In recent times many clinics have wholeheartedly accepted the importance of overall patient experience to the fiscal well-being of their setups, and have invested a lot of money, time, and effort in trying to achieve the requisite levels in the same. But in many cases it just so happens that the clinic may have defined their goals too narrowly or approached the whole task in a rather hackneyed and detached manner. BillingParadise, as a broad-spectrum consultant for over 100 clinics in the United States, covering functions ranging from Medical Transcription, Medical Billing, to Medical Coding etc, have found that adopting the following 4 point mantra always yields better outcomes when it comes to overall patient experience.
a. Have a Spotless Infrastructure: It pays to keep in mind that patients are beings who are under tremendous amount of strain both physically and mentally, and that clinics are the last refuge for them. Hence it is very important that the clinics project an image of a safe and hygienic sanctuary. Thus, make sure that there are ample seating arrangements in the waiting room and the same is well-ventilated. The parking lot has to be adequate and free of debris.
b. Thoughtful Extras: If the average patient waiting period is usually quite long in your clinic, thoughtful additions to the infrastructural facilities like Television with Cable, WiFi, Popular Magazines and Coffee Vending machines etc would go a long way in making that wait easier on the patients.
c. Use EHR Meaningfully: EHRs have no doubt become a very important part of the repertoire of the modern physician, and there is of course the stimulus to boot. But without adequate training on multitasking using the EHR, you may end up in making the patients feel that you are not really involved in their care, and is just trying to get through your day’s agenda. That is because keying inputs into your EHR as the patients relate their problems, without looking into the eyes, can make you appear detached. Thus it always pays to seek out the services of a dedicated EHR support service who can help you familiarize with the various tools and options present in the particular EHR, and also give your round-the-clock support with EHR issues, since the EHR vendor’s support lines invariably stay busy at all times.
d. Outsource Your Medical Billing and Medical Coding: Use your in-house staff for liaisoning with patients in regards to their insurance coverage before the appointments and about payment options after the appointments, so that the patients feel helped when it comes to this rather thorny aspect of healthcare delivery. Outsource repetitive functions like insurance medical billing and complex ones like medical coding to dedicated vendors, so as to avoid complications, which your clinic cannot really handle with the limited but expensive staff usually employed for such tasks.
To discuss further on the above topics and to find out how BillingParadise can help you make headway when it comes to improving your clinic’s overall patient experience, call BillingParadise on the toll-free at 1-(888)-571-9069 or email steve@billingparadise.com.
