Patient Self Scheduling Description
Patient Self Scheduling (PSS) is an important component of Keona’s scheduling suite. As the name implies, self-scheduling allows patients to have more control over the scheduling process and includes the capability for patients to schedule, reschedule and cancel appointments without interacting with a contact center scheduler. Practices still retain complete control over the aspects of scheduling that are presented to the patient and the overall process is highly customizable. Patients can easily access self-service scheduling via a website link. In offering self-service capability to patients, phone calls are reduced to call center staff and patient satisfaction typically benefits.
Licensing Requirements
In addition to the Health Desk core license, licensing for Patient Self Scheduling is required. Licensing for Intelligent Scheduling may also be required depending on the desired scheduling process. Because scheduling processes are unique to each practice, setup and configuration charges may also apply. Please contact your Customer Success Manager at Keona for more details on licensing and implementation requirements.
Implementation
Keona will implement Patient Self Scheduling for our customers and will train staff to configure and use the feature. Once we promote the feature to production, clients can self-administer most tasks. We can customize implementation services based on each client’s requirements.
Example
Practices can allow patients to schedule appointments via an individual hyperlink that can be inserted into an email or text. Alternatively, a general PSS selection can be included on a web page as seen in a Keona client’s implementation below. Practices can pre-select a provider or location when they create their links, which allows them to link from provider and location pages as well as their home page.
When patients select to schedule an appointment, they will be presented with a form requesting basic demographic information as seen below.
Upon providing the required demographic information, patients are then asked for their reason for visit. The type of visit reason selected will determine next steps. Available visit reasons and their associated workflows are configured and customized by your admin staff. In this example, certain selections such as “New Symptoms” will lead to a screening process for current symptoms. Other selections such as “Follow-up for Prior Symptoms” will direct patients to select the desired practice location and provider. All options can be customized based on practice requirements.
Keona’s robust symptom checking process uses proprietary algorithms to ensure that the patient’s symptoms and resulting recommendations are as accurate as possible. Symptom checker can be used as a part of the PSS process or can be used independently to assist staff in the triage process. An example of Symptom Checker as a part of PSS is show below.
As the patient enters their symptoms into the description field, Symptom Checker automatically returns keyword matches and associated symptoms. The patient then selects the appropriate symptoms. Multiple options can be selected. Health Desk then determines the correct course of action for the symptoms selected. If the symptoms selected indicate an urgent or emergent issue, the patient may be directed to call their provider immediately or proceed to a hospital. In those situations, they will not be allowed to schedule an appointment. For the scenario below which is not urgent, the patient is allowed to continue to the next step in the scheduling process to select a practice and provider.
As seen in the example below, the practices that are configured with PSS are presented to the patient to select. Only practices associated with the selected visit reason are shown. For organizations with many practices, patients can use the search feature in the upper right.
Once a practice is selected, the providers associated with the practice are displayed as seen below. Provider scheduling preferences are completely configurable and only providers associated with the selected visit reason are shown.. Health Desk can display or limit appointments based on most demographic options as well as insurance type and visit reason. [JK3]
Once the provider is selected, available appointments are displayed based on the parameters the practice has chosen to show. Patients can filter by the day of the week and can change the provider or practice by selecting the “change” option in each respective field. Once an appointment time is selected, patients can continue to the confirmation screen.
Once the appointment has been selected, patients are presented with a review of the appointment details. Patients are prompted to enter an email address to receive confirmation details. Patient’s can also include a note on the confirmation which will be relayed back to the practice.
The final step in the process displays the confirmed appointment details and give patients the ability to print if needed. Please contact you Keona Customer Success Manager for additional details or to schedule a demonstration.
