As a society, we are very used to booking and paying for services online. Whether this be a restaurant booking, a hotel reservation or a beauty appointment.
We aren’t however, very used to booking online for health services such as GP appointments.
Some companies working in healthcare are looking to change that, introducing online booking services to benefit both the healthcare practice and the patients.
So, is online booking in healthcare a time save genius, or will it end up being more hassle than it’s worth?
Pros
First, let's take a look at the pros of online booking for GP services.
Huge saving in administrative time
One of the most time-consuming tasks for a receptionist in a GP practice is answering calls and booking appointments.
This exchange can go back and forth to establish the correct appointment type and agree on a time and date that is both available and suits the patient.
Online booking eliminates all of this. Patients can view all available appointments with each practitioner and select the one they would like.
This reduces the number of calls coming into the practice, allowing the administrative team to spend their time in other ways.
Patients like the ease of online booking and seeing all available appointments which they can choose from.
There have been complaints in recent months of the wait times to get through to a GP receptionist and the dislike for being triaged by a receptionist before being able to book.
Online booking deals with all these complaints, making it quicker and easier for patients to book.
Take payments online at the time of booking
Online payments come hand in hand with online booking. Many online booking providers, including ones working in healthcare, offer the ability to take online payment from patients in order to confirm the appointment.
This results in less aged debt, fewer no-show appointments and better cash flow management.
Cons
What about the cons of online booking for GP services?
In order to facilitate online booking, you will need a website. This can sound daunting, but websites are becoming increasingly easy to develop through the use of websites such as square space and wix.
Less control over what patients are booking
While you will have the ability to manage your online appointment slots and block out any times which you don’t want patients to be able to book, you will have less control over who is booking what type of appointment.
If you only have standard appointments which are suitable for most patients, then this isn’t too much of a problem. However, if you have lots of different appointment types in terms of length, cost or patient demographics, then you may find that you have patients booking appointments which aren’t suitable for them.
There are ways you can manage the patient journey on your website to direct them to the most suitable appointment, but you may find you need to call patients to change the appointment they booked.
Overall, we think the pros of online booking massively outweigh the cons.
Giving patients the ability to book their GP appointments online is preferred by patients and massively cuts down on administrative time and costs for your practice.
Taking payment from patients automatically at the time of booking reduces time in chasing for payments, eliminates aged debt results in fewer no-show appointments, all making your practice more profitable.
Looking for an online booking provider?
Hero Health is revolutionising GP practice management with online bookings, payments and accounting.
Find out more
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