3 Ways Automating Patient Check-in Is Curing a Painful Patient Experience

Waiting rooms are stressful enough for patients. Filling out lengthy paper forms on a clipboard coupled with long wait times are only just the start. Both patients and practices want faster and simpler interactions so that they can focus on what really matters: patient care.

Patient registration, in particular, is a complex process that requires a considerable amount of preliminary data input—contact information, personal health history, insurance coverage, appointment scheduling, and orientation are all part of this check-in process. They also happen to be some of the most time-consuming and frustrating steps for staff and patients alike.

The cure for a bad patient check-in experience is simple. 

Kiosks for patient check-in improves key steps in the patient experience by reducing wait times, improving data collection, and streamlining verification of ID and health insurance. They also enable financial and efficiency-based benefits for providers.

Here are three ways automating patient check-in is improving the patient experience and streamlining the intake process.  

1. Check-in kiosks expedite the patient journey 

Reducing wait times

Wait times seem like an unavoidable part of patient visits. Waiting to check-in, however, doesn’t have to be. By using self check-in kiosks at the front desk, patient service centers can provide a quick and convenient way to check-in. Self-service options are everywhere, from leading retailers, and grocery stores to major banks and movie theaters. In a healthcare setting, self-service options have proven to be a valuable way for healthcare providers to improve the patient experience. 

Improving data collection & streamlining verification

A patient check-in kiosk also simplifies check-in and registration by enhancing the patient data collection process. When a patient begins the check-in process, a staff member often hands them a clipboard with multiple paper forms to fill out. Once complete, a staff member verifies their insurance card, confirms their appointment information, and typically enters all of the patient information into their practice management system manually. 

Not only does this process take up the patient and staff member’s time, but it’s also prone to costly errors. Expired cards, poor penmanship, skipped form information—these are all steps that can cause downstream effects. Yet they all can be simplified and streamlined by a combination of simple on-screen interactions and scanning at the patient registration kiosk.

2. Automation helps your staff spend time with patients, not with process

Increasing staff efficiency

By automating routine processes like intake and verification, staff can spend time on more valuable patient-related tasks. This allows patient service centers to better staff their locations without compromising quality care. 

Boosting collection rates

When processes like copay and past-due balances are automated via a self-service kiosk, hospitals and healthcare centers saw an increase in collection rates. By outsourcing uncomfortable billing conversations to a kiosk that allows for payments in just seconds, patients are more likely to choose to swipe their card rather than have the bill sent to their home where it may be lost or forgotten. 

Protecting patients and providers from fraud

Verifying that patient data is accurate and up-to-date is often thought of as a high-touch process. But with OCR (optical character recognition), ID and insurance verification can be automated on a patient check-in kiosk. 

By keeping the most accurate and updated information on-record with each visit, healthcare providers can limit fraudulent activity. It can also help build trust between patients and providers—when a patient knows that their data is being actively verified and protected, they’re more likely to have confidence in the service they’re receiving overall.

3. Check-in technology helps providers adapt to changing patient needs

Ditching the paper forms

It’s estimated that an average healthcare office spends around $200 per month on paper alone. This doesn’t include toner, printers, and maintenance. Nor does it cover the time staff spends reading and transcribing paper forms into a digital format. 

With a patient check-in kiosk, providers can eliminate paper forms entirely, removing the chance of misplacing patient records.

Unifying patient experiences on a single, versatile platform

As healthcare providers continue to integrate technology into key workflows, it will be increasingly important to provide consistent, integrated experiences. We’ve seen this work, behind the scenes, in our daily lives. 

Our smartwatches integrate with our smartphones, our smartphones with our laptops, and so on. By keeping solutions on one platform like iOS, providers can develop, deploy, and scale solutions much faster—and with much more ease—than those built on disparate legacy systems.

Aila’s Interactive Kiosk is used by leading healthcare providers to streamline the check-in process and improve the patient experience. Learn more about Aila’s healthcare solutions by reading the healthcare brochure: