Time for the Next Generation in Online Scheduling

Published in

4PatientCare

8 min readApr 25, 2018

4PatientCare has just launched its latest Web Scheduler Update, keeping all the existing functionality, adding all new customization and features patients and practices love! Keep reading to learn how our approach to web scheduling is different from the competition, and what we’ve introduced with our Next Generation Web Scheduler.

For your practice to thrive, you have to have a full appointment schedule. There are lots of ways to try to encourage people to book an appointment, including online schedulers such as the Real-time Web Scheduler that has long been a staple of 4PatientCare’s services.

How We are Already Different

Some practices use a different kind of scheduler, an Appointment Request Form. Using an Appointment Request Form is kind of like trying to get someone to go on a date with you.

You meet someone you think is cute.

You ask them if they would like to get together.

“Oh, yeah, that would be fun, I would love to.”

You suggest Friday night.

“Oh, bummer, I have a rehearsal that night.”
“How about lunch on Saturday?”
“I have classes all day Saturday, but I am free on Saturday night.”
“Well, I have to dogsit for my parents on Saturday night, but maybe you could come over and we could get take-away and watch a movie or something, that would be fun!”
“I’m allergic to dogs.”

By this time, frankly, it doesn’t matter how cute they are, it is easier just to give up. And if they are allergic to dogs you know it is never going to work out, anyway, may as well face it.

Substitute a doctor’s appointment for a date in the above scenario and you have an Appointment Request Form in a nutshell. It is not efficient and doesn’t result in the desired outcome most of the time.

But a Real-time Web Scheduler like the one that 4PatientCare has provided its clients for many years is a completely different story. The patient looks at the scheduler, chooses an appointment time that is available, and books it.

It couldn’t be easier. Or could it?

Well, with our new and updated web scheduler it can!

Why Change?

4PatientCare’s Real-time Web Scheduler was ground-breaking, innovative, and a true game-changer in the world of online appointments. It would be hard to come up with an analogy that would do it justice, to find something that captures the awesomeness and forward-thinking that defines the web scheduler.

On second thought, there is one thing — Star Trek! No one could ever deny that Star Trek, The Original Series, was one of the most original and inventive programs ever made, and its status as a cultural phenomenon has held firm for more than 50 years. How could one ever improve upon such a thing of wonder and creativity? Some said it couldn’t be done.

Then came Star Trek, The Next Generation! This is not a discussion about which Captain is better, Kirk or Picard. This is not the place to discuss the relative merits of Spock vs. Data or decide who was the better doctor, McCoy or Crusher. These things are beyond our scope and will be debated for generations to come.

But there is no denying that there are some things about The Next Generation that are improvements upon the original. Vastly better special effects, locations, and sets are just a part of the progress that was made during the time between the making of the first series and its sequel. The Borg, the holodeck, Q… Well, you get the idea.

This proves that things that are already far ahead of the game CAN be improved upon. And so it is with the newest version of 4PatientCare’s Real-time Web Scheduler.

4PatientCare has introduced a brand new location-based web scheduler that provides all the benefits of our earlier scheduler with some great improvements that make it even more user-friendly, resulting in more booked appointments.

Benefits of Our New Web Scheduler

1. Updated Interface

All-new interface. Our newest web scheduler has an all-new, updated, more user-friendly interface for the patients who will be booking the appointments. The interface makes it much easier to see all the locations, the doctors, and their availability.
Different Scenarios. You can choose from many scenarios, and decide which part of the scheduler you link to, according to what works best within your own custom workflow. You could either start with the locations map, or you can link directly to a specific doctor’s schedule, with the location and appointment type already chosen, skipping the preliminary steps. This will help you to streamline the patient’s experience as well as tailor the scheduler to suit your own practice’s needs.
All providers on one page. There is a great new feature that allows multiple providers at one location to be displayed on the same page. This is a very nifty tool which will help your patients find an appointment quickly.

2. Location based

Multi-location friendly. It is a location-based scheduler rather than one based on choosing the provider first.
Convenient for patients. It integrates a large Google Map, which will be especially helpful to practices with more than one location. This map is prominently displayed and the patient will be able to see the different locations on the scheduler. The patient will immediately be able to see which location is the closest and most convenient to them and make their appointment right away.
Practice flexibility. Your practice can set this up in many different ways so that you could decide either to show all locations or just show one location per scheduler. And the same with your providers, you could include all doctors or just one doctor per web scheduler, whatever works best for you and for your patients.

3. Customizable

More ways to organize your data. The new web scheduler has been updated to include more opportunities for customization than our previous web scheduler. There is a great deal of data that is included in each scheduler, and this can be customized according to how the practice would like to present that data to the patient, depending on how the practice organizes their doctors, locations, or even appointment types.
Different interfaces. There are different scenarios or interfaces which highlight different aspects of the practice that might be important to the patient. For example, they can choose an interface which highlights the large map and different locations, or they can have an interface that features the doctors first, if that is the part of the scheduler that they wish to emphasize.
Easy to see availability. The patient can see the availability of multiple providers at the same time. This can make it easier for patients to find a time that works for them, making it even quicker and easier to select an appointment and book it.
Useful information. Many practices would like to incorporate some useful information in their web scheduler, such as open hours, days or times the doctors are at each location, or other pertinent information. The new web scheduler will have a larger area under the doctor’s image where this information can be added and featured prominently, where it will be easily seen by the patient.

4. Designed Mobile First

Mobile is becoming more popular. Our research has shown that 35% of appointments are booked on mobile using the current version of the web scheduler. This is a 10% increase over the number made on mobile in 2016. The fact that this number went up so much in the last year shows how much more popular mobile applications are becoming.
Mobile friendly. For this reason we designed our new web scheduler with mobile devices very much to the fore, a mobile-first interface which is designed to improve conversion. It works fantastically well on all mobile platforms. There is a more user friendly, modern interface. It, of course, will work equally well on the desktop, but the convenience of being able to use it on a phone so easily will greatly increase the number of appointments scheduled using this new tool.

5. Reduces Conflicting Appointments

Final check. The new scheduler incorporates a final check before the appointment is made. It does sometimes happen that two people will start filling out the scheduler at the same time and choose the same appointment. In this case, if the first person finishes the appointment will go to them, and our final check will let the second person know that that appointment is no longer available.
Offers alternate availability. When the patient clicks the confirm appointment button the scheduler will check to make sure that this slot if still available or if it has been booked in the meantime. If it no longer available then the next available slots will show up so that the patient can choose an alternative time.

6. Tracking the Traffic

Monitors all traffic. The new web scheduler will have the ability to include tracking code in the body as well as in the buttons with the scheduler. Many practices already monitor how many clicks their individual web pages receive. We have the ability to monitor all of the pages in the new scheduler, and even the major buttons for user viewing or clicking.
Seamless integration. And for all those intermediate steps, we can record the details and report back to the practice. This will greatly enhance the ability of the practice to see how effective the scheduler is in converting visits to the scheduler into actual appointments. How far did the patients go in the process? Did they stop at the schedule page? Did they fall off during demographics collection? Did they click “submit” and make an appointment? It will also have seamless integration with most third-party analytics tools.

7. Increased Appointments

More appointments! How do we know that these new improvements actually work? From our tests so far we have had a 34% increase of monthly bookings with practices who are using it!