A clinic’s front desk juggles the phone, the diary, new-patient paperwork and the patients standing in front of it, usually all at once.
Much of that work follows the same steps every day, which makes it a good fit for automation. Here are five jobs to hand over first, in the order we’d do them.
1. Make online booking easy to find
If booking online means hunting for a link, patients phone instead. Put your practice software’s booking page on every page of your website and in your Google Business Profile, so patients can book in a minute, day or night.
2. Collect forms and referrals before the first visit
Forms filled in on paper at reception, then typed up later, slow everyone down. Send online forms with the booking confirmation, saved to the patient’s record where your software allows, so the details are there before they arrive:
- contact and emergency contact details
- consent forms
- referral letters or care plans, uploaded securely
- health fund or Medicare details, where relevant
3. Offer cancellations to your waitlist
Late cancellations are hard to fill by phone. Where your practice software supports a waitlist, a cancelled time can be offered automatically to patients who want an earlier appointment.
4. Send recalls and rebooking reminders
Patients without a next appointment can drift away without meaning to. Automatic reminders for reviews and check-ups, and a gentle nudge for patients with nothing booked, keep care on track without anyone working through a list.
5. Send the information you’d hand out anyway
Exercise sheets, aftercare instructions or what-to-bring notes can go out automatically after the right type of appointment, using wording you’ve approved.
Keep clinical judgement with your practitioners
Automation should handle routine admin, never clinical advice. Anything urgent, unusual or sensitive should always go to a person.
Handle patient information carefully, and follow the advertising rules
Health information is sensitive. Keep it in your practice software rather than email, collect only what you need, with consent, and agree in writing how any provider handles it before you start.
Advertising a regulated health service has its own rules: no testimonials about treatment or results, and no misleading claims. Psychology and counselling practices should also make clear that online forms aren’t for urgent help, with crisis contacts.