Like in many service establishments, the front office is an essential part of your medical practice. Your front desk staff not only handle the patients, but they also perform critical administrative tasks. Since they’re the first area patients encounter when they enter the facility, the front desk is the first impression that patients will get from your practice. It would be no exaggeration to say that optimizing your front desk can have a significant impact on the rest of your healthcare practice.
The Importance Of Your Practice’s Front Desk
Your front desk staff can be deal breakers in your medical facility. It is the first area patients visit when they enter the property, so it’s their job not only to keep patients happy, but to keep everything flowing smoothly.
Aside from client management, front desk staff also handles major administrative tasks like:
• Answering client inquiries through emails and phone calls
• Addressing client complaints and directing them to the concerned departments or personnel
• Scheduling appointments
• Capturing and verifying patient information
• Pulling up medical records for the doctors
• Copying and emailing relevant documents
• Maintaining a smooth patient flow
• Collecting co-payments and processing insurance claims
The atmosphere in the reception area is usually fast-paced, requiring the front desk staff to have a keen eye for detail.
Although they’re overlooked as administrators, your front desk staff facilitate access to health services. When they do their job efficiently, your physicians can prioritize which patients need urgent care over others.
Improving Your Front Desk
Although the success of your front desk lies on your staff, they can only do so much to ensure everything runs smoothly. Equipping them with the right processes and systems makes their work more efficient.
Here are ways you can improve the efficiency of your front desk:
1. Identify Efficiency Issues
Create a patient flow map and identify what happens during a typical day. Identify how long a patient spends in each area and determine what causes long waiting times. Figure out ways to cut down wasted time. Depending on your findings, you could automate, streamline processes, or come up with other solutions.
2. Pre-Register Patients
Pre-registering involves patients completing the paperwork before their appointment and sending it through email, courier, or a patient portal. This minimizes bottlenecks and long waiting times because your staff already has the information on hand. Pre-registering also reduces encoding errors, especially when the paperwork is sent through email.
3. Automate Administrative Tasks
Practice management systems automate most of your front desk’s administrative tasks. It streamlines workflows and processes, making it easier for your staff to schedule appointments, collect payments, process claims, and other activities.
By using software to streamline administrative workflow, your staff can focus on tasks like addressing inquiries, assisting other personnel, and keeping patients happy.
4. Streamline Paperwork
Do you use all the information you gather from patients in their registration forms? If not, it might be time to remove it. Changing your patient forms so that they fill out the relevant information reduces the waiting time as your front desk staff will encode only what’s needed.
5. Consider An Online Patient Portal
A patient portal significantly reduces calls your front desk receives. It can also be used to request appointments, pay bills, and view patient results and exam results.
To reduce waiting time, consider installing self-registration tablets around your reception area. That way, patients can complete forms and register even while your front desk staff is attending to other tasks.
6. Consider Investing In Virtual Receptionists
A virtual receptionist undertakes several tasks associated with an in-house receptionist. Using voice over internet protocol (VOIP) software, they’ll take calls, schedule appointments, and process medical insurance from a remote location.
You don’t need to lay off your front desk staff in favor of a virtual receptionist. Have your front desk staff focus on daily operations on-site while your virtual receptionist handles the remaining administrative tasks.
7. Set A Routine For Keeping The Reception Area And Waiting Room Clean
You wouldn’t want your visitors to sit in a dirty room or in an area that looks gloomy. Especially with the COVID-19 crisis going on, making sure that your reception area is clean reassures patients that you are a properly run facility. Remind your staff to do a quick wipe-down of chairs and tables and pick up trash and magazines that visitors might have forgotten to return to the rack.
It may seem like a straightforward task, but it does wonders for your visitors. Having a clean, orderly waiting area creates a warm environment. Your patients are less likely to show impatience in the waiting area while waiting for their physician.
Like every other staff in the office, improving your front desk management boosts efficiency and time, as well as improves patient satisfaction. Even minor changes to your processes help your staff ensure that everything runs smoothly and that your patients receive the attention they deserve.
