We have not engaged with a consultant, just doing our best to manage our workflow.
I consider scheduling a difficult task and often seems a lot like staffing our local fire department.
Although we ask our staffers to do multiple tasks (i.e. pre-auths, responding to additional FAX requests from referrers, rescheduling patients due to illness, etc.) the MOST IMPORTANT task is promptly responding to incoming patient calls to begin appointment scheduling.
So for these priority calls we sit and wait for the phone to ring. Requests for an appointment via email or voicemail can be scheduled at OUR convenience, but patient calls are received at the PATIENT'S convenience.
We may have a 10-15 minute lull in calls then receive multiple calls concurrently with an 'all hands on deck' to properly and promptly respond.
This has been a frustrating issue for us - and I assume all other practices.
I am considering a message for each caller such as 'press one to schedule a new appointment, two to discuss an existing appointment, three if you are a physician practice' or some variant.
This was we can at least triage calls to ensure we take care of PROSPECTIVE patients first.
My request would be:
- How do
you handle incoming calls?
- Do you have an automated method to schedule patients?
If so, what method(s) do you use?
We are considering using INBOUND texting such as:
- Text 'MRI' to <our phone number> and we will auto-respond with a fill-in-the form to begin the process
We can then review this information and respond to the patient AT OUR convenience to even out the workflow and reduce staff stress
- Complete an online form from a link on our website
Without the ability to request appointment time as we must be mindful of the lead-time for pre-auths.
I see other competitors offer the appointment time FIRST through an online link on their webpate without regard to any necessary admin delays which only frustrate the patient and our staff.
A universal problem that
should have a universal answer.
We have been successful in
reducing time to schedule by taking the
minimum of information from the patient (name, address, phone, email, insurer, etc.) then automatically send a TXT/email to the patient where they answer all the pre-appointment questions as a self-service function. Patients are happy to answer questions via their smartphone or via email. If they do so via smartphone we prompt to take a PHOTO of their prescription, insurance card and I.D.
This has worked well for us and when done properly with a cooperative patient reduced our staff time on the phone to schedule patients by 80%.
More time for staffers to attend to other incoming calls or other time-sensitive tasks.
We also automate pulling information from the patient's insurance company through one of three major portals to additional reduce our staff time to confirm due from patient at time of service.
Not absolutely perfect due to the <unnecessary IMHO> complexity of many insurance plans and purchased coverage, but we're refiining it daily!
Comments, please?
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William Kisse
COO
Washington Open MRI, Inc.
Rockville, MD
bill@womri.com(301) 424-4888
https://www.linkedin.com/in/billkisse/------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 12-17-2020 10:25
From: Joshua Dorsey
Subject: Consultant for Workload Balancing?
Good morning,
Wondering if anyone out there in the RBMA community has engaged with a consultant to review and give recommendations for how to staff their radiologist workforce to best meet volume demand during the course of a workday, while taking into account variances by time of day, weekday versus weekend, seasonal variation, etc.
We'd like to see if someone could give a fresh perspective on how we staff to best meet demand and possibly help with ideas like predictive modeling via schedules, etc.
If anyone out there has done this work or can recommend someone, please let me know!
Thanks - Josh
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Joshua Dorsey
Chief Executive Officer
Radiology Associates of Northern Kentucky
Crestview Hills KY
614-284-1597
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