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Do Your Research
Time to Complete: Up to 2 months if you need to collect data
Difficulty: Easy
Outcome: Enough information to make a decision
Steps
Conduct background research
- Find useful resources about online appointment scheduling.
- Read user reviews to find out what works, what doesn't.
Assess patient interest
- If a recent patient survey asked about Internet capability and interest in online appointment scheduling, retrieve the survey data.
- If you don't have recent data, download this survey (1-page PDF; About PDFs) from Family Practice Management or create your own, then ask adult patients to fill in the survey during office visits.
Determine current call volume
Online appointment scheduling can reduce the time staff members spend on the phone.
- If your practice has recently measured call volume, retrieve the data about phone calls to schedule appointments.
- If you haven't yet measured call volume, use this form (1-page PDF; About PDFs) from Family Practice Management to measure it, including calls to schedule appointments, or create your own form.
Analyze your research, then discuss and decide
Keep these questions in mind as team members discuss the information you've gathered:
- Based on your background research, does online appointment scheduling sound like a good idea for your practice?
- Do enough patients indicate interest to justify the addition of online appointment scheduling?
- How about the amount of staff time currently spent on phone calls to schedule appointments?
- If a significant amount of this staff time could be spent on other meaningful work, would setting up online appointment scheduling be worth the time and money it would take?
- Are you and your staff ready and willing to proceed with this project?
If yes, then it's time to figure out how online appointment scheduling will fit into the office workflow.
What You'll Need
- Time to conduct background research
- A patient survey
- A call tracking sheet
- Time to analyze and discuss the background research and data
- Decision-making authority
Resources
An online tool such as www.surveymonkey.com makes it possible to create your own survey, to be used either online or on paper. Data collection is easier with an online survey, but you'll have to find a way to give patients the survey URL. The easiest option may be to download this survey (1-page PDF; About PDFs), and give paper copies to adult patients when they come in for visits.
You also can create your own call tracking sheet, or download this sheet (1-page PDF; About PDFs).
You also can create your own call tracking sheet, or download this sheet (1-page PDF; About PDFs).
Where to go for Help
Read the Family Practice Management article "Are Your Patients Ready for Electronic Communication?" for an in-depth look at one practice's experience with conducting a readiness assessment.
If you and your staff need help with this work, consider hiring a consultant. The AAFP Buyer's Guide can help you find a consultant.
If you and your staff need help with this work, consider hiring a consultant. The AAFP Buyer's Guide can help you find a consultant.
Join a free collaborative online network committed to practice transformation. Learn more about Delta-Exchange.
This Patient-Centered Medical Home section of the AAFP web site was supported in part by a grant from Merck & Co.
This Patient-Centered Medical Home section of the AAFP web site was supported in part by a grant from Merck & Co.
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