Integrated kiosks are becoming increasingly popular in many industries, including healthcare. By eliminating the need for staff members to fill out lengthy forms manually, patient check-in kiosks allow patients to quickly and easily complete their intake process.
In addition, healthcare kiosks can provide total transparency for insurance costs and help with wayfinding throughout the hospital. It provides a higher level of control for your patients and increases satisfaction.
Increased Patient Satisfaction
Patient check in kiosk add a modern touch to a medical practice’s office, which helps attract new patients and retain existing ones. They can also streamline the front-office process by eliminating bottlenecks and reducing wait times, which improves overall operational efficiency.
Kiosks allow patients to self-check in and complete paperwork independently, saving staff time and improving data accuracy. Integrated kiosk software often includes insurance validation checks to prevent errors and reduce the number of claims rejections.
Moreover, kiosks can facilitate copay collection before the front-office interaction, eliminating the need to remind patients of their overdue fees and saving on expensive collection agency costs. With the help of multilingual support, kiosks can even cater to the needs of diverse patients.
Reduced Wait Times
Kiosks allow patients to check in themselves without taking valuable front-desk staff time. It eliminates bottlenecks and allows staff to spend more time assisting other patients with any questions.
Additionally, kiosks can capture copays before the initial interaction with a front desk employee, eliminating the risk of annoyed glares and allowing the employee to focus on other tasks needing attention. It increases patient satisfaction and reduces the need to hire additional employees to handle less complicated tasks.
In addition, kiosks can help reduce the time spent in emergency department (ED) triage queues. In one study, kiosk self-triage reduced entry times by about 25% compared to nurse-led standards. This is because kiosks streamline data entry and can confirm demographic information, allowing nurses to prioritize their assessment more quickly.
Similarly, in the case of hospital admissions, a kiosk can enable patients to pre-register and enter their medical history and symptom details into a secure database before arriving at the clinic, thereby reducing the time spent in queues waiting for a nurse or physician to see them.
Increased Efficiency
Kiosks eliminate the need for receptionists to verify patient insurance details and complete other time-consuming forms. It allows practices to keep patients moving in and out of the office and ensures they can see as many patients as possible. While kiosks require a significant upfront investment, they can quickly help practices recover costs through better customer experience, reduced staffing needs, and improved operational efficiency.
Hospital self-check-in kiosks also enable the automatic transfer of electronic patient records, which reduces paperwork and manual data entry. It frees healthcare staff to focus on delivering personalized care and boosting organizational efficiency.
Kiosk systems can also enable patients to enter their reasons for visiting or select from a predetermined list of options to expedite patient identification and reduce waiting times in emergency departments (EDs). The kiosks can then send this information to live queues monitored by medical professionals, allowing them to assign priority status to patients needing urgent care.
Reduced Costs
Unlike traditional paper forms, kiosks can accurately collect patient data, reducing the time front desk staff spend. It decreases the risk of data entry errors leading to claim rejections and costly back-office processes.
Digital patient intake also saves 6-12 minutes of front-desk staff time per visit, boosting productivity and allowing employees to focus on other tasks. It includes addressing patient questions, answering phone calls, and ensuring the correct information is entered into the system.
Kiosks can also help reduce operational costs by allowing patients to pay for their copays before their front-desk interactions begin. It eliminates the need for front-desk staff to remind patients to bring their copays, reducing annoying interaction on both sides and making it easier for patients to comply with their payment obligations.
Kiosks can be a valuable tool for medical practices looking to improve patient experience, optimize operations, and drive growth in today’s dynamic healthcare landscape. To ensure the proper hardware, software, and components are incorporated into your kiosk design, partner with a trusted manufacturer with experience working with clients from different industries to understand their unique requirements.
Increased Patient Control
Patient check-in kiosks allow patients to enter their names and indicate their arrival. These systems can automatically queue patients according to scheduled appointments and times of arrival to help manage wait time. They can also take medical history forms for first-time patients or allow users to update existing records. Some can even integrate with a practice’s EMR software to pull existing records. They can take digital headshots for more robust file keeping and provide an easy way to accept patient payments (via card or chip reader).
A study found that kiosk triage was faster than nurse-led triage. However, language barriers can be an issue, especially if the patient needs to be fluent in English. In these cases, multilingual kiosks are an option.
Kiosks can also verify coverage, deductibles, and copays to reduce front-desk work for staff. It can be beneficial for high-deductible health insurance plans. To improve adherence, patients can get customized discharge instructions and post-treatment care recommendations at the kiosk.
