Why Virtual Patient Check-in Is Crucial in 2020

2020 is the year that tools like virtual patient check-in are making an impact. Digital tools are simplifying how patients interact with their healthcare providers. Offering convenience, accessibility, and usability, tools like virtual patient check-in improve the patient experience. Also known as digital patient intake, this tool makes it easy to gather and verify important patient information. The coronavirus pandemic prompted a huge need for digital technology to limit in-person interactions. With virtual patient check-in, your patients can socially distance and your practice can more effectively manage the check-in process.

Benefits of Virtual Patient Check-in

Social Distancing

Social distancing is essential for managing the growth and spread of COVID-19. By keeping a safe distance between yourself and another person, you are less likely to come into contact with the virus should they have it. Virtual patient check-in eliminates the need for multiple patients to gather in your office. Instead, they can complete their check-in at home. This keeps them out of the waiting room and away from other people. Once they have completed their digital forms, they can go straight from their car to the designated appointment room.

Eliminates Crowded Waiting Rooms

Virtual patient check-in keeps patients out of the waiting room, but it also decreases wait times. This process can save valuable time on behalf of the patient and the provider. With digital forms uploaded directly to the patient’s chart, providers can trust that everything is right where it should be. Your front-line staff will no longer have to spend time on data entry and can focus on other critical patient tasks.

Improve the Patient Experience

Patients have come to expect digital processes to be a part of their medical experience. Without them, they experience frustrating waiting times, miscommunications of health information, and poor in-office experiences. With a virtual patient intake form, your practice can improve the patient experience by streamlining the intake process and meeting expectations.

Reduce Data Entry Errors

Data entry errors happen all the time during the intake and check-in process. The percentage of data entry errors is almost always higher when data is manually entered by staff. When dealing with unpredictable patient hand-writing or rushed entry, errors can happen. Data entry errors can be extremely problematic for providers, impacting clinical decisions, and the patient experience. Virtual patient check-in reduces data errors by having the patient enter the information directly into their chart.

Offers Convenience

Found in their patient portal, virtual patient check-in offers accessibility and convenience. Using encrypted technology, your patients can complete their intake documents online. Convenience is essential to the patient experience, but also to patient engagement. By making things like this easy to access and use, patients are more likely to engage. Virtual patient check-in from a quality vendor is easy for any patient to use.

During the pandemic, digital processes are essential to keeping patients safe. Virtual patient check-in promotes social distancing while improving data accuracy and convenience. To learn more about a quality digital intake solution that can help you, click here.