BUSINESS

Online reservations: Letting patients make their own appointments

Some practices rave about the money and time they've saved by allowing patients to schedule visits through the Internet. But so far, most physicians aren't that enthusiastic.

By Neil Versel, AMNews correspondent. March 22/29, 2004.

Within five months of Murray Hill Medical Group in New York giving its patients the option of booking appointments over the Internet, the 34-physician primary care practice was able to eliminate five of its 18 telephone scheduling positions.

Today, more than two years later, about 35% of patients schedule their own appointments online, saving the practice more than $170,000 per year in staff salaries and benefits, according to Murray Hill managing partner Jeffrey Friedman, MD. Revenue is up as well, as patients can make appointments overnight and on weekends, allowing the practice to fill leftover or early-morning slots. "On average, a doctor will fill three overnight slots a month," Dr. Friedman says.

No-shows average less than 1% of patients who self-schedule, compared with 9% among those who make appointments by phone, because the automated system sends three reminders by secure e-mail.

Similarly, efficiency is up and costs are down at Tiny Tots Medical Centre in the Montreal suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, which takes automation a step farther.

"There are no people involved in the billing process, no coder, no eligibility checker. We don't have a paper-based superbill," says Tiny Tots Medical Director Benjamin Burko, MD. A superbill template in the system anticipates the CPT code for each type of visit, and allows the physician to upcode or downcode.

"Ninety-five of 100 visits go down the way you thought they would go down," Dr. Burko says. Physicians handle the 5% of coding that requires editing, while office staff never touches the bills.

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