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3 min read
Automate patient recalls to increase appointment volume
Whether patients need a follow up in a month or a year, there’s an easy way to increase the likelihood they will schedule appointments: an automated patient recall system.
The days are over of having patients complete a self-addressed postcard reminder to schedule their next annual appointment. So too is having your staff manually call each patient to schedule a recall.
Instead, set up an automated patient recall system with Artera to send patients the nudge they need, in the medium they prefer. Not only does it reduce gaps in care, but it also keeps patients within your healthcare system.
Why a patient recall system matters
The recall system in general practice is often challenging and costly. Accumulated, the time your staff spend calling, coordinating, and getting patients to regularly schedule and attend their follow-up or annual check up appointment is huge. This creates big inefficiencies for providers.
Artera Recalls streamlines the process by automating the workflow — there’s no need to call patients multiple times to schedule. Fully integrated into the provider’s EMR, the Artera Recall functionality means that patients receive personalized messages specific to their provider and location.
Increasing the number of successful patient recalls also improves your quality and performance related metrics and optimizes revenue. Check out Houston Methodist and Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center’s case studies for concrete examples.
How the Artera recalls system works
Unlike the manual recall system in general practice, modern health systems can create automations based on visit type, provider, location, and more. When a patient goes in for their primary care appointment and the doctor asks them to come back in six months, this is how Recalls work within Artera:
- Artera creates a Recall based on the follow-up date with the same appointment type, resource, and location as the original.
- Eight weeks before the follow-up — or whatever time interval you select — Artera automatically texts the patient to prompt them to schedule an appointment, if they haven’t already.
- If there is no response, Artera automatically follows up on a customizable cadence.
- After the patient schedules appointment, Artera marks the Recall complete in the EMR.
Following the automated Recall workflow, Artera’s patient appointment reminder system kicks in. This increases confirmations by 200 percent and reducing no-shows by as much as 71 percent for many Artera clients. Overall, the process is far more efficient and more effective than manual patient recalls. After all, people read 98 percent of text messages within minutes of receipt.
The benefits do not stop there. Artera’s automated patient recall system does not only streamline your recall process. This unified communication platform combines various features that help hospitals and practices connect to their patients at every stage of their healthcare journey. To find out more, download our Enterprise Communication Platform Overview below. ♥
