may cause them to avoid your clinic in the future. Worse, they might even tell their friends or family members not to visit your practice because of your slow patient check-in process.
Digital online forms are a solution to streamlining the crucial process of patient check-in. It may seem like a minor change to go virtual with your patient check-in process, but it does improve patient satisfaction and can build your practice’s success. Reach out to Curogram today to learn more.
