5 Ways to Improve Patient Intake

Statistics can be thought provoking and challenging to our current mindset. For example, did you know there are more trees on earth than stars?¹ In healthcare, statistics can be staggering such as, “By 2030, America will have at least 40,800 unfilled posts for physicians.”² Or, “Medical expenses pushed 4 million people below the federal poverty line.”³ After reading these, it may create a feeling of helplessness or determination to effect change.

When we are looking for solutions to solve a problem, our resolve is often fueled by frustration. Where there is frustration or bottlenecking, it’s a red flag that it’s time to do something or to change something. As focus is on overall patient experience and satisfaction, it is inevitable that the topic of wait time or cumbersome processes are at the forefront. One of these complex processes is at the very start of the journey, patient registration.

At practices, front-desk or office staff report:

“I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to not have updated patient information in the system.”

“The individuals filling out the registration forms don’t feel well, or they are caretakers for the ill patient and their attention is elsewhere. It’s not uncommon for them to skip over paperwork or for individuals to get frustrated with the whole process.”

“Most registration errors occur because the process is too difficult. There are either a ton of forms to deal with or the language on the forms includes terminology that the general population is not familiar with.”

“I copy benefits information into the hospital’s non-integrated platform, which was another slow process that often resulted in inaccuracies. Quality assurance to find and correct those errors was a manual process, too, taking up more of the administrative team’s bandwidth.”

On the patient side, a visit to their practitioner is probably one of the only places they need to fill out paperwork by hand. It’s the equivalent to a store only taking cash or sending a paper check in the mail. If the practice is still handing out a clipboard with paper forms for patients to fill out, consider these statistics:

• 97 percent of patients are frustrated by their waiting room experience.⁴
• 3 of 4 patients say they would use a secure online method to access their medical histories and share information with their doctor.⁵
• Practices experience a 15% increase in patient payments prior to service while reducing patient access denials by 3.5%.⁶
• Practices saw a boost in productivity by frontline staff by 18% by establishing individual quality and productivity targets enabled by technology and real-time analytics.

Imagine a process that could truly help reduce stress on staff and make filling out forms easier on patients. It would be a repeatable and dependable patient registration process that lays a solid foundation for the entire patient journey. It begins by acclimating toward electronic forms and obtaining patient eligibility and financial responsibility before the patient comes in for their appointment.

Advantages to consider when thinking about improvements to your patient registration procedures:

1. Flexible data capture: send the patient electronic forms they can fill out where, when and how is convenient for them.
2. Specialty forms: forward forms and consents dependent on the practice specialty driven by appointment type.
3. Automated updates to the ledger: captured information automatically populate documents with correct demographic information, reducing data entry requirements and improving accuracy.
4. Eligibility and Estimation validation: real-time checks and transparent responsibility information delivered to the patient and accessible to staff prior to check in.
5. Capture payment early in the cycle: obtain co-pay, pre-adjudicated balances and credit card on file for payment assurance.

Many software partners use technologies to automate and digitize patient intake information that can auto-populate into the PMS or EHR. The return on investment for these capabilities will result in vast improvements in the patient experience, staff efficiency and payment accuracy. Embracing digital technology at the point of patient registration is a positive game-changing statistic for the practice.

To learn more about how you can enhance the patient experience by streamlining the preregistration process please stop by the Rectangle Health booth # 7078.

Join us:

Improving Revenue through an Enhanced Patient Experience

Presented by Rectangle Health
Wednesday, March 11, 2020 2:15 PM – 2:35 PM EST Theatre at Consumerism & Patient Engagement Pavilion

1. https://brightside.me/wonder-curiosities/13-statistical-world-facts-that...
2. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2613209
3. https://www.thebalance.com/health-care-inequality-facts-types-effect-solution-4174842
4. https://www.orlandomedicalnews.com/article/2979/your-waiting-room-an-often-missed-asset-and-marketing-tool
5. https://www.patientpop.com/blog/infographics/patient-experience-stats/
6. https://www.bravadohealth.com/2015/09/08/why-is-patient-registration-so-important/