The Prescription for a Modernized Patient Experience

Patient care has always been the number one priority for health care providers and clinics; however, COVID-19 placed a special spotlight on the patient experience—something that was rarely examined with a fine-tooth comb before the pandemic.

Pitfalls in the Patient Experience

The extended time many patients spent in a waiting room prior to being seen was an expectation to which many have grown accustomed. Since COVID-19 made its worldwide entrance, hospitals began to see as much as a 400% increase in emergency room visits with patient intake each day, according to a Penn State article. All types of medical providers, including OB/GYN and family medicine practices like our own, were forced to expand their capabilities and address patient concerns in regard to visiting their doctors in-person.

Family medicine is not often thought of as a tech-forward part of the medical industry; however, we’ve found immense opportunity in leveraging technology to improve operations and processes that make a positive impact on our patient experience. Enterprise technology—specifically cloud-based software for e-forms and content management—has made an immediate impact during one of the most terrifying periods some people have experienced in their lives.

A Potential Solution

We, at Nature Coast, have explored ways to enhance the patient experience, from how we communicate with our patients to streamlining the collection of their information. Recently, we worked with Laserfiche and technology solution provider Business Automation Pros to implement a Laserfiche Cloud content management system and realized our vision for a digital new patient intake process. We had begun this digitization process just before COVID-19 arrived in the US and stay-at-home orders began to take effect. This enabled us to continue caring for patients without missing a beat. With so many businesses scrambling to adapt to the changing world, Nature Coast was instantly set up for patient satisfaction even when all else seemed to be thrown into disarray.

Before using Laserfiche, our patients were instructed to come into our office prior to their appointment time to fill out their new patient packet, and bring their license, insurance card, and more—all the paperwork necessary for us to provide care. The 10-15 minutes or more that patients spent on this may seem like a small issue—but according to a Fierce Healthcare study, the lowest-rated physicians have the highest time spent in the waiting room. Providers like us have therefore sought solutions to reduce the amount of time a patient spends in a waiting room to see a provider and streamline the patient intake process.

The result of this digitized solution was a decrease in patient wait times by 75%. Allowing forms to be submitted online streamlined the workflow for our staff and created a steady flow throughout the day. Patients are now encouraged to submit all necessary documents prior to their appointment day and time using the Laserfiche Cloud-enabled form.

Due to Laserfiche’s robust technology, our staff is able to transmit any collected patient information into the patient’s electronic medical record. There is no wait time for missing information or documentation once they arrive.

The decision to implement a cloud-based intake system is part of Nature Coast’s commitment to our patients’ experience by leveraging technology, increasing convenience, and supporting data privacy. Protecting patient information is something that we know we must do on a day-to-day basis, and this new process system offers our practitioners and administrators access to necessary information while also offering the ability to set granular access rights, which is a big benefit to our team across the board.

Positive Reactions and Future Implications 

Since implementation, our team at Nature Coast have received plenty of positive feedback from patients, as well as staff, about the new digital intake process. Our patients are no longer sitting out in the waiting room filling out paperwork, and there are no longer issues of forgotten driver’s licenses or insurance cards. Our clinic continues to build on the success of our new cloud-based solution, preparing our human resources and financial departments to digitally transform key processes next, starting with placing our job application process online.

With new patient volume on the horizon, we plan to leverage the process data that we get from our digital operations—analyzing how long processes take, identifying bottlenecks and helping with resource allocation—to help grow the practice once more departments are onboarded.

With some of the medical industry returning to pre-pandemic operations, it is an opportune time to leave a variety of manual intake processes in the dust.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Population Health Learning Network or HMP Global, their employees, and affiliates. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, association, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.