Electronic patient registration has many benefits, including information sharing, less patient waiting time, and increased office efficiency. All of these benefits can add up to a higher revenue stream and business growth. Many health care providers don’t understand the impact that a paperless registration process can have on their bottom line.
Ease of Information Sharing – Sharing patient information with all care providers has become an industry standard since the 2009 Recovery Act was signed by President Obama. The Act outlines incentives for health care providers who implement an Electronic Health Record program in their practice, allowing other qualified practitioners access to their patient’s information. Sharing information electronically is faster and cheaper than printing, faxing, scanning, and mailing paper documents. The savings can be enormous!
Increase Patient Satisfaction by Reducing Waiting Time – As a patient walks through your clinic doors, he/she expects service immediately. Whether it is the registration clerk handing them a clip board or the opportunity to fill out information electronically on a tablet, the patient is looking for some type of interaction. This first encounter is important to the patient and also to the flow of the office. When the patient types registration information in to the electronic registration software, some of that information can auto populate into other fields and forms, eliminating the time it takes to fill the lot of forms. The patient will be seen faster and the visit will seem more productive to them, increasing the chance of a positive satisfaction survey or review.
Take some of the load off of the staff and streamline processes – Medical office staff can become overwhelmed very easily, as multiple patients walk through the door at the same time as the phone ringing several different lines. This can cause a bottle neck of patients waiting for that first interaction and mistakes can occur while the staff is being bombarded with questions and paperwork. This scenario can be eliminated with the use of electronic registration software and a few tablet devices. This inexpensive alternative is quickly becoming popular with physicians, staff, and patients, alike. Patients simply check themselves in to the office for their appointment while the registration clerk is busy answering the phone. The information entered by the patient will automatically populate some data fields and there is no need for the staff to print and scan paperwork. This will speed up other processes within the office, like a snow ball effect.
The biggest benefit of implementing a paperless registration system to your medical office is that you will ultimately increase the revenue stream by eliminating some factors that are currently hindering it. You will reduce paper printing and scanning, errors due to manual data transfer, office staff interruptions, longer office visit times, and reduced patient satisfaction. Eliminating these factors will increase your ROI and your revenue, allowing your practice to grow at a faster pace.
