There are different places a person can seek medical care. There’s the traditional hospital. You can also head to your doctor’s office, or you can go to a free clinic or urgent care facility.
Where you’ll go depends on what your health insurance situation is and how urgently you need assistance. One thing has become clear, though, as we proceed further into the 21st century: patients benefit when facilities can automate their various processes.
Let’s look at five of the reasons why automation helps both patients and medical facilities on which they rely.
Patients Can Get Their Medication Easier
Automation software helps medical facilities in the sense that a patient can reach out through an online portal rather than calling the doctor’s office or hospital. This way:
- Hospital staff can focus on other tasks
- Patients don’t need to navigate a phone menu to ask for a new scrip
A patient who is in pain following an operation won’t need to leave messages for their doctor. They can send a request via an online portal, and the doctor can check their messages periodically during the workday. They’ll see the request and comply, or the doctor might have an office manager who can handle that.
At the same time, other office staff members don’t need to field calls from individuals trying to get more medication. They can work on other tasks.
Patients Can Set Up Appointments Easier
A patient might also need to set up an emergency appointment. They can walk into a free clinic or urgent care facility without one, but if the patient wants to see their regular doctor, they have to arrange it beforehand. If the doctor has automation software in place:
- The patient can see if the doctor can fit them in that day
- The patient will not need to speak to the office staff
It’s possible that the patient could be trying to set up an appointment when the doctor’s staff are out of the office. They could be at lunch, for instance.
The patient can determine whether an appointment is possible that day. They can use the automated system, and they won’t take up any office staff member time.
The Doctor’s Staff Won’t Put in as Many Billable Hours
At a busy doctor’s office, before automation, the staff had to respond to every patient request, question, prescription requirement, etc. With automation software in place, the staff doesn’t need to worry about any of that.
The patients can get whatever help they need online, unless they have some extraordinary request or question, and they must talk to a staff member on the phone. For the most part, this means the office staff has less to do each day, so they don’t need to put in as much overtime.
The doctor will appreciate this since they will not need to pay their staff for that additional time. The patients will benefit since the doctor can run the office cheaper, and they can pass those savings on to the patients.
The Patient Can Pay Via the Online Portal
The patients can also pay their bills easier once a doctor or hospital sets up automation software. They can input the credit card information, and the software can then retain it, assuming it has the proper security safeguards in place so hackers can’t get to it.
The patient will not have to call the office staff to give them their credit card number every time they have an outstanding bill. This means they can pay at any hour of the day or night, regardless of whether the office is open or not.
The Patients Can Get Their Test Results Easier
Patients who have troubling symptoms will want to get their test results as quickly as possible. It’s for their peace of mind.
If automated software did not exist, they would have to wait for their doctor to call them back. Doctors are frequently busy, and the patient might need to wait for several harrowing hours or days before they get that call back.
With an online portal, the patient can log on and check out those test results as soon as they become available. It’s better than having to wait and taking up the doctor’s time.
Medical automation saves time, and it often saves money as well. Doctors, their office staff, and patients should all be glad that it exists, and any medical facilities that don’t use it yet should install it without delay.
Throughout the year, our writers feature fresh, in-depth, and relevant information for our audience of 40,000+ healthcare leaders and professionals. As a healthcare business publication, we cover and cherish our relationship with the entire health care industry including administrators, nurses, physicians, physical therapists, pharmacists, and more. We cover a broad spectrum from hospitals to medical offices to outpatient services to eye surgery centers to university settings. We focus on rehabilitation, nursing homes, home care, hospice as well as men’s health, women’s heath, and pediatrics.
