Optimize Your Dental Practice with Online Scheduling

Providing patients with a positive experience lies at the heart of any dental practice, but this can become difficult as expectations continue to rise. Today’s patients are looking for more than just exceptional care; they want more options when it comes to visibility and flexibility. According to Finances Online, 43% of patients now prefer to book appointments online, and that trend keeps rising.

On top of delivering a high-quality patient experience, a patient management tool can help you streamline administrative workflows and attract new patients with user-friendly scheduling portals, automated appointment reminders and more. If your dental office is on the fence about using an online scheduling system, here are the three major benefits for both your patients and your practice.

Here’s how online scheduling portals can help you get patients in the door:

Convenience factor
There’s no question that patient manager tools simplify the scheduling process. Instead of trying to find time in their busy days to call an office within business hours, patients have 24/7 access to an online booking portal. With the ability to easily schedule appointments in just a few clicks, it’s no wonder that 52% of patients say booking dental appointments online saves time.

Less wait time
A patient manager tool will also optimize the flow of patients in your practice for maximum efficiency. Real-time appointment booking enables administrative staff to gain a clear view of upcoming appointments and last-minute cancellations. This ultimately reduces wait times for patients, improving satisfaction at each exam.

Alerts and reminders
Online scheduling tools can automatically send reminders to patients for upcoming exams or notify them to schedule a follow-up appointment. Not only does this improve communication between practice and patients, but it also reduces late arrivals and unexpected cancellations that can disrupt the daily office flow. As a result, practices can provide better service to their customers, getting them in and out of the door more efficiently.

Streamline your practice workflows
Online booking platforms aren’t just for the patients’ benefit, they also provide dental practices with a few key advantages. Here are three significant benefits you can expect from a patient management solution.

Improve patient acquisition and retention
Patient manager tools can be a great way to enhance retention rates and reputation management. As more people use your scheduling portal and realize how fast and easy it is, they’ll be more inclined to stick with your dental practice for the convenience alone. But it doesn’t stop at retention rates. People are often influenced by the recommendations of friends and family, and as word travels about your office, you’ll bring in more patients to grow your outreach.

Save time and money from late or canceled appointments
Whether it’s empty slots from canceled checkups, a disrupted day due to a late arrival or the administrative costs of manually booking appointments, there are a lot of costs involved with patient scheduling. Online appointment scheduling not only builds value by booking more patients, but it also saves an estimated $3.2 billion for dental care facilities each year. In addition to money, practices also save time by reducing the number of calls administrative staff must field.

Optimize dental team workflows
Online patient manager tools can streamline dental office workflows by automating many tedious and repetitive tasks. From alerts and reminders to patient recall and appointment reservations, scheduling tools take the burden off your support staff, requiring fewer interactions and allowing them to focus on high-value tasks. With an online booking portal, you can drastically increase practice efficiency, enabling a rapid expansion to reach more patients.

Grow your patient base and expand your practice
Carestream Dental offers an all-in-one Patient Manager platform to boost engagement, streamline administrative operations and increase your practice efficiency. With automated scheduling tools to optimize workflow efficiency and alerts and reminders to enhance patient communication, Patient Manager is a comprehensive solution for everything from outreach to retention. As a digital hub connecting patients to your practice, Carestream Dental’s Patient Manager allows dental professionals to build relationships with existing patients while expanding outreach to find new ones.

• Online Scheduling enhances the patient experience with a seamless booking experience for every appointment.
• Virtual Waiting Rooms act as a remote way for patients to check into their appointments without having to be in the physical office.
• Smart Messaging enables dental professionals to communicate directly with patients through multiple channels, including text and email.
• Reputation Management tools allow you to maximize your outreach efforts and grow your patient base with positive reviews and recommendations.