CUSTOMER STORY

“It’s All Too Easy”: HotDoc’s Recalls and Reminders are a Perfect Fit at Casey Optometrist

Casey Optometrist was one of the first optometry practices on the HotDoc patient engagement platform. They’re loving the way it saves time and simplifies the way they contact patients.

Joanna Ho, Practice Manager, had already been using HotDoc as a patient for her GP appointments. The practice had been using MyHealth1st for online bookings, but Jo and her team were interested in the different features and potential of the HotDoc platform.

“[HotDoc is] more automated, it saves my staff a lot of manual work.”

Automatic recalls that just make sense

One of the features that has had the biggest impact for the Casey Optometrist team was patient recalls. While their previous system had some functionality, it took a lot more manual work and time. “We had to manually download a month’s worth of recalls, transfer it across, upload it, and then send it all out at once.”

“That’s all we ever knew. It wasn't ideal.”

Aside from creating a massive workload for the team, it also caused havoc for their appointment book. Sending out a month’s worth of recalls in one go meant their phones were inundated with people booking in their next appointment. “Nothing happens for the last two weeks of the month sometimes because all the recalls went out on day one and now we’ve got nothing left to do.”

Streamlining processes to keep everyone on track

The HotDoc platform automatically sends out recall messages the day they’re due, helping to significantly reduce the workload for Jo’s team. “The recall system and how it’s automated saves my staff a lot of time because they don’t have to manually download, upload, send, get the credit card out, pay for the messages.

“It's just streamlined everything.”

Automating the process also means that the messages are sent when each individual recall is due, not in one big chunk. “It’s good for the patients because they get their recalls on time, it’s not too early or too late.” And it reduces bottlenecks so Jo and her team have a consistent, manageable stream of appointments.

Reminders you can’t miss

While recalls have helped them get the bookings, automated reminders make sure those patients turn up. “[The reminders feature] has worked really well because the number of no-shows that we have is actually very, very few now.”

Using HotDoc, Jo and her team can set the timing of reminders and how many each patient should get. The SMS reminders are sent automatically, and automatically stop if a patient confirms an early reminder.

The flexibility that optometrists need

Jo found that the flexibility of reminders in particular made HotDoc helpful for the needs of an optometry practice.

“Being able to customise the SMS based on the patient's appointment type is something that we couldn't do before.”

The content of SMS reminders can be fully customised to suit different appointment types. “In the past it was just one standard SMS that went out to everyone. But now we can customise the diabetic eye test to remind them to bring a driver, we can customise the contact lens appointment to remind the patient to come wearing their contact lenses and bring their glasses along with them.”

Patients would have to receive multiple reminders, or the team would have to call them with more specific details. Now they have greater flexibility to set up the reminders in a way that works better for their team and their patients.

“It just automated everything and made it so much smoother.”

A lighter workload for staff

Jo says the hardest part for the staff was actually just learning to embrace their lightened workloads. “It was actually so easy to swap over that it almost felt like they had to learn to give up control.”

The team were accustomed to being on the hunt for those lulls in the appointment book that might accommodate the influx from processing recalls manually. “Because it was a manual process, we had to get around to doing it. So if we didn’t then patients wouldn’t get their recalls.” Now they can take a backseat and focus on other things.

“They had to kind of let go of it a little bit. It’s all too easy!”

Sharing their success

Six months on, Jo and her team are still reaping the rewards and they’ve been able to help HotDoc in return with useful feedback on their experience.

Now their other two locations are starting to move across to the HotDoc platform to enjoy the streamlined workload.

Want to know more about how HotDoc can help your optometry practice? Find out here.