National labor shortage, The Great Resignation, nursing shortages, physician shortages – these terms are all over the news these days, and it presents real problems for healthcare.
Labor Shortages
Shortages in medical specialties and nursing have been a hot topic for a long time, however the 2021-2022 employment climate is hitting healthcare hard. Scarcities are no longer pertaining to only clinical staff – it now includes non-clinical workers such as food service, environmental services, billing, and patient care assistants. So what is there to do? Rajesh Voddiraju, President, Patient Engagement Technologies division of Health iPASS, wrote the article “Digital patient engagement tools are providers’ solution to the labor shortage” featured in MedCity News. The article examines ways that organizations are using digital tools to streamline care processes and maximize the effectiveness of the staff they have left.
Digitizing the Patient Experience
To help reduce the impact of the labor shortage, Voddiraju writes that digital patient engagement tools may be the most effective way to cushion the blow. The article also categorizes these electronic tools into 4 key steps along the patient journey:
- Self-scheduling: free up staff from answering phones and allow patients to schedule at all hours of the day.
- Patient appointment reminders: Reduce no-shows with electronic reminders and provide digital check-in information.
- Pre-service check-in: Removes the need to fill out paper forms upon arrival. Reduces wait times.
- Post-visit check-out: Prevents double-posting of charges and better price transparency. Reduces collections.
Tools that streamline each of these 4 steps represent solutions to boost staff efficiency, reduce overhead costs, and most importantly, enhance the patient. Many of these tools serve to replace repetitive paper tasks, allowing each staff member to work at the top of their skill set.
From HIPAA-compliant online forms to appointment reminders, FormDr can demonstrate how easy these processes can become. Use prebuilt templates or completely customize forms for your practice, let your staff breathe a sigh of relief, and reap the benefits of digital tools.
