David Dyke is the Chief Product Officer of Relatient, which is one of the biggest players in the up and coming area of direct patient scheduling. As anyone who has been stuck in a phone tree or tried to reach a live human just to get an appointment at a doctor’s office knows, scheduling in health care is way behind the eight ball compared to booking a restaurant, massage, or basically anything else online. Why is it so hard? David explained that and then demos how Relatient allows provider organizations to let both new and returning patients self-schedule. There is a ton of complexity behind this including what David says is an average of infinity minus one API calls to the practice management system and EMR of all of its clients. But speaking as someone who has literally left a message and hoped that someone called me back “within 4 business days” for my last specialty appointment, I’m glad to see one company at least is taking on this challenge–Matthew Holt
Patient Self-Scheduling 2.0
As the digital economy transforms health the most transformative ideas and consumer engagement solutions can sometimes challenge the industry’s ability to adopt and implement them. Reimbursement reforms, risk sharing, migration towards high deductible plans and the expansion of public and private coverage are converging to unleash an increasingly sophisticated consumer into the marketplace. Health systems and physician practices are consolidating and marketing their services direct to consumers in an attempt to underscore the critical differentiators valued by consumers – access, quality and affordability. In today’s consumer economy, access remains a critical criterion for choosing and patronizing a provider or a practice. To assist the move toward consumerism, employers are introducing tools to facilitate comparison-shopping for services seen as “consumer-driven.” The cost of elective and non-emergency services are highly variable and employers want employees to become consumers making decisions based not only on access but also cost.Continue reading…
Guahao: VC Fantasy. Online Appointment Registration System for China’s 700 Million Internet Users
The promising platform is called Guahao (挂号网) and it claims to be China’s largest online appointment registration system. With a national network of nearly 4,000 hospitals, 600 being Level-3 hospitals, and over 300,000 specialists, it is hard to dispute it’s size.* Guahao began development in Shanghai 2010 in collaboration with the Chinese Health Education Network, Fudan Hospital and Healthcare Management Co., and the Chinese Hospital Association, and later expanded nationally. Guahao attempts to alleviate the bitterness patients endure during a typical hospital visit.
*It should be known that there are actually several online appointment registration systems in China; However, most are small, regionally splintered and have questionable legitimacy. Guahao is by far the largest and most well supported system in China.
China historically has not had a call-ahead appointment scheduling system. Patients throughout China have long lamented the country’s hospital queuing system, or the lack thereof. Patients arrive at the hospital, literally take a number, and wait for their turn – sometimes for over 24 hours. It is not uncommon to see throngs of patients and their family members outside of the hospital, camping out in makeshift beds to see a physician. A lack of appointment system puts pressure on the hospital’s health workers. Patient scheduling provides predictability of patient flow and allows for more efficient allocation of healthcare resources. Not to mention it makes for a much more patient-centered approach to healthcare delivery.
