Revolutionizing Patient Care: Alleviate Front-Office Chaos with Dedicated Receptionists

Over 285 million patients worldwide, with 253 million in the USA, have electronic records in Epic® EHR. While it's a crucial tool for streamlined care through integrated healthcare information, its diverse features, like appointment scheduling, payment coordination, patient profiling, and AI analytics, can overwhelm new users.

To address that, many medical facilities choose dedicated receptionists’ support to handle all patient queries and keep their central management system updated. What do they get in return? Let’s see.

5 Medical Facilities’ Pain Points Receptionists Trained in Epic® Help Solve

Personnel scarcity is strangling the US healthcare system. The current demand for medical assistants in healthcare facilities across the states is 14%, nearly five times more than the occupational average.

This situation is likely to aggravate as the US population is aging: Americans aged 65 and older are expected to rise from 58 million in 2022 to 82 million by 2050, reflecting a 47% growth.

These negative circumstances greatly strain hospital managers, practice owners, and clinic HR teams to find skilled personnel for front desk scheduling, call-taking, and other administrative tasks. The pool of available candidates shrinks even more when we add proficiency in Epic® EHR handling to the requirements.

Thankfully, they can reach us to find experienced, dedicated receptionists trained in Epic® to balance the current workload and solve five pressing concerns related to healthcare front-office understaffing. What are they?

Pain Point #1 Poor Patient Experience

What’s the problem? 

Insufficiently trained staff in Epic® EHR can impact your patient service quality in multiple ways. With fewer adequately trained workers, the system's capacity to handle and process calls diminishes, leading to prolonged hold times that can frustrate patients. Additionally, inexperienced front desk scheduling assistants may take longer to locate necessary information in the EHR system, contributing to a below-par patient experience.

How do dedicated scheduling receptionists solve it? 

Personnel trained in Epic® EHR are pivotal in enhancing the patient experience by ensuring proficient scheduling and timely updates. With expertise in Epic® EHR functionalities, they can streamline the front desk scheduling process, minimizing appointment wait times and improving the overall efficiency of your healthcare services.

Pain Point #2 Insufficient Time for Patients

What’s the problem? 

When confronted with an influx of incoming patient calls and queries, practice and hospital managers temporarily assign front-office tasks to clinical employees. This may work as a short-term remedy, but eventually, it creates a troubling paradox: You manage to schedule visits but don’t have the workforce to handle them. This diminishes revenue potential and erodes specialists' morale, highlighting the importance of a sustainable solution to address administrative and clinical demands for optimal healthcare service delivery.

How do dedicated scheduling receptionists solve it? 

By allocating additional resources to proficient Epic® EHR handling, you enable your physicians to concentrate on their areas of expertise. Effectively, this strategic allocation empowers them to expand their patient caseload and prioritize patient care, leading to augmented practice revenue.

Pain Point #3 Front Desk Inefficiency

What’s the problem? 

Efficient front desk scheduling staff is the backbone of any healthcare practice, their productivity hinging on effective task prioritization. While managing Epic® EHR is a key responsibility, front-office workers must navigate various duties daily. Balancing patient interactions, appointment scheduling, and administrative tasks alongside the intricate demands of Epic® EHR underscores the multifaceted nature of their role, highlighting the need for strategic time management and skillful juggling of responsibilities to ensure optimal practice operations.

How do dedicated scheduling receptionists solve it? 

Outsourcing certain Epic® EHR tasks can be a strategic move to optimize your healthcare operations. This approach guarantees that your in-house staff has ample time to attend to various responsibilities and provide enhanced patient care. As a result, the overall patient experience improves, employee workloads are alleviated, and the organization benefits from cost savings on recruitment without compromising the quality of customer service.

Pain Point #4 Costly Employee Training

What’s the problem? 

What is your backup plan for a surge in workload or staff absenteeism? Who will manage all incoming calls and handle EHR processes during such situations? While it is ideal for all staff members to be proficient in Epic® EHR software to fill in for a receptionist's absence or support front desk scheduling personnel during peak times, training everyone is time-consuming and expensive. Additionally, each minute spent on training detracts from their regular duties. How much of your team's time are you prepared to allocate for this training?

How do dedicated scheduling receptionists solve it? 

Instead, you may consider hiring dedicated receptionists to manage your queries in the above cases. All receptionists we provide have been carefully selected and have a proven track record of working with Epic® software for at least two years. They only need a few hours to learn how you book and interact with Epic® before going live and taking the Epic® EHR admin burden off your personnel’s shoulders.

Pain Point #5 Risk of HIPAA Violation

What’s the problem? 

In addition to acquiring the essential Epic® EHR skills, your front-office workers must be thoroughly acquainted with the latest HIPAA regulations. Staying informed about these regulations is a formidable task, particularly considering their dynamic nature and frequent updates. Compliance with HIPAA rules is crucial for safeguarding patient privacy and maintaining the integrity of healthcare data, making continuous education on these regulations an ongoing and essential aspect of your front-office staff's responsibilities.

How do dedicated scheduling receptionists solve it? 

To understand the gravity of HIPAA violations, medical administrative workers must be well-versed in the boundaries of information sharing. Our solution safeguards against potential repercussions as our experienced and certified scheduling receptionists undergo annual training in HIPAA compliance. This commitment ensures that you and other healthcare facilities receive the highest quality of service while maintaining the utmost confidentiality and adherence to regulatory standards.

Get Your Epic® EHR Front Desk Scheduling Support

Expert receptionists trained in Epic® address key challenges for medical practices and hospitals, including enhancing patient experience, optimizing time management, reducing training costs, improving work efficiency, and mitigating the risk of HIPAA violations. Considering the healthcare hiring boom and a deficit of specialists, your quickest — and easiest — way to hire them is through a dedicated front desk scheduling provider like us. 

Ready to elevate your front-office operations with the right personnel and tools to positively impact your healthcare business? ➡️ Give us a call!