virtual receptionist news Archives - Page 2 of 2

Time to stop sitting around

A study from Leicester and Loughborough Universities has shown that sitting still for long periods of time can increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease and death. Whilst the trigger limit varies from person to person, those who sit for the longest are at greatest risk, with the strongest association being between sitting still and diabetes.

Dr Emma Wilmot who led the study said that “people convince themselves they are living a healthy lifestyle, doing their 30 minutes of exercise a day. But they need to think about the other 23.5 hours.” Suggestions to redress the balance include conducting standing meetings, walking at lunch time and typing whilst standing up.

There will be those working in some health fields who will greet the study with a wry smile. Health practitioners working in occupations such as physiotherapy or who offer beauty treatments can find themselves standing for long periods and so would welcome the chance to sit down at the end of a busy day. However, for them, the benefits of moving around during the day can be outweighed by the stress of having to catch up at the end of a day; with paperwork and telephone calls taking up time which would be better spent on leisure.

Those who are caught in this trap may well find that using the services of a virtual assistant can enable them to relax at the end of the day, rather than spend several hours on paperwork. Sometimes thought of as simply providing a telephone answering service, virtual assistants in fact do so much more. For example, taking advantage of diary management and patient records services means that patient notes will be organised and available at the touch of a button, appointment reminders and invoices sent out and the diary kept up to date.

This means that rather than turning round at the end of a day to remind clients of upcoming appointments , search out patient records for the next day and send out invoices, all the health practitioner needs to do is glance at their diary and then go home to a well earned rest. Add in the fact that whilst the health practitioner is working the virtual assistant is answering calls and filling up their diary and the overall effect is to reduce no shows and banish non-earning blank times during the day.

So whether the health practitioner is on their feet all day or not, using a virtual assistant service at least means the end of sitting around waiting for patients to show, and paperwork free evenings.

Prevention is better than cure

A disturbing report in The Lancet reveals that during the swine flu pandemic of 2009, preventative attitudes in the UK fell far short of those in countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Japan or America. For example whilst 89% of Argentineans washed their hands or used sanitizer more regularly during the outbreak, only 53% of Britons did the same.

A similar pattern was seen in respect of covering up coughs and sneezes and avoiding hugging or kissing friends. The conclusion from the research is that Britons are less likely to adopt protective measures than people elsewhere. This has implications in respect of the way in which information on disease is disseminated.

In response to the belief that good hygiene habits are best instilled in the young, Global Handwashing Day on October 15^th will take place as the centre piece of a week of worldwide hygiene-based activities. Top of the agenda is an attempt to set a world record with schools across the UK all taking part in a hygiene lesson at 10am.

Of course, hygiene is not just confined to schools and the public at large. Health practitioners know only too well that hygienic practices form an essential ingredient of the customer experience. Whether treating a client for back pain, providing a beauty treatment or simply providing a consultation; if the ambience and surroundings are wrong then the treatment will suffer.

One of the key ingredients to providing a good client experience is to give the client the surety that your attention is solely focused on them. This means taking steps to ensure that consultations aren’t interrupted by telephone calls or other distractions. Using a virtual receptionist service means that calls are answered and appointments booked by the receptionist service without the need to interrupt treatments to answer the phone.

With a handy always on view diary system the health practitioner can see appointments at a glance and keep control of their day whilst maximising treatment times. Add in appointment reminders and invoicing and even more time can be spent on treating the patient.

In a time when effective diary management can make or break a health practice, using the services of a virtual receptionist can help to prevent no-shows and minimise empty hours. Working alongside the health practice, the virtual receptionist helps to ensure the client experience is a pleasant one and that is the first step on the way to an effective cure.

Proactive phoning

A trial of a new telephone system has found that contacting patients by telephone can help to spot early warning signs as well as cut down on unnecessary hospital appointments. The study into patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease required patients to input answers to a series of questions using their key pads with the results being analysed by doctors.

This regular contact not only alerted doctors to patients who needed urgent attention it also eliminated the need for some three hundred unnecessary hospital appointments, saving both time and money. Regular contact also resulted in patients being more aware of their condition, enabling them to be more proactive in self-management.

In a way this trial is another step forward in the growth in understanding of how health professionals can use telephone services to improve patient interaction and fill appointment books. Simple measures such as sending out SMS appointment reminders can not only improve the client attendance rate but will also prompt clients who cannot attend appointments to cancel in good time. This enables practitioners to re-fill appointment slots and maximise time spent on treatment.

Similarly, taking steps to ensure that calls are answered helps to foster the client relationship. We all lead busy lives and tend to steal moments from our day to carry out tasks such as making appointments. If the call is not answered the chances are that the need to phone will slip from our minds for some time or that we will simply telephone elsewhere. This is where a virtual receptionist service can be so valuable. With the virtual receptionist ensuring that the call is answered on behalf of the health practitioner there will be no chance that the client will phone elsewhere or that an urgently needed treatment will be postponed.

