Patient Appointment Scheduling Virtual Assistant

With the world at a pandemic’s heels, it is no exaggeration that everyone’s way of life has changed. With economies being threatened, businesses are adjusting for the needs and demands of their clients and consumers to be met to stifle economic fallouts. Thankfully, technology is advanced enough to allow most transactions to take place online. Unsurprisingly, the medicine and healthcare industries are the most affected by COVID-19 as there is an unparalleled necessity for healthcare access and delivery.

Most hospitals and clinics have taken a telemedicine approach to provide services. As people continue to follow safety protocols more seriously, there is a limit to the number of people allowed in facilities. In fact, most clinics and other healthcare providers don’t allow walk-ins these days. Patient appointment scheduling allows patients to book a visit to doctors and healthcare service providers for a certain time and day.

With the influx of online or phone-in bookings, patient waiting lists are inundated with hundreds, if not thousands, of appointments that span for weeks to months. Office staff and appointment software programs can only do so much, and that is why you need a specialist virtual assistant (VA) to help mitigate the overflow.

An appointment scheduling VA is someone who helps manage patient appointments through different applications and online software portals to streamline a medical or clinical facility’s workflow efficiently.

Patient scheduler VAs are adept at organization and management. Time is of the essence and schedules will help allot the time a patient needs when seeing their healthcare provider. Efficiently setting up the dates and times ensures that much-needed resources are maximized and used.

Handle Your Automated Patient Scheduling System

Patient scheduler VAs are trained to know how to operate an automated patient schedule software. There they make full use of the appointment system’s features including scheduling for both patients and providers, calendar management, confirming or denying bookings, and setting up automatic reminders. They also know how to manage patient appointment systems from various online portals and apps for patients who are self-scheduling.

Manage Waiting Lists

Canceling or rescheduling medical appointments are often inevitable, and others can definitely benefit from getting the unoccupied slots from the no-shows. VAs can help manage the waiting list by inserting an available patient who might be free for that time and date.

They may also do calls over the phone, via email, text, or a secure patient portal to ask the next patients in the list to know if they are available and ask for confirmation to minimize waiting times and utilize unnecessarily empty slots throughout the day or week. They can also set up automatic reminders for the practice’s cancellation and rescheduling policies and any associated fees for these.

Send Follow-ups

Some patients may need more care than others. Medical scheduler VAs can help send follow-up messages for those who need to come for another schedule.

Send and Collect Assessment Questionnaires and Consent Forms

Filling up forms take time, but the process can be sped up if they are sent ahead of time. VAs can help send and collect patient questionnaires and consent forms before their appointment. This will help physicians and care providers assess the patient’s health complaints or problems before they see them.

Collect Patient Feedback

Like any establishment, feedback is critical to healthcare providers. Knowing where patients are satisfied or where a practice is lacking is critical in improving quality care and overall patient satisfaction. VAs can collect feedback from surveys or during aftercare. Ultimately, listening and taking measures to improve processes and services will increase patient retention, engagement, and clinical outcomes.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to healthcare. A skilled patient scheduling VA on top of in-house care staff can certainly help identify and reduce quality gaps in your practice. Finding the right VA for the job is therefore crucial.

Here at 20four7VA, we understand that qualifying candidates take time, and our specialty is doing just that. We are an experienced telehealth virtual staffing agency with a rigorous vetting process to ensure that we find only the best people for you. Talk to us today for a free consultation.