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Ideas, tips and techniques for new generation selling and customer support.
Tag Archives: healthcare
2009
Five Unconventional Uses of Appointment Scheduling Software
Say ‘appointments’ and people think of doctors and salons. However, more and more industries are coming up with less conventional uses:
- Companies are using appointment scheduling as part of the sales process. For example, Merchant Payment Services (MPS) allows prospects and new visitors to its Web site to immediately schedule a time to learn more about MPS’ products and services.
- Universities are using appointment scheduling to better serve their “customers” – students who are “digital natives.” Students can self-schedule everything from activities at fitness centers to proctored exams.
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2009
Customer Service in Healthcare: It’s Alive!
I have great news: something I complained about turns out to be better than I thought.
Social media played a role, but more important, customer-oriented thinking is alive and thriving in some healthcare institutions.
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Back in July I complained about trying to get an appointment at a clinic outside Boston: they said I didn’t need an appointment, but when I got there I found a long wait. I didn’t name them (I try not to be a mudslinger), but I dropped a clue: I called them “Elsie.”
Filed under: customer service, healthcare
Tagged: customer service, healthcare
2009
Customer Service in healthcare: Patience Stretched in Waiting Rooms
Thanks to Twitter friend @SeerGenius, a passionate advocate for the patient perspective, for this piece, which showed up in Dear Abby of all places.
A physician writes about Abby’s ongoing discussion with patients about their frustration with endless waiting. He explains what life is like in a doctor’s office and concludes:
It does help to focus on good manners and empathy, and to alert patients at the time of check-in if there’s a problem, which allows them to return or reschedule. Of course, the physician conveying personally to his patients that their time is as important as his also goes a long way. — MARC SCHNEIDERMAN, M.D., PENNSYLVANIA
This resonates with my recent post about an x-ray appointment. To my great pleasure, that clinic contacted me and let me know about some changes they’d already made in response to my post.
How great is it that people are waking up to customer service – and the customer’s experience – in healthcare?
More on the clinic’s response later this week. It was exemplary.
2009
Long flu shot lines hinder delivery. Appointments could help.
I can’t help but notice an unspoken sense of helplessness in all the coverage about flu shots … the millions and millions of flu shots that will be given.
It’s a project of unprecedented magnitude, and while government authorities are working their tails off to get everyone vaccinated, they seem to be overlooking a proven opportunity to improve reach: offering appointments can reduce wait times, which helps compliance. (“Compliance” is healthcare’s word for whether patients actually do what providers recommend.)
Citing a CDC advisor who calls it “potentially the largest mass-vaccination program in human history,” the Washington Post said Saturday
To prepare, more than 2,800 local health departments have begun recruiting pediatricians, obstetricians, nurses, pharmacists, paramedics and even dentists, along with a small army of volunteers from churches and other groups. They are devising strategies to reach children, teenagers, pregnant women and young and middle-aged adults in inner cities, suburban enclaves and the countryside.
Last night ABC News ran this two minute clip. (You’ll have to sit through a commercial first.) At about 0:36 remaining, Ryan Owens says “Many children will go to their pediatrician. Others will have to go to the health department and line up, just like these people are.”
He turns and points to a lengthy queue.
This is ridiculous: it discourages people from getting shots.
Of course we’re biased; we believe in the convenience and effectiveness of Web self-service appointments, and we sell the stuff. But seriously: this is a public health issue. People are less likely to do something when there’s a long wait.
Conversely, when the time factor is under control, compliance increases. Evidence:
- In May we reported on a talk at the Pediatric Academy Societies’ annual meeting saying Appointment scheduling issues keep children from getting vaccinated.
- At last April’s “Health 2.0 meets Ix” conference in Boston, Kaiser-Permanente VP of PR Holly Potter (@HTPotter) reported that Kaiser has found (with its millions of Web users) that when patients can pick an appointment time online, at their convenience, they’re 40% less likely to no-show.
This isn’t rocket science: You know yourself, when there’s a long line for something you’re less likely to do it. It’s just that healthcare hasn’t quite woken up to the opportunity. (Kaiser has, most haven’t.)
We hope private providers and public health officials alike will give us a buzz. Spread the word.
Related resources:
- Blog post: Medical journal article shows reminders help patients stick to the plan
- Our healthcare solutions page
- Case study: Sonora Quest labs TimeTrade smooths patient traffic and guarantees service within five minutes of scheduled appointment time
- Case study: Berkeley HeartLab Centralized scheduling helps provide cardiac patients with top-notch care
- Case study: Family Health Care Clinic Family Health Care Clinic delivers better care, 25% more visits, $2.5 million more revenue
Filed under: appointment scheduling
Tagged: appointment scheduling, government, healthcare, waiting
2009
Airlines and X-Rays: Customer Service in Capacity-Based Businesses
I had a shower-stall epiphany yesterday, a collision between thoughts rattling around in my head. I saw a pattern that spans many unrelated industries: customer service in capacity-based businesses.
It hit me because of events in two vastly different industries a week earlier:
- That Sunday I was on the phone with Southwest Airlines, and their system said “Our hold time is unusually long. If you want our system to call you when it’s your turn, press 1.”
- Two days later I had my adventure with the x-ray appointment (not) at a local clinic.
What do airlines and x-rays have in common? Both are capacity-based, which means customers need to be matched up with availability. And there’s a world of difference in how these two managed the customer experience.
- Southwest had their robot do the waiting, so I didn’t have to.
The clinic has lots of friendly, courteous people, but responsibility for my waiting time apparently hasn’t dawned on them. “Come on in, and we’ll get to you when we can.”