Whether they be osteopaths or chiropractors, beauticians or physiotherapists, the one thing all health practitioners have in common is the need to maximise time spent with patients. Interrupting treatments to answer the phone or blocking out diary time to remind patients of impending appointments is simply not a viable option if the practice is to run to its potential. Calling on the services of a virtual receptionist service means that calls are answered, appointments made and reminders sent without taking up practice time. And with easy to use diary software which is visible 24/7 the use of a virtual receptionist doesn’t preclude the practice making follow up appointments at the end of a treatment session.

Reducing “no shows”

A recent NHS report revealed that 1 in 10 hospital appointments in 2011 resulted in “no shows”. This adds up to a staggering 5.5 million missed appointments and costs the NHS £millions each year. Even if each patient has a genuine reason for missing the appointment, missed appointments have a knock on effect across the NHS.

In announcing the “no show” figures, the then health minister, Simon Burns, said “It is important that people realise that not turning up for their agreed appointments means other patients’ care might be delayed.” Although the figures were down by 250,000 on the previous year they still have a significant impact on NHS services.

Hospitals are starting to employ a variety of methods in a bid to reduce the number of those who fail to turn up for appointments. One project in Bedfordshire cut missed appointments by 30% simply by asking patients themselves to write down the appointment time and repeat it back to the receptionist. Other health providers have started sending reminders to patients by text or e-mail whilst Newham University Hospital doctors now check up on their diabetes patients via Skype.

The problem of missed appointments also affects those in the private healthcare sector. However with many services such as osteopathy and physiotherapy operating as via comparatively small practices, health practitioners can be torn between the options of treating patients or spending time in administration. This means that inevitably patient appointment reminders are not sent, raising the chance of missed appointments.

Whilst some private health practices have a policy of charging patients for missed appointments these fees can prove hard to collect and may endanger the patient/practitioner relationship. There is no point in trying to collect a missed appointment fee if that means missing several other fees in the future.

This is where a virtual receptionist service comes into its own. Answering the phone, making appointments and sending reminders via text or email, the virtual receptionist service takes the appointment strain, leaving the clinician free to maximise patient time. Interestingly a study in 2008 showed that those in the 20-24 age group are the most likely to miss appointments followed by the 25-29 and 15-19 age groups. The most tech savvy groups are therefore the worst offenders and a reminder system which takes advantage of text or e-mail could therefore have a significant effect.

Treating the Olympic legacy

When the UK team were bidding to host the Olympic Games, one of the arguments which swayed the decision makers was the importance placed on legacy. Press coverage of this aspect of the games emphasised the legacy implications of regenerating part of London with a secondary mission of improving sporting facilities in other areas of the UK.

However, for many legacy was a lip service addition to the games themselves. Not any more. The impact of the Olympics has seen an explosion of interest in sports across the UK. Clubs have seen a massive surge in enquiries from all ages and our streets are filling up with cyclists and joggers.

Admittedly this surge in interest has been partly helped by websites such as the “things to do*” and “join in local sport**” sites which have made it easier for those interested in local sport to find out what is on in their area. However, the sites are only being successful because of the interest in sport which our Olympic success has generated.

So, with sports clubs across the land putting on taster session and extra courses, some of which are filing up almost as soon as they are announced, and with joggers and cyclists taking to our streets in numbers it is inevitable that sooner or later there will be an increased call for those who treat sporting injuries. No matter how careful a sports club is, no matter how well regulated the training; injuries are a side effect of physical activity.

This means that physiotherapists and osteopaths, chiropractors and massagers may well be seeing an increase in requests for treatment. Taking advantage of this increased demand requires the ability to maximise treatment times and minimise other administration functions. This is where a virtual receptionist service comes in handy. While practitioners are concentrating in providing treatment, the virtual receptionist can arrange appointments, answer calls, send out invoices and manage patient records.

With all the long term benefits which sport and exercise brings we hope that the Olympic legacy will last for many years to come. Helping to treat those who have stumbled along the way, getting them back on the pathway to success is the task of physiotherapists and others. Taking the administrative strain, well that is the job of the Clinic Appointments team.

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/thingstodo
**https://www.joininuk.org/

The rise of sports science

One element which has emerged very clearly from the Olympic Games is the extent to which sports science has grown up. Competitor after competitor has talked about getting a massage or having some treatment. We already knew that sport had moved on but the unmistakeable message is that sporting prowess is now inextricably linked with science and medicine; with psychologists, food nutritionists and physiotherapists all playing their part.

