By furnishing self-service technology, hospitals and health systems not only have the ability to meet patients’ needs and improve the patient experience, they can also increase workflow efficiencies and staff productivity while building patient loyalty and brand awareness. Yet, despite the benefits, self-service technology in healthcare is relatively new and plagued by widespread apprehension and misconceptions. The following sections aim to debunk some of these myths, plus offer strategies to enhance patient comfort with this technology.
1. Myth: Self-service technology replaces the need for registration staff. When looking to deploy a self-service strategy, a common misconception among hospital and health systems is that technology will replace the need for registration staff. However, this is not the case, as the chief purpose of the technology is to make workflow more efficient by automating standard manual tasks, such as sign-in and bill pay. The intent is not to replace valuable and seasoned registration staff but to allow them to function more effectively by freeing them from long lines and piles of time-consuming paperwork.
Automating certain routine tasks during patient intake can efficiently save staff resources for other, more mission-critical tasks, such as managing more complicated workflow “exceptions” rather than touching every single registration transaction. Though a certain percentage of patient intake may be automated in a hospital or health system with self-service technology, registration staff are still an essential part to ensuring patients’ needs are met and questions are answered in a timely manner.
One can see this at work in the banking and airline industries, as they illustrate that self-service technology does not replace the “human touch.” Both industries widely offer automation to their customers for convenience and efficiency. That said, bank tellers are still essential to addressing some customers’ needs, and airlines need representatives behind the counters to address nonstandard issues.
2. Myth: Self-service technology is vulnerable to security breaches. Despite the convenience and number of security protections offered by self-service technology, some patients will always prefer pen and paper, as they believe the technology is unsecure. However, there are many security steps and safeguards built into self-service workflow processes that aren’t available with traditional pen and paper. For instance, using a password-protected login through a mobile device, online account or kiosk is far more secure and private than completing a form attached to a clipboard, which could be seen or taken by anyone in the registration area. In addition, Web-based solutions supported by a hospital’s overall technology infrastructure often afford little risk of a breach even if a device is misplaced or intentionally taken because the devices themselves do not store any patient information.
If patients are reluctant to use a self-service kiosk because of privacy concerns, organizations can ease hesitation by adapting devices to address potential anxiety. For example, hospitals can supply privacy screens to patients while they complete forms or, rather than using kiosks, they can offer tablet computers for patients to use at registration.
Moreover, patients can also be reminded that the system will “time out” when it has been idle for a certain period of time, preventing the inadvertent disclosure of information if a device is left unattended. Finally, hospitals can address worries about any printed information that results from a self-service registration by making sure printers are behind the registration desk so that documents containing patient information cannot be obtained by unauthorized users.
3. Myth: Older patients won’t use self-service technology. Although self-service technology may not appeal to everyone, the notion that older patients will not embrace it is purely a myth. In fact, we’ve already seen this trend debunked in other industries that were early adopters of self-service technology. In the banking industry, for example, older individuals actually have enthusiastically adopted technology. This was demonstrated by a recent study conducted by Pew Research Center, in which nearly half of all Internet users 65 and older said they leverage online tools for banking.
Even if older patients are not interested in using automated systems, they often indirectly interact with self-service technology, as they are frequently accompanied to hospital encounters by younger family members or care takers who navigate the technology on their behalf. As such, hospitals should consider deploying self-service technology to appeal not only to older patients but also to their children or caregivers who are accustomed to using the convenient technology. And, oftentimes, it’s those children and caregivers who influence where the patient receives care.
4. Myth: Implementing self-service technology is complex, cumbersome and time-consuming. Some years ago, when self-service technology was customized to fit each healthcare organization’s individual workflow and the software was often unsupported by legacy systems, implementing it was cumbersome. Today’s self-service software is based on workflow best practices that are common among most hospitals, making software implementation possible in just a few short months.
Implementation time is not the only thing that has been streamlined. Using the technology has gotten to be much more straightforward. These kinds of tools provide several opportunities for patients to complete the steps of the intake process at home using a mobile device, online or at a kiosk at the hospital. Regardless, registration staff using a tracking module can know which steps the patient has completed, which means they are better able to meet the needs of patients who have been redirected to the registration desk for personal attention.
Why self-service technology?
Although many of these myths and misconceptions are born from decades-old experiences in healthcare or other industries, modern self-service technology provides many valuable benefits by automating routine tasks and empowering patients. Overall, self-service technology can improve the patient experience and enhance the value of a hospital’s brand by meeting the needs and expectations of today’s patients and their families.
Jim Dowling is vice president and general manager of Enterprise Self-Service Solutions at QuadraMed.
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