Think about this. Waiting stinks (and is a costly waste of time), so what ways can you think of to improve the customer experience?
Later this week I’ll return to this, but give it some thought. Maybe in the shower.
For a refresher on the cost (and value) of people’s waiting time, see our very first post: It’s RUDE to make people wait. And costly. That’s where this photo first appeared. It’s a real-life case study.
Filed under: online scheduling, scheduling software
Tagged: customer experience, customer service, healthcare, impatience, waiting
2009
Customer Service in Healthcare (not): An All-Too-True Story
Update: A few weeks later the hospital described here contacted me, telling me of their terrific response! Follow-up post: Customer Service in Healthcare: It’s Alive!
Original post:
__________
What is wrong with these people???
I’ve been having a pain lately, in an arm that shouldn’t be having pain due to a past condition. The orthopedist who took care of my bones said to get an x-ray at some local shop and send her the CD. (She’s happy to save me the time of driving into Boston, and she knows local clinics can make a good x-ray.)
So I called the radiology department of a well-known, highly rated clinic in nearby Burlington – let’s call it Elsie – to make an appointment.
(You know about appointments. They help customers get served quickly and conveniently, and help managers plan their resource utilization. The win-win thing.)
Me: “Hi. My doctor says I should get an x-ray and send her the CD. Can I do that? — Good, I’d like to make an appointment.”
Elsie staff: “Oh, you don’t need an appointment. Just come right in. I mean, you can have one if you want, but you don’t need one.”
Me: “Cool!”
Me to my manager: “I’m going over to Elsie to get an x-ray. They said I can walk right in – should be quick.”
I get there, find my way through their campus (the directions were perfect), and find radiology.
The line to check in goes out into the hall. And at the front of the line, the sign on the desk says the current wait time is 30 minutes.
I look at my watch, conclude I don’t want to wait 45 minutes (or even 30) for a “no appointment needed” x-ray, and leave.
The parking machine wants money for my ticket. I talk to the cashier and the information counter; saying I wasn’t able to get my appointment so I don’t want to pay. (I’ve been there less than 10 minutes.) Both people look at me like I’m crazy and say there’s nothing they can do. A third person says maybe security will validate it. They gladly do.
On the way out I call again.
Me: “I want to make an appointment for tonight.”
Elsie staff: “Oh, you don’t need an appointment. If you want to make one for sometime tomorrow you can.”
Me: “I can’t make one for this evening so I don’t have to wait?”
Elsie: “No…” (sounding rather uncertain about why I’d be asking)
It’s clear to me that my time is not of the least concern to this clinic. I’ve been hearing this about healthcare in general, but I know of places where they do care. (My own hospital is one of them, and I know there are others.)
I just wonder, what on earth is so complicated? I happen to know first-hand that an appointment system for a few workstations is not at all expensive. Instead, they have a line of people out into the hall – sick and injured people, typically – and they cheerfully (genuinely cheerful) say “Oh, you don’t need an appointment.”
Methinks the world of healthcare is (mostly) so wrapped up in its own importance that it doesn’t even occur to them to respect their customers’ time. And that’s gotta change.
___________
2009
Okay, break’s over!
The smart marketing people at HubSpot will shoot me for writing a blog post title that doesn’t include our keywords (appointment scheduling, customer service, customer satisfaction, efficiency and all that), but there are times when a blogger’s gotta say what a blogger’s gotta say. And that is:
What a wedding!
Yes, that is a real picture of my real daughter, with her new husband and the groomsmen. (Never underestimate the value of hiring a great photographer.) Yes, I am as proud and happy as any father has ever been.
It was a seaside wedding in Newport, Rhode Island, three days after my last blog post. Since then I’ve taken time off work to go to Washington twice to talk about my after-hours passion: bringing the patient perspective to healthcare reform. (I’m co-chairman of a medical society and I write on two healthcare-related blogs.)
My slides and video from one trip are on this blog, if you’re interested. This “hobby” is an outgrowth of when I had cancer in 2007. When I got better, I naturally applied my day-job high-tech thinking to how we can improve healthcare: better efficiency, better customer service, lower costs, and all that. (Imagine me, talking about those issues!)
In these meetings I urge that new-wave medical records systems let us view our medical information over the internet. (Me, advocating self-service??) My own hospital lets me do it, and I don’t see any reason why all providers shouldn’t.
Anyway, enough! Back to work.
Filed under: appointment scheduling
Tagged: healthcare, life
2009
Appointment scheduling issues keep children from getting vaccinated
We believe in the value of appointment scheduling, but we never thought it would turn into a public health issue. But apparently it has.
In a talk last week at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ annual meeting in Baltimore, Dr. Melissa Stockwell of Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons reported on findings about vaccination appointments. A key finding:
Difficulty with scheduling appointments was a BIGGER factor in no-shows than whether parents even think the vaccines are worthwhile.
Specifically, for parents who doubt the value of vaccines, no-shows were 3.3x more likely than normal, but parents who had difficulty scheduling were 3.8x more likely to no-show.
Irwin Grossman, an eagle-eyed member of our sales team, spotted this assessment on the American Academy of Nurse Practioners site SmartBrief:
Health care providers need to pay attention to communication and ease of scheduling, as children whose parents rescheduled appointments were 3.8 times more likely to miss a visit for a vaccination, according to New York City researchers.
The full article, from Reuters, is here.
Filed under: appointment scheduling
Tagged: appointment scheduling, efficiency, healthcare
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