In fact it’s not just the Olympic athletes who will benefit from physiotherapy. A team of veterinary physiotherapists has also been drafted in to look after the needs of the 180 or so horses taking part in the Olympic and Paralympic games.

Whilst the top teams travel with their own support staff, the Olympic organisers have also drafted in a range of medical practitioners to help look after the athletes. One such, physiotherapist Sian Vaughan-Evans, has even postponed her honeymoon in favour of helping out this summer. Mrs Vaughan-Evans told the London Evening Standard that she was looking forward to meeting “athletes from around the world and sharing their Olympic experience, and doing what I can to aid recovery, prevent and treat injuries.”

This dedication to providing treatment is something which we see time and time again in the health practitioners that we come into contact with via Clinic Appointments. Perhaps it is because those who take advantage of our virtual receptionist service are constantly seeking ways to improve patient service and maximise treatment times. Using the Clinic Appointments service means that whilst patients are being treated, our reception team are booking appointments, answering simple queries and sending out appointment reminders. This means that patient treatment time is not taken up in answering the phone or administration and prospective patients are not lost due to unanswered calls.

When it comes to providing treatment it doesn’t really matter if the patient is a top athlete or someone who has twisted their ankle getting off a bus. The important thing is to provide the right treatment as quickly as possible to aid speedy recovery. Maximising the time available for treatment is one way to ensure that patients are not kept waiting for days to receive an appointment.

As an added bonus, taking advantage of the Clinic Appointment practice management and patient record services just might free up some time in the evening. This enables practitioners to watch or take part in their favourite sporting activities in free time which would otherwise be spent sending invoices or filing records.

Maximising business through texts

The UK’s love affair with texting continues. A recent Ofcom report revealed that for the first time ever the volume of mobile calls has declined, whilst on the other side of the equation the average consumer now sends over fifty texts every week.

Admittedly many of these texts are sent by the 16-24 year age group. Interestingly this group say they prefer talking face to face. However, with 90% texting family and friends on a daily basis compared with only 63% talking face to face it is clear that sending texts has become a way of life. Luckily for businesses, this love affair with texts presents a fresh marketing opportunity.

Perhaps because text messages have taken their place as an intrinsic part of our daily lives, we are far more likely to open text messages from businesses than mail or e-mails. Surveys show that we read over 90% of text messages from businesses. This percentage increases still further when the text is from a known and trusted business source.

This means that businesses which want to attract the attention of their clients can use texting with a fairly high certainty that the text will be read. For businesses in the health or beauty sector which need to minimise “no-shows” the use of text reminders can prove invaluable.

The Clinic Appointments Diary Management service includes a text service. This means that we can send appointment reminders by text, or e-mail, as well as send out marketing SMS text messages. Reminding clients of their appointments not only increases attendance rates, if for some reason clients are unable to make the appointment the text message prompts them to cancel, giving the business time to re-book the appointment slot.

Using texts to send out marketing messages is also an effective way of attracting clients’ attention. So, you can quickly and simply let your clients know if a new treatment is available or a new product has arrived. Add an invitation to book with the text alert and your client can call you via the Clinic Appointments Diary service and book their appointment on the spot. Better still, while they are booking via Clinic Appointments, you can concentrate on maximising your time with patients.

Yes, texting has arrived as a force in our lives. Using texts as appointment reminders or as marketing channels means that the text savvy business can make texting a force for their business good as well as providing an enhanced service to clients.

Scoring Service Levels

Following a nationwide GP Patient Survey in 2011, users of the NHS Choices website are now able to compare the service provided by differing GP Practices. Underlying data measures a range of factors to produce an overall GP Practice score out of 10.

The Department of Health has responded to BMA fears that the scores fail to take account of challenges faced by individual practices or areas by confirming that this will be considered when the data is published. For patients, the main benefit of the data will be to enable them to compare GP performance within their immediate location and therefore choose a GP Practice which meets their needs.

For those interested in delving deeper into the statistics, the overall score out of ten is broken down into varying areas including the levels of service provided as well as clinical experiences. This broad approach recognises the growing swell of opinion that good levels of health care start with the experience patients have when trying to contact the healthcare practice and make an appointment. Indeed, Patients Association chief executive, Katherine Murphy, told the BBC that the Patients Association helpline “is seeing a trend of increasing complaints about GPs, covering a number of areas, including difficulties obtaining an appointment, complaints about behaviour of reception staff and other factors that affect their overall experience.”

Of course GP practices don’t have a monopoly on the need to constantly juggle clinical and administration time. Other health professionals such as chiropractors and osteopaths also have to manage the twin demands of being easily contactable whilst maximising the time given to treatments.

One answer to this dilemma is the use of a virtual receptionist service. With telephone answering and diary management outsourced to trained health receptionists; clinicians need not worry about receiving a low score for contactability or professional image. Add in features such as appointment reminders, invoicing and managing patient records and health professionals can concentrate on providing the high level of service that their patients require.

