Regardless of how Houston Medical Practices feel about letting patients book their own appointments, get lab results, register, and pay medical bills online, many surveys show overwhelming demand. While patients do need to be engaged and take control over their health status, many Houston Medical Practices have this feature disabled even though the functinality is available through their physician practice management (PPM) and electronic medical record (EMR) software system. Why? Because many experienced healthcare facilities that are efficiently running a profitable medical practice schedule their work based on type of work, day of week, and office location. Some appointments and procedures require pre-certs, so the medical practice risks patients not getting approval. That leaves the medical practice stuck with trying to recover revenue.
On the flip side, it really has the opportunity to cut down on phone traffic for the front desk / schedulers, and they can send a reply through the system to the patient verifying date and time of appointment once it is scheduled. This will quickly evolve due to the regulations imposed in the HITECH Act. As Meaningful Use moves into its next stages, it will be focusing on patients as consumers. This is a huge patient satisfier - the more access that a patient has to their information whether it is scheduling (not requesting) appointments, getting lab results automatically released (with minor exceptions) access to diagnoses, care plans, etc the happier the patient and/or their care givers.
