Online medical appointment booking and last minute availability

Published on 07/05/2018

Online medical appointment booking and last minute availability

When it comes to choosing a healthcare facility, ease of use has suddenly become a determining factor for patients, who see online appointment scheduling as the best option.
Moreover, in today’s technology-driven world, the practitioner must offer certain facilities in addition to superior health care. While the use of smartphones, tablets, and other internet-connected devices is ubiquitous in our society, healthcare has sometimes lagged behind in this area.
Many, many health care facilities have been steadfast in their unwillingness to move away from the old approach, resulting in stagnation in many areas.
Online appointment scheduling is one of the simplest and most popular technologies used by forward-thinking healthcare professionals.
With this technology, patients can see when a doctor is available, and schedule an appointment through the website.
Here are some of the many benefits of making medical appointments online:

Patient satisfaction

Did you know that 90% of patients choose to book their medical appointments online?
Contrary to what one might think, this percentage includes seniors, who are using the Internet more and more frequently. Some of the patients interviewed said that making medial appointments online reduced their wait time.
Thus, they prefer online medical appointments only because of this inconvenience of waiting time. This simply shows that patients are less likely to make an appointment by phone, especially if they need to contact someone they don’t know.
Of the many patients who are looking for a new doctor or specialist, many will opt directly for the online appointment option to avoid having to make a phone call.

Permanent accessibility

Let’s imagine the case of an expatriate who, probably on a business trip, urgently needs medical care, but does not know where to get it in a foreign country.
What should he do?
In this case, the importance of online booking becomes clear. Indeed, thanks to such a system, the expatriate can easily search for the right doctor, and make an appointment without wasting time.
Why so quickly?
With 24-hour accessibility, booking a medical appointment online is now a breeze.

Unparalleled flexibility

Another great advantage of the online medical appointment system is its flexibility.
You can log on to the website of the doctor you need to see, and then schedule your appointment based on his or her work or consultation hours, instead of having to wait for weeks or even months. Online appointment scheduling eliminates this problem, and helps you plan your appointment around your schedule.
Now you can visit the doctor in your spare time, without having to rush through other important and time-consuming tasks.
These are just some of the benefits of booking medical appointments through an online platform.

A reduction in missed appointments

Missed appointments, whether they are forgotten or cancelled at the last minute, are a real problem.
In addition to the loss of income, these missed appointments can have an adverse impact on access to health care. For example, numerous studies have shown that an increase in the rate of missed appointments is accompanied by an increase in the time between the appointment date and the actual appointment date.
On the other hand, thanks to the online medical appointment system, automatic reminders, as well as confirmation requests by e-mail or SMS are sent to patients.
The patient can then confirm or cancel the appointment, thus avoiding last-minute cancellations.

A second chance at your appointment with online medical booking

This important feature will delight the patient waiting on the list.
Indeed, did you know that, thanks to the online medical appointment booking system, the cancellation of a patient corresponds to the ideal reservation of another patient?
Absolutely! Appointment cancellations are a reality in the schedule due to various circumstances, oversights, traffic jams, etc. We have all experienced this. However, dealing with these missed appointments can be a source of intense frustration. Scheduling a new appointment to replace the one that was cancelled often involves a long series of phone calls or emails. In the end, this usually results in a free time slot, and a loss of income.
However, online appointment scheduling allows you to stop wasting all that valuable time on such problems.
With online appointment scheduling, you have the option of booking these cancelled appointments.
For example: Mr. A needs an appointment with a dentist, but there is no appointment available for 3 months!
So Mr. A has to wait 3 months before he can solve his problem, doesn’t he…
No ! With online medical appointment scheduling, you can join a waiting list to get automatic notification in case an appointment is cancelled or becomes available early.
Thus, your initial appointment will be rescheduled to this new availability.
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PS: Doctena allows you to make free online appointments with thousands of doctors in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
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We strive to improve patient care by simplifying and securing communication between practitioners and patients. With Doctena, patients can book appointments easily and healthcare professionals can send them automated reminders securely.

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