You can automate your practice by having patients enter their info themselves via the convenience of online registration, or filling it out in the office on a ‘smart device’
Putting some of your business tasks on autopilot offers many benefits. In addition to enabling your practice to complete certain functions without your prompt or interaction, your processes also become more streamlined – saving time and money.
Unnecessary steps are removed with automation, increasing your productivity and giving you more time to focus on tasks that require your attention, such as providing patient adjustments.
What sort of tasks can you automate within a chiropractic practice, providing these types of advantages? Here are a few to consider:
Automate your practice: new patient intakes
It can take a lot of time to bring on a new patient. Their complete medical history needs to be input into your system, in addition to adding their contact information, insurance information, and any other data your office requires before they can be seen. Even if you only have a few new patients per week, this time can add up.
Instead of having your staff enter this needed information, you can automate your practice by having patients enter it themselves via the convenience of online registration, or filling it out in the office on a “smart device.” Asking new patients to complete their own registration also reduces errors that can occur when transferring written data to an online platform.
When a new patient calls for an appointment, ask for their email and send them a link to the registration site. That way, when they come in to be seen, all they have to do is sign in and all of their information is there, ready for your review and action.
Patient check-in
You can also automate your practice via a patient check-in process by having them sign themselves in when they arrive at your office. One way to do this is with a kiosk that is strategically placed within your waiting room, or a tablet smart device similar to an iPad. Patients can simply enter their name and date of birth, for instance, and you and/or your staff are notified that they are ready to be seen.
You can get even more out of this automation process by giving patients the ability to enter additional information, such as if they are experiencing any issues that they’d like to address during that day’s appointment. This serves as a prompt for obtaining this helpful information while also giving you a head’s up to ask more about their concerns during the course of the visit.
Appointment reminders
Depending on the size of your practice, you may see as many as 40 patients per day. If you have to call each one beforehand to remind them of their appointment, this can easily lead to an hour a day (or more) in phone time. And if you try to save time by not issuing a reminder, you run the risk that they won’t show up, wasting your time and leaving you with unbillable hours.
Automate appointment reminders by using a system that sends notifications by email or text. Sending these notifications two or three days in advance gives patients enough time to rearrange their schedule if they did, in fact, forget about their appointment. It also gives them time to schedule a new appointment, if needed, which also provides you the opportunity to fill their newly open slot.
Billing reminders
You can’t continue to run your practice if you aren’t paid for your services. Save time and improve collections by automating your billing process.
While claims reimbursements require inputting diagnosis, procedural, and treatment codes, you can set up your collections system to send billing reminders to patients who owe a portion of the expenses. Also consider including a variety of payment options with the reminder, enabling patients to choose the one that is most convenient for them, which gets you paid faster.
You may even consider using a clearinghouse for claims sent to insurance providers. A clearinghouse is a company that reviews your claims submissions to verify that they are accurate. This helps reduce your rejection rate, speeding up the reimbursement process.
Email marketing campaigns
Email can be an effective way to automate your practice by notifying current patients about new services and products. It’s also good for introducing yourself to prospective patients, telling them about your practice and the benefits it offers. The problem is, it’s not always easy to find the time to sit down and write every email.
Several online platforms can take care of this for you by automating your email marketing practices. Some of the most well-known include Constant Contact, Mailchimp, and HubSpot. PC Magazine adds that Campaigner, Salesforce Pardot, and Sendinblue are also good options.
Although it may take some time to set up, once they are in place, they require very little effort to automate your practice. This provides for a smoother, more streamlined practice that gives you more time with your patients, and them more time with you.
