Hospital OPD's are always understaffed and over-utilized. Patients can be hard to predict because they come in at different times throughout the day and night, for a variety of reasons. For hospitals, patients who do not show up are a waste of resources like an unnecessary room and the staff waiting on standby.
However, with the right technology solution, hospital managers can reduce patient no-shows significantly while also maximizing resource utilization by using the data from hospital management software and predicting precisely when a patient will come into the clinic before they even do so!
Some of the steps that you can follow to reduce no shows and to maximize resource and staff utilization are:
Define and Send Appointment Reminders
Hospital management software modules help identify appointments as soon as they're booked online. This ensures that the selected time is allocated exclusively for the patient. The required amount of resources can be pre-arranged. To ensure that these preparations don't go in vain, patient management software sends automated reminders to patients about the booking time and date.
2 Way SMS confirmations to confirm or cancel appointments
Another feature that is beneficial for patients is providing them with SMS confirmations or reminders of the appointments they have booked.
For example, if a doctor were to have two-way confirmation, it would allow for both the patient and doctor to either reschedule an appointment or cancel it should they need further time. This helps the hospital be aware of last-minute changes and reallocate the staff and resources to other duties.
Patient follow-up and referral status tracking
Patient follow-up and referral status tracking are conducted to help you keep track of your patients' follow-ups, prevent scheduling conflicts, schedule reminders, check on referral status and send reminders for appointments to them, and much more. Patient management software can also automate the tracking process.
Making use of pending prescription dashboard
The pending prescription dashboard improves clarity on all activities depending on the patient’s readiness, consent, prior authorization from their insurance company, appointment availability, and resource conduction status. This helps to ensure that the patient will be able to make use of all the services required without any hindrance and won’t be required.
Reducing Patient Wait Times
This prevents patients from leaving without timely care due to long queues or unorganized patient flow. The appointment management features of clinic management software assist with waiting times by displaying the next available token, how long the current patient has been waiting in addition to their time and position in line. The service being offered helps to retain a patient without leaving the hospital unattended.
Using Online Patient Portals
Using online patient portals helps to be in touch with your patient wherever they are. Doctors and patients can communicate through the portal and book appointments or access medical information. This provides patients with a more personalized experience and helps hospitals reduce the number of no-shows.
The number of staff required at a certain point of time, the number of resources required all depend upon the number of patients that visit a hospital at a particular period of time. Proper patient management is a key factor that determines the overall efficiency of the hospital that builds a good reputation for a hospital.
Insta by Practo's hospital management software provides the perfect solution to manage patient flow, organize the workflow and optimize patient satisfaction.
Book now for a free demo!