The use of a virtual receptionist service also brings a revenue benefit. With ease of contact comes a fuller diary and with appointment reminders comes a reduction in no-shows. This helps to increase income at a cost which can be as little as the equivalent of one new client each month. Whilst this latest NHS scoring initiative is confined to GP Practices, other health professionals can learn from the GP experience. Using a virtual receptionist service may just be the step change needed to improve service levels alongside revenue and patient care.

Prioritising Patient Records

On 21 May the Department of Health published its information strategy setting out a ten year plan for improving information management across health and social care. Key targets include providing people with access to their own records online by 2015, promoting online appointment booking and the ability to share test results on line.

The information strategy, subtitled “The power of information” has a two fold aim. Firstly it seeks to improve the patient-professional partnership by providing patients with access to their records and thereby improve informed choice decisions. Secondly the strategy recognises that a system which efficiently collates patient records will save time and money as well as improving care.

The proposals have received broadly positive responses. Although the BMA has raised a concern over security of records, particularly across shared systems, it has also gone on record to say that it supports “the sharing of relevant information between healthcare professionals.” The Chief Executive of the NHS commissioning board, Sir David Nicholson, commented that the adoption of an information strategy is the first step “in a genuine cultural shift in the NHS that will enable the service to work at its most efficient and give patients real power and choice.”

Certainly the more work which can be done on computerising patient records the better. Health professionals work in a time pressured environment and time spent looking for records is time which is not spent on patient treatment. This is one of the reasons why Clinic Appointments instituted its Patient Records service. This enables health care professionals to upload and view clinical notes, x-ray and scan records as well as client invoices. The software is simple to use and the secure records can be accessed at any time 24/7.

Keeping patient records in one place means the end of searching for missing records; it means that patient histories can be viewed at a glance and eventually it will mean that information can be shared with others under the information strategy. Linking the patient records service with diary management and virtual receptionist services frees up clinicians to do what they do best. So, no more filing, no more searching and no more phone answering, just client treatments.

The Department of Health and the NHS Commissioning Board have until April 2013 to finalise the information standards and route map. In the meantime the Clinic Appointments Patient Records Service is there for health professionals who are looking to cut down on administration time now.

Helping the nation to work

Speaking in April 2012, Legal & General director John Pollock said that the Government could save £billions if they adopted a coherent long term sickness absence policy. Mr Pollock believes that the current sick pay system “doesn’t deliver the right mixture of support for employer or employee and is not delivering value for the taxpayer in the long term.”

In part the comments reflect the conclusion of an earlier report from November 2011 which stated that early health intervention helped to reduce sickness absence with specialist expertise playing an important role in promoting a swift return to work. This in turn helps both the country’s budget and the individual’s wellbeing.

Of course, any report about sickness absence is likely to be the catalyst for some debate. On the one hand the Government is actively seeking to move claimants from long term sickness benefits and back in to work. On the other comes a report from Opinium which said that 12% of those taking sick leave in the first two months of 2012 were not ill enough to justify taking the time off. In the middle we have the health and safety debate centring on whether those with illnesses such as colds and mild flu should go into work and risk passing their illness on or stay at home to protect their workmates.

Key to the debate is the degree to which early intervention is possible. Certainly when it comes to muscle and skeletal problems, in general the earlier the intervention the swifter the cure. OK there is the prevention is better than cure argument and that has led in general in recent years to workplaces adopting more stringent health and safety procedures. But no matter how careful someone is, there are going to be times when our muscles or ligaments give up on us. And when that happens, it’s can never be too soon to start on an appropriate course of treatment. Those visiting physiotherapists, chiropractors and osteopaths may well be unable to work in the short term and the longer the injury goes untreated the more likely secondary problems may develop.

This requirement for speedy treatment places a logistical challenge on health professionals. On the one hand they need to maintain a regular treatment schedule for existing patients whilst on the other hand time needs to be made available in order to start new treatments on those whose injuries have just occurred. The challenge for health professionals is therefore to maximise treatment times whilst making it easy for patients to contact and make appointments.

This is where a virtual receptionist service comes into its own. Professionally trained receptionists can take calls, book appointments and answer simple patient queries leaving the health professional free to provide treatment. With appointment reminders sent to reduce “no shows” the use of a virtual receptionist service can help to ensure that the maximum number of patients are treated in the time available. This helps to ensure early intervention and therefore speeds up the return to work. Whilst we can’t do much about those taking a “sickie”, a virtual receptionist service can make the difference both for those who need to see a healthcare professional quickly and for the professionals themselves who wish to maximise their working time.

0800 0789333 info@clinicappointments.com

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