Easing Scheduling For Patients

Health Data Management Magazine, July 1, 2008

Like many integrated delivery systems, Florida Hospital in Orlando wanted to make it easier for its patients to schedule outpatient procedures at its seven hospitals with more than 1,000 physicians. So the organization created a centralized call center to handle all outpatient appointments.

Using scheduling software from Unibased Systems Architecture Inc., Chesterfield, Mo., the call center pre-registers all patients, says Samuel Cruz, who manages the center.

Staff members enter all patient data, including demographics and insurance information, into the system, and then use the software to schedule appointments. For example, the software can select the first available MRI appointment at any of seven locations or pick one at the patient’s preferred location, Cruz says.

“Preregistration saves patients a tremendous amount of time,” Cruz says. “It used to take them 45 minutes to register when they arrived at an outpatient site. Now it’s just five minutes to confirm the information.”

The call center staff, who work at numerous locations, including their homes, access the software over a virtual private network using thin client application delivery technology from Citrix Systems Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Within about a year, the organization will likely add patient self-scheduling on a Web site, Cruz says. Eventually, physicians will be able to schedule patients for outpatient procedures from their offices via the Web, he adds.

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