Computer telephony applications used to be limited to touch tone banking. Today, there are many different applications that can be implemented to meet the needs of the medical practice. Physicians' offices can automatically call patients to remind them of scheduled appointments, and ask for confirmations. Patients can inquire on account balance information including what has been submitted to their insurance carrier. Patients can access educational material via the phone at a time that is convenient to them.
Patients can initiate prescription renewals via the phone.
Medical practice administrators can notify staff regarding schedule changes. Practices can survey their patients regarding their satisfaction levels and implement other questionnaires via telephony applications. All these options serve to increase patient retention, improve patient satisfaction ratings, improve practice productivity as well as staff communications, improve revenue streams and improve compliance. There are an unlimited number of possibilities that allow the medical practice to provide more efficient service to patients as well as employees, while minimizing the need for recruiting and retaining additional staff to support the increased service levels. In fact, programs exist that automatically remind the patient that their prescription is nearing a completion date, and they need to take action rather than waiting for the patient to complete their prescription and try to get a reissue in a crisis state.