How ISJI cut phone call time by 66% using OhMD to confirm appointments by text

CASE STUDY – ISJI LEVERAGED HIPAA COMPLIANT TEXTING TO BUILD A PATIENT EXPERIENCE THAT GENERATES REVENUE

Streamlining the pre-screening process at this pain management group using OhMD to confirm appointments by text and slashing phone call time.

CHALLENGES

Integrated Spine & Joint Institute experienced high phone call volume preventing staff from achieving their inquiry response and patient experience goals.
Staff had to manage lengthy a patient intake process over the phone, taking 15- 20 minutes to complete for each patient.
Nearly $2,000 in revenue lost each procedure day due to no-shows and cancellations.
Only 30% success rate confirming appointments over the phone, resulting in
procedure days running at only 64% capacity due to no-shows.

SOLUTIONS

Adopting two-way texting for appointment confirmations and rescheduling.
Implementing OhMD’s HIPAA-compliant texting for efficient patient communication.
Utilizing digitized forms and text-based workflows for improved efficiency.

RESULTS

Leveraging OhMD’s two-way texting for appointment reminders, ISJI maximized the number of patients scheduled on procedure days, leading to an added revenue of $120,000 per year.
Appointment confirmations as a whole increased by 61%
Confirmation rate via text message response soared to 90%
An improved patient experience where patients receive forms via text before an
appointment, leading to decreased wait times and more time with their provider

Urooj Yunus Ansari and her husband, Dr. Amer Ansari, opened Integrated Spine & Joint Institute (ISJI) in late 2019. Urooj, Vice President of ISJI, and her small but mighty team sought out an easier way to communicate so patients could have a better experience at the doctor’s office. With previous experience working in marketing for large companies like Disney, Ansari knew the value of centering around the customer.

With this mindset, as ISJI began to grow, she knew the practice needed to take a patient-first approach. She did everything she could to keep the patient experience positive, streamlined, and anxiety-free.

This included new ways of interacting with patients outside the office. From inquiries to appointment scheduling to in-person visits to follow-ups, Ansari prioritizes the patients first.

In September of 2020, ISJI started using OhMD’s HIPAA-compliant texting with patients as their base for patient communication.

They had good reason to seek alternatives to traditional phone calling.

Prior to using OhMD to confirm appointments by text, Urooj and her staff were spending 15-20 minutes on each patient intake phone call. Whether it was fielding questions about insurance, collecting personal health information from patients, or a host of other common patient inquiries, the ISJI team was feeling the pain of high phone call volume with little ability to alleviate it.

They needed a better system so they could prioritize creating relationships with their patients.

Looking for an alternative to calls at your own practice?

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Using OhMD, the ISJI care team found they were able to respond to patients quickly and efficiently via text. They slashed those 15 minutes spent collecting & inputting required patient information to 5 minutes per call, shrinking time on such calls by 66%.

This allowed the ISJI staff to spend more quality time addressing patient concerns vs. asking various demographic questions and inputting data. Collecting information via HIPAA compliant text messaging exchanges freed up patient time during in-office visits. Sending electronic forms to the patient before their appointment led to more concise phone conversations and a more streamlined experience when the patient visited the office. A more efficient and pleasant experience, both in-person and on the phone, was made possible by patient texting.

“OhMD is a lifesaver,” says Urooj, “it’s helped us connect with patients and partners, and to be there for them when they need us.”

OhMD provides ISJI efficient and easy communication without sacrificing their person-first approach. It actually helps their practice engage more with patients. They are able to reach more patients with just a single text, and their patients prefer it too.

As the group began addressing call volume and length of calls with texting, they soon discovered another issue they could solve with texting: patient no-shows and cancellations. The option to confirm appointments by text was desperately needed.

As a pain management group, ISJI assigns days each week specifically for meeting with patients and performing procedures. These “procedure days,” as they call them, deliver the majority of the practice’s revenue.

Cancellations and no-shows during procedure days were negatively impacting the practice’s bottom line. And that impact was significant.

ISJI found they were losing roughly $1,400-$2,300 in revenue on procedure days due to no-shows and cancellations alone.

The problem?

Phone calls.

Urooj and her team confirmed appointments over the phone prior to OhMD, and it was highly ineffective.

“We’ll see 28 patients on procedure days,” Ansari said, related to the confirmation calls the ISJI team would make before OhMD. “Eight would answer whereas the remaining wouldn’t, so we wouldn’t even know if they were coming or not.”

With their 30% confirmation rate via the phone, the practice would also find that even though some patients weren’t confirming, roughly eight to ten more would show up for their procedure anyway making it difficult to plan their procedure days.

And what about the rest of the scheduled procedures? With phone call confirmations only, the ISJI was seeing an average of ten no-shows each procedure day.

Ansari and team were unwilling to sacrifice their ability to deliver a highly patient-centered experience to make up for the no-shows. “We don’t like to overbook in general but especially not on procedure days,” said Ansari. “So making sure those procedures are coming for their appointments is extremely important.”

With their high no-show rate, this means that on average the ISJI was operating at only 64% of their capacity on procedure days. With procedures ranging from $150 to $250, missed appointments were having a significant impact on their bottom line. It also meant that patients would have to wait longer to be seen as they had no recourse to fill in the open appointments of those who didn’t show up.

Then, they found OhMD.

Using OhMD’s two way texting, they revamped their pre-screening process. They began sending out appointment reminders via secure text message allowing patients to confirm or reschedule their procedures.

The results were astounding.

The ISJI quickly saw their no-show problem dissipate as their appointment confirmations via text message jumped to 90%.

Ansari and team witnessed a 61% increase in appointment confirmations after implementing their appointment confirmation texting effort.

Now they fill nearly all the appointments on their surgery days and have more flexibility in filling vacant slots with a quick way to reach out to patients.

And the impact to their bottom line? Massive.

By actually reaching patients and getting them to confirm appointments along with the flexibility to fill open slots from those who need to reschedule, on the high end, the ISJI is seeing an average revenue bump of over $2,000 generated per procedure day.

With the help of OhMD text messaging for pre-screening and appointment confirmations, the ISJI is generating between $100,000 to $120,000 in added revenue per year!

All while delivering an unmatched patient experience.

To Ansari it makes some sense. Patients can’t always pick up the phone during work, so to confirm appointments by text is all that is needed. Patients can also text to reschedule, giving ISJI plenty of time to slot in another patient for a procedure.

They also use digitized forms for their in-take process, allowing patients to receive a text with the form link prior to their appointment.

“Use it in every way possible,” Ansari recommends, “there are so many ways you can use it to save time, be more efficient, and compliant. It’s a great resource.”

Ansari and her team at ISJI perfected pre-screening, confirmations, rescheduling, and form intake quickly and simply with OhMD. With easier and more effective workflows, they prioritize their patient-first approach and have seen quick benefits both to their bottom line and to the patient experience.