ISBN#: 978-1-56829-533-6
Patient access is business-critical for today’s medical practice. Patient access impacts appointment availability, the cost to deliver medical care, patient and referring physician satisfaction, as well as your practice’s bottom line. Velocity to treatment is the new competitive advantage for medical practices.
Patient Access: Tools and Strategies for the Medical Practice addresses the critical components of patient access: provider supply, patient demand, scheduling optimization, telephone management, call centers, virtual communication, and telehealth. It provides strategies, tools, and resources to help your practice effectively manage the patient access challenge.
With this book, you'll learn to:
- Balance provider supply and patient demand
- Cultivate a patient access culture
- Determine tactics to streamline call handling
- Develop strategies to optimize scheduling
- Create best practices in telephone management
- Enhance communication with patients and referring physicians
- Provide a detailed road map to design, develop, and manage a call center
- Develop protocols for virtual communication and e-visits
- Select systems that can provide an effective telephone platform
- Benchmark key performance indicators (KPIs) to recommended patient access targets
Chapter 1 – Overview
Chapter 2 – Strategy
- Creating a Culture of Access
- Balancing Provider Supply and Patient Demand
- Optimizing Provider Capacity
- Summary
Chapter 3 – Scheduling Optimization
- Scheduling Methods
- Strategies to Optimize Scheduling
- Summary
Chapter 4 – Call Demand and Performance
- Telephones and Quality
- Inbound Calls
- Outbound Calls
- Telephone Quality and Service Expectations
- Customer Feedback
- Summary
Chapter 5 – Telephone Access Redesign
- Engage Stakeholders
- Telephone Action Plan
- Telephone Management–By Call Type
- Converting Inbound Calls to Outbound Calls
- Reducing Inbound Calls
- Summary
Chapter 6 – Telephone Staffing
- Recruiting Telephone Staff
- Creating a Telephone Staffing Model
- Staging the Telephones
- Staff Education
- Staff Resources
- Staff Performance Management
- Summary
Chapter 7 – Call Centers
- What Is a Call Center?
- Key Decision Steps in Call Center Development
- Staffing a Call Center
- Call Center Design
- Summary
Chapter 8 – Virtual Communication and Telehealth
- Patient Portal
- Virtual Visits
- E-consults
- Summary
Chapter 9 – Communication Tools
- Telephone Scripts
- Staff Knowledge
- Nonverbal Communication Tools
- Customer Service Tools
- Message-Taking Tools
- Callbacks
- Summary
Chapter 10 – Systems and Technology
- Voicemail
- Automatic Call Distributor
- System Selection
- Summary
Chapter 11 – Key Performance Indicators
Conclusion
Index
About the Authors
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See What Other Healthcare Professionals Are Saying about This Book:
“Patient Access is essential for healthcare leaders who are responsible for designing and implementing a state-of-the-art patient access management system. Once again, Woodcock and Kegan have distilled the complexities of access management into a practical, must read book. Healthcare consumers equate access with quality and this newly revised version addresses the fact that patient access has moved beyond simple appointment and telephone system management. The book identifies the critical components required to enhance patient access in addition to providing tools, resources, best practices and case studies. It is the roadmap for transformation in patient access management.”
Christine A. Schon, MPA, MHCDS, FACMPE
Chief Operating Officer
Cheshire Medical Center / Dartmouth Hitchcock
Past Chair, MGMA Board
“Everyone wants a silver bullet with respect to understanding healthcare patient access and call management. However, these are complicated issues with as many facets as providers who practice within our organizations. Elizabeth and Deborah break down these complications into consumable and manageable parts; providing data points and measures that will guide you on how to make sustainable change.”
Paul Schmitz
Director of Patient Access and Capacity Management
Physician Enterprise Adventist Health System