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EmailPosted April 15, 2014 by Fraser Ratchford
Benefits to patients
Often, when I try to book a medical appointment, it can be a frustrating experience as it means busy signals and waiting on hold. However, e-booking solutions can let patients book their own appointments, in a matter of seconds and at their own convenience. Canada Health Infoway recently launched an e-Booking Initiative designed to encourage the adoption of e-booking solutions.
As part of the initiative, we also released a white paper examining the benefits of e-booking for both clinics and patients. In Part 1 of this blog series, I examined the benefits to clinics. Now it’s time to look at the benefits to patients:
- Convenience. No more busy signals and an ability to book appointments 24/7.
- Time savings. One study found the time it took for patients to book an appointment was reduced by 80 per cent.
- Ease-of-use. Patients found online booking to be an easy process and said they would do it again.
- Making it easier for everyone else. Even patients who did not book appointments online benefited as there were fewer people booking calls through phones.
- e-Reminders. Patients can receive electronic alerts and reminders, which means fewer missed appointments.
Have you ever used e-booking to make a medical appointment? Tell us what you thought.
Have a comment about this post? We’d love to hear from you.
Fraser Ratchford is a Senior Director at Canada Health Infoway and works with Infoway’s partners to electronically connect citizens to their health information, to their care team, and to other virtual health services and tools. Prior to his role at Infoway, Fraser held a number of leadership positions in health care. His major focus over the past 30 years has been digital health, working in various sectors including government, hospital and public health.
