Managing Appointments Over the Phone with Healthcare IVR Applications

Everything in healthcare evolves out of interactions between providers and patients. So, making and keeping appointments is mission-critical for many healthcare providers.

But people miss appointments all the time. Or they show up late, which throws the rest of the day’s schedule out of whack. Being able to effectively manage appointments has a very real effect on day-to-day operations for healthcare providers.

Giving patients the ability to manage their appointments over the phone provides an accessible and straightforward way for them to make changes to their schedule. This also helps healthcare providers because you know in real-time what to expect from patients on a daily basis.

Managing appointments over the phone

Our Appointment Scheduling app on the Fuse platform provides a way for healthcare providers to automate appointment management over the phone. It lets companies offer their patients the ability to schedule new appointments, look up existing appointments, reschedule appointments, and cancel appointments. This is especially useful for patients looking to schedule appointments after-hours.

Whether patients are scheduling a new appointment or rescheduling a current one, the process is pretty much the same. The app asks patients to input a time and date that works best for them. It then compares that request against the availability in your database. If the requested time is unavailable, the app finds the next closest open slot and offers that to the caller. (You can choose whether the app defaults to finding an earlier or a later appointment.)

Once the patient locks in an appointment time the app gives them the option to receive an appointment reminder. Callers can choose between a voice call or an SMS message. Fuse also has a separate outbound appointment reminder app that you can use if you don’t need the full functionality of the scheduling app. Appointment reminders can go out at any time. Whether that’s a day before the appointment, the morning of the appointment, or some other point in time you can set the default time to meet the needs of your facility.

Integrating with Other Software

Just as man does not live on bread alone, voice doesn’t need to be your only appointment management channel. The Fuse platform allows you to integrate with other communications channels using APIs. This means that you can easily build-out an omni-channel appointment management solution that meets your patients wherever they may be: at home, at work, in the car, out for a walk, or anywhere else.

Voice provides an extra layer of flexibility and accessibility, allowing you to deliver great experiences again and again.

If you have questions about the Fuse appointment scheduling app, contact us today and we can help you determine the right solution for your business.