Nowadays, every patient wants things done quickly and therefore, a growing number of dental practices worldwide are going online with appointment booking systems. Because of COVID-19 crises, there is a great need, now more than ever, to understand how such systems not just actually work, but potentially benefit the practice and its patients.
Now, bookings, re-bookings, reminders, follow ups, cancellations, and different other functionalities have become easy for patients and these can easily be handled online with efficiency and without all the fuss which is associated with manual appointment scheduling systems.
Patients can either get their appointments scheduled by calling or by visiting a website.
However, dental practices of all sizes are discovering the benefits of outsourcing patient phone calls to reputed, qualified, and highly-trained third-party providers. These services can save dental practices a great deal of money while reducing the workload of current staff.
For many years, Capline has offered excellent service to patients with a dedicated team for billing/claims, scheduling appointments, easy appointment cancellations and solving any problem that comes their way. Capline also provides bilingual services for Spanish-speaking patients, as well.
Let us read how both online appointment scheduling and outsourcing patient answering services can help patients and office staff.
It goes without saying that patients who work or have other commitments during daytime hours, can really have trouble finding time to pick up the phone to schedule an appointment during business hours. Online scheduling can offer patients the ability to book appointments even when your practice or office is closed.
While you’re promoting your practice online, your marketing campaign would bring patients to your website and convince them to book an appointment.
When they are booking an appointment, patients generally look for the easiest option. There is no iota of doubt that patients like having options when it comes to scheduling an appointment. Some patients may only just prefer to book online, and if you’re not offering this option, you may be missing out on this demographic. However, this would also be a good option if you are experiencing a high call volume and your office staff has trouble answering the phone when it rings.
Online dental appointments can also be scheduled outside of normal business hours.
Online patient scheduling not only benefits patients but it also helps keep your schedule full. Therefore, this is a win-win for both your patients’ satisfaction and your business.
Online patient scheduling could allow for patients to see you sooner due to last minute cancellations or other changes in your or patient’s schedule.
Without a doubt, online appointment scheduling could increase patient satisfaction even before a patient visit.
Sometimes, patients are unable to book or schedule their appointments when their calls are not answered. It mostly happens when they call during non-working hours. For example, if you find yourself with a toothache at 11 PM, when traditional measures won’t allow you to schedule an appointment until business hours or the office opens the next morning but online-appointment-scheduling reduces this problem. Online appointment scheduling allows discreteness and convenience thus it can not be rivalled by telephone booking which is a traditional method.
Online appointment scheduling is not only helpful for patients but your staff also feel less burdened by phone calls, they can really focus on providing patients with a positive experience in the office.
Moreover, a good online appointment scheduling system will often include automated appointment reminders, which can surely help you reduce no shows or late cancellations.
Scheduling an appointment over the phone is one of the most traditional methods of scheduling or booking an appointment. However, it’s a disadvantage for people as they have to call during business hours only. On the contrary, online appointment scheduling or booking is great for people with limited free time because it allows patients to schedule dental appointments online at his or her own convenience. It means that they can do it on weekends, after-working-hours or whenever it works the best for them. There are no time-restrictions for scheduling dental appointments for patients.
Benefits of outsourcing the patient answering services
When you opt for patient answering services, you can give your staff more time to serve or cater to the needs of patients or to complete other important tasks. Although answering the queries of patients or booking appointments on the phone is important, you should also understand that most of the money brought to your dental office is from patients who are already there. Focussing on your patients, without being distracted by answering calls can surely make your patients feel cared for. You can also stay clear of bad reviews being posted online about your services or dental office.
Outsourcing patient answering services can really help you reduce cost to a great extent. To start with, the cost of recruitment or hiring and training will also be completely eliminated since there will be no need to recruit and train resources. You would not have to provide resources with sick leaves or any such benefit. Outsourcing can give you access to a trained professional who will answer the calls from your patients without the above hassles.
With a professional and experienced patient answering service, you can be sure that notes about each and every patient are taken keenly. This is so, because a dedicated professional will be taking care or handling no other task other than call answering. With most accurate notes at hand, you can easily and quickly follow-up on your patients. You can also remind them of the date when their appointments are due. Outsourcing patient answering services would make all your follow-ups with patients a breeze.
Through outsourcing, you can avail of patient answering services, even after office hours. You will not be charged for overtime done by a third-party or the outsourcing company you hire. No-doubt, this will give you the flexibility to opt for a patient answering assistant as and whenever you need one.
Take-away
An online dental appointment scheduling or booking system shows patients what time slots are available. It is time-efficient, provides transparency and can help patients feel more informed. Online appointment scheduling or booking system works 24/7 and gives freedom to potential visitors or patients to book an appointment anytime they want. Dental providers are turning to technology to improve the quality of their services. Online appointment scheduling systems are definitely a step forward for these dental service providers and can surely help patients whenever it comes to online appointment scheduling.
However, you must be familiar with the never-ending hours of work that has to be dedicated to patient care and it leaves them with no time to attend to calls. Patient answering services offered at Capline Dental Services can ensure the proper management of patient calls, while your dentists or office staff attend to patients. Whether it is scheduling an appointment, following-up on an appointment or rescheduling appointment, appointment cancellation and so on. You can be sure that all the requests or needs of your patients are taken care of.
