The right mix of hi-tech and human touch works.

One factor that makes an ophthalmology practice successful is its use of the right mix of human empathy and technological wizardry. This blend feeds and acknowledges business growth, financial expediency, generational gaps and divides and the need for optimum efficiency.

In our practice, we have five ways that patients can make appointments: some use the phone; others prefer the chat room or our patient portal; some make them at the front desk after an appointment; and lastly, we have a patient appointment tracker called Brevium patient reactivation software, which keeps tabs on those who have not returned to our practice for over two years.

THAT FIRST IMPRESSION

Like every practice that started decades ago, ours only provided appointment scheduling by phone.

With time, a couple of things happened: automated phone trees were invented, and we noticed that established patients weren’t coming back. We had lost touch with them, the patients who felt their eyes were healthy and didn’t think they needed once-yearly checkups.

So we did two things. We made a decision about automated phone trees: not in this practice. We made the commitment to always have human beings answer the phone, to have well-trained staff that wouldn’t lose that appointment-seeker. And, we also trained our front-desk staff to make pre-appointments. We did this 10 years ago.

A positive tone is key, says Jessica Kube, our front-desk supervisor. We don’t say, “Do you care to make your next appointment?” We say, “Is such and such a good time and day for you?” Because we can schedule 15 months out and have flexible appointment times, including Saturdays, evenings and early morning choices, patients have plenty of options, she says.

The beauty of the pre-appointment (appointment made at check-out even for a year out) is that results can be tracked. Our management team members, including our physicians, do so on a monthly basis to note areas of improvement. And yes, we have a higher percentage of appointments made, compared to just the phone appointments alone.

WEB OPTIONS

We have found the chat feature is attractive to existing patients who invite their friends to try our services. We started the chat feature two years ago. Existing patients use the patient portal. They ask questions on it and ask us to notify them when a specific appointment type is available. The front desk staff, Jess says, takes over the chat. Every receptionist is trained to man the chat feature. If the chat feature is used when the practice is closed, we provide an option to leave a message, which is answered the next day.

Our portal and chat room are getting more use over time. Those who have latched on latched on hard.

But in the end, all patients using these different appointment methods must talk with a human being to make that appointment. The personal touch makes a powerful positive impression. OM

Cynthia Matossian, MD, FACS, is the founder of Matossian Eye Associates. Her e-mail is cmatossian@matossianeye.com