Guest Author: Paul Ashburner, Osteopath (Osteopathy for Life)
The current Covid-19 crisis has presented Osteopath practice owners with an ideal opportunity to review their practice’s operation. It has also provided those who have not already done so with an opening to embrace electronic practice management software and all the benefits that that brings.
Cliniko: my platform of choice
For me, Cliniko was the platform of choice and I have now been using it for some 10 years. Recent developments have seen the implementation of online booking and online payments. These have enabled me to eliminate the taking of on-premise payments the result of which has been the cancellation of my credit card terminal and the associated savings.
Initiatives to survive the pandemic and stay busy
I have found the team at Cliniko to be responsive to the needs of their clients and they have been pro-active in addressing the challenges presented by Covid19 by accelerating the implementation of new functionality.
Recently added new features have enabled me to launch several initiatives which have been instrumental in maintaining my practice during the pandemic. These initiatives have included:
- Keeping in touch with my patient list by providing support through regular newsletters (using the integration with Mailchimp), incorporating links to blog articles covering such topics as ‘working from home’ and other relevant topics
- Advising patients in isolation by using Telehealth, the newly integrated online consultation service.
- Setting up special pre-payment offers helped in the early stages of the first lock-down to ensure there were sufficient funds to cover overheads.
- Creating emergency waiting lists to ensure that, once I had a date to reopen, those who had registered would get a priority notification that the practice was reopening. This meant that the clinic was at full capacity from day one.
- Emailing ‘Late Availability’ notifications to my patient database ensures that every appointment gets filled.
The introduction of online booking has given patients the ability to book directly. This has reduced telephone calls to the reception service I use and thereby reduced the associated costs. Patients can also cancel their appointment from their appointment email.
Getting the most from an outsourced reception service
On a general day-to-day basis, the diary runs itself. All booked appointments trigger an automatic appointment confirmation email, with follow-up reminders both by email and text; this greatly reduces ‘missed appointments’. In conjunction with bringing on board an outsourced reception service, provided by Paperclip, this has left me with time to do other more important things.
The key to building an effective working relationship with an outsourced reception service is providing them with a detailed brief as to how you operate and manage your diary and instructions for the booking of new and existing patients. Such instructions can be given verbally or laid out in an operating manual or even supplemented by online training videos. Screen sharing has become a daily norm for many people and this can be a valuable resource for online training.
Whilst you might not get this right on the first take, working collaboratively with your outsourced reception service provider will enable you to fine-tune the results. This can be incredibly rewarding as the outsourced reception team and your clinic work start to work together like a well-oiled machine. I have often had comments when patients come to the practice along the lines of, ‘… so, where is your receptionist?’ Such comments are testimony to an integrated service working effectively as part of your business.
The savings speak for themselves.
To employ a full-time receptionist you would expect to be paying around £10.00 per hour. If we assume a 40-hour week, this would lead to a weekly wage cost of circa £400 per week plus other employment costs such as National Insurance and pension contributions.
An outsourced reception service like Paperclip will typically cover from 8.30 am until 6.00 pm every weekday and 8.30 am until 4.00 pm on a Saturday; cover is still provided even when your practice is closed. Individual arrangements can be made according to your practice needs.
Typically, I have found the cost of an outsourced reception service to be around 25% of the cost of employing a full-time receptionist. This would, of course, vary according to the size of the practice, the throughput of patients, and the range of services provided by the outsourced reception service.
Osteopathy for Life and Paperclip
Paperclip takes care of all calls to the Osteopathy for Life practice. The Paperclip team has access to my Cliniko appointments diary and updates it in real-time whilst they are on the phone with my patients.
Each practice will vary slightly in the way it engages with an outsourced reception service. In the case of Osteopathy for Life, Paperclip provides the following services for me:
- Arranging bookings for new patients
- Booking and rescheduling appointments for existing patients
- Taking messages
- Making calls on my behalf and rescheduling appointments if I am indisposed for any reason
- Forwarding calls from patients when they might be late for an appointment
- Screening non-patient calls
- Managing enquiries from the website
The result of this approach is that the only call I now receive when in the clinic is a call from my outsourced receptionist to say that a patient might be a few minutes late for their appointment.
Getting the most from Cliniko
As well as being a practising osteopath, I also provide consultancy services to practices switching to a digital patient management system or, alternatively, practices seeking to get the most from the features provided by their existing system.
If you are looking to work with Cliniko for the first time or are looking for guidance on getting the most from it, I would be happy to offer to provide a free initial consultation to see how I can work with you to help you achieve your goals.
Paul Ashburner
support@vitahub.net
www.vitahub.net/DigitiseMyPractice
Biography
In the late ’80s, soon after setting up his first Osteopath practice, Paul developed a computerised system for his practice. His first challenge was to send out a newsletter to his 800-plus patient list to notify them of the opening of his new premises.
Towards the end of the ’90s, Paul set up and ran one of the first web development companies in the region and ran this alongside his busy practice, which he later sold.
Paul’s combination of therapeutic and technology experience means he is uniquely well-qualified to advise other private medical practices on the implementation of digital patient management systems.
Hi, I’m Anne Batty, Managing Director of Paperclip. I am passionate about customer service. I believe enduring relationships are built on being open, transparent and trustworthy.
I love questions. So, if you have a question relating to telephone answering – pricing, technical, scope and more – I would love to hear from you at anne@paperclip.co.uk or 01246 418181.
Paperclip’s clients enjoy working with us. I know you will too.