How Do Patient Check in Kiosks Help Revenue Collection?

One of the most crucial challenges when it comes to revenue collection is managing patient payments. Co-pay collection from patients is often troublesome and on an average requires more than 3 billing statements before the outstanding amount is paid in full. With insurance companies shifting more and more of the costs towards patients, the percentage of co-pays has seen a tremendous increase. It thus becomes even more difficult to collect outstanding payments and this impacts revenue collection adversely. Patient check in kiosks offer viable means for cutting down on outstanding payments and improving revenue collection; read on to learn more.

Patient Check in Kiosks and their impact on revenue collection

Did you know that most of the patient payments are made either via cheques or card payments be it either at the time of service or after receiving the statements? Patient check in kiosks provide the means for the most used medium of payment - card payments!

· Complete Registration is done before the appointment

Electronic kiosks enable an easy registration process and offer scope for capturing all the details of the patient including insurance details. Preregistration when done well in advance allows for verification of the insurance related details and the eligibility for claims so that self pay or co-pay collections can be made in advance or during the time of service.

· Collection of part payments during time of service

Patient check in kiosk allow the patients to pay outstanding balances and pay the co-pay dues for the service beforehand so as to prevent defaults. These kiosks are mounted with card readers and thus let the patient pay during the time of check in thus easing the admin staff's work. Also, they eliminate the need for patients to stand in queues to fill out forms and make their payments.

· Enable proper data capture thus minimising problems with insurance claims

Check in kiosks ensure that the data captured is valid and verified against the system. Also, these kiosks enable the patients to use electronic signatures to sign the consent and other requisite forms thus ruling out compliance issues. These in turn lower the percentage of insurance claim rejections.

These systems are integrated with the backend machinery as well and thus once a payment is made via these kiosks; they get reflected at the backend as well. Some automated patient check in system enable complete patient tracking until check-out, thus ensuring proper follow-up on their appointments and visit schedules apart from payment tracking.

Patient check in system available on tablets or kiosks, the software accepts electronic signatures, helps patient's complete registration and payments and allows providers to track patient check in status.

Patient Checkin Software Solutions – An Overview

Paperless transactions are the fad today and almost everything is being done without a physical paper these days. Whether it is a ticket, a bank statement or even registration, everything is paperless. Patient registration too has become paperless these days and hospitals are employing software solutions that facilitate paperless patient registration to ease the check-in formalities. Let’s take a look at what a paperless patient registration is exactly.

Patient Check in Software or Applications are designed to help patients check-by means of a self service kiosk (an interactive computer based station that is either wall mounted or one that is placed on a counter or one that is available in the form of a tablet mounted on a stand). Such self service kiosks aim at empowering patients to deal with tasks such as check-in, outstanding balance and co-pay payment, alert notification to get reminded of  appointments etc. Healthcare providers too are benefitted from such a system as these systems ensure the following:

·         HIPPA compliance

·         Queue Management

·         Ease of Managing Patients ( Info and status is available at all times as it is electronic and thus easy to update and share)

·         Flexible (can be customised and integrated with the existing workflow)

·         Eliminates paper based documentation management

·         Provides data in discrete format

How do patient check-in solutions help in streamlining admin procedures?

When a patient checks-in using the software, he/she is automatically entered in a queue and the hospital staff can access the data provided by the patient online easily. Queue management becomes easy with such a system; similarly, the veracity of the data entered can be checked against records with ease. With accurate data being captured, it is relatively easy for care givers to attend to patients. Also, with manual paper work, HIPPA compliance is a major problem and such issues can be avoided. The admin staffs is able to manage the queues better and get the information collected quickly without much trouble, allowing them more time to work and thus helps in streamlining admin procedures. Electronic signatures are used to validate the information captured using such systems and this enables a healthcare organisation to collect data that is correct and structured within much less time. This eases report generation and improves customer satisfaction. Another use of electronic signatures is to get consent forms signed electronically.

Features of a typical patient check in system

·         Automated Check ins

·         Collection of outstanding balance

·         Co-Pay collection

·         Alerts and Reminders for appointments and discharge related details via notifications

·         Easy to customise and integrate to existing workflow

Hospitals are increasingly employing these automated kiosks to great success; not only do these systems help in reducing the work load of the admin staff; they also improve patient satisfaction levels. In fact, some systems even incorporate patient surveys and new patient registration thus improving the overall user experience and also capturing feedback.

PATIENT CHECK-IN SOFTWARE-A BOON TO PATIENTS AND HEALTHCARE FACILITIES

A patient checking in, into a medical facility needs to furnish his or her details with the facility as regards their medical backgrounds and the type of treatment that they are looking at. Patient check in is the procedure where patients check in to begin their association or registration with the health care centre or hospital.

A customised patient check in software is the answer to this process of check in. As patient services are being expanded and made more available, the patient tracking system is becoming very essential and an absolute necessity with hospitals and patients themselves.

The patient check in software allows the passage and flow of information about the patient from their primary physician to the clinical area of the hospital. This is ideally done using a clipboard, an electronic tablet or even a touch screen kiosk.

In today’s day and age when most systems are managed electronically to promote ease and comfort to consumers, then why should the patient check in system be left behind? This system provides electronic and online registrations for patients, appointment reminders and also interact with patients regarding appoint re scheduling and further registrations.

A double pronged process, this software helps the patient to check in or pre-register themselves online or through the phone. On arrival at the hospital or the medical facility on the day of the appointment, the patient just needs to swipe his health card at a touch screen check in kiosk. This gives the hospital authorities the signal about the arrival and identity of the patient.

Pre booking of a patient’s appointment helps the staff of the hospital to extract the information and medical history of the patient prior to his appointment date and have the data ready for the physician on the day of the appointment.

The check in software also has the feature of reminding the patient about his or her appointment date and time. It does so by sending an email, or a text message or even a phone call. So no more forgotten appointments or last minute rush!

Today there is the important need of privacy of a person’s identity and information. Hence a signed paper form is not the acceptable norm any more. A unique log in of the user in a patient’s check-in system helps the cause of privacy. This not only ensures confidentiality, but also promotes paperless documentation and office work. Thus an environmental issue is also taken care of! It provides patient education and also saves on time at the front desk of a hospital.

Electronically managed, this software breaks down queue time and allows man force to be employed into more meaningful duties. Since the patient information is readily available, it is easier for the front desk to handle issues such as checking and insurance more effectively. The review on the check-up as well as medication and allergy lists is also managed smoothly.

The patient check in software is a giant step not only towards ease of medical help but also for health care centres for effective health management.