A paperless plastic surgery office is guaranteed to free up time for both you and your staff, as your productivity goes up and errors decline. While it might be tempting to cut back on staff hours with your newfound efficiency, there are better ways for your practice to make use of it. Consider ways in which you can enhance your patient’s experience with the extra time you now have to offer.
The Benefits of a Paperless Office
A paperless office is one that has fully employed all of the automated tools at its disposal to increase accuracy, efficiency and quality of patient care. Consider the benefits of going paperless:
- Paperless files are easier to retrieve, share with other offices
- Fewer risks of errors due to handwritten notes
- File updates and reviews can be done from any location
- More storage space within the office for other functions
- Eliminate cost of paper and other supplies
The time savings with any of these benefits can be significant, particularly when you combine all these benefits into a single, effective office system. That time saved in paperwork can be better spent with your patients, to build your practice and your reputation.
The Customer Service Quotient
Your patients don’t want to feel like they become a part of an assembly line the moment they enter your office. They want to know you are tailoring your cosmetic procedures to their precise needs and expected outcomes. How do you ensure every patient feels like they are getting the individualized attention they deserve? By spending sufficient time with that individual every time she walks through your doors.
Some of the specific steps you can make to improve your patient experience include:
- Ensuring patient calls get answered promptly by staggering staff so someone is always available to answer the phone
- Lowering patient wait times in your office by creating an automated scheduling and reminder system to reduce no-shows and schedule your time more efficiently
- Taking sufficient time to talk to patients at the initial consultation so they leave your office feeling comfortable with their procedure and confident with their decision
- Following up with prospective and current patients to boost acquisition and retention numbers
- Engaging patients through other channels, such as social media and your personal blog
- Evaluating the experiences of your patients through surveys and other types of follow-up
- Creating patient rewards programs to give your regular patients a reason to continue to return to your office and refer you to their friends
Plastic surgeons are tasked with a more challenging task of patient acquisition and retention due to the fact that insurance does not usually play a role in which patients contact them. Instead, they must rely on their presence online and in the community, as well as their reputation and quality of patient care. These goals can all be addressed more effectively when your office goes paperless and there is more time to spend directly with your patients.
Making the Grade
A paperless office works best when the automated system that is implemented can be customized to meet the unique needs of your practice. At PatientNOW, we offer software solutions designed by plastic surgeons for plastic surgeons, so you can rest assured the tools and features included in your product are created to work with offices just like yours. You can also further customize your software to meet your precise needs and the expectations of your patients. To learn more about PatientNOW or the solutions we offer, contact us today at 888-644-2987.
