EMR's: Providing Indian Doctors with an Edge: Volume 2 is the second in a series of articles by Nrip Nihalani, Amit Kumar and Aditya Patkar. This Article focusses on how Appointment Management using effective scheduling, communication and reminder services in Modern EMRs provides benefits to Indian Doctors

1. Plus91 Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Title: Electronic Medical Records: Providing Indian Doctors with an Edge: Vol. 2
Authors: Nrip Nihalani
http://www.plus91.in
http://technology4doctors.blogspot.com
Electronic Medical Records: Providing
Indian Doctors with an Edge: Vol. 2
by Nrip Nihalani
Source: Technology for Doctors (http://www.technology4doctors.blogspot.com)
APPOINTMENT MANAGERS FOR EFFICIENT TIME MANAGEMENT
Managing time is a major issue for all professionals in today’s fast paced world. This is
even more so for many doctors, especially those who work at multiple locations: Clinics,
Hospitals and Medical centers.
Workshops on effective time management are regularly organized at different financial
and IT firms to help hard working professionals. Gyan is imparted on setting Alerts for
Reminders, and
To Dos for Task management and the importance of diaries, blackberries and calendar
reminders is emphasized here.
Physicians have a slightly
bigger problem. Their
schedules are majorly
dependent on set
appointments with patients.
While they do have other
areas of concern, the majority
of their daily schedules are
built around patient
appointments. What
complicates this for a consulting doctor is that every day he may have different visiting
hours at different locations. This makes Time management even more crucial for
Physicians.
Effective Appointment Scheduling for Physicians thus becomes an extremely important
activity, and many firms are trying to make an industry out of it alone. It makes more
sense though to ensure that Appointment Scheduling is not taken up stand alone, but is
an integral part of an EMR system. Add an effective Appointment Management Process
to an EMR, and you have added a strong case with Physicians on adoption.
The Appointment Management Process can be divided into 3 parts:
1. Appointment Scheduling
2. Scheduled Appointment Tracking
3. Patient Visit
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edge.html ©2006-2011 Plus91 Technologies Pvt. Ltd

2. Plus91 Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Title: Electronic Medical Records: Providing Indian Doctors with an Edge: Vol. 2
Authors: Nrip Nihalani
http://www.plus91.in
http://technology4doctors.blogspot.com
Mandatory Requirements for an Appointment Management System:
• It should allow for different mediums of Appointment Scheduling
o E.g. Via a Website, Via A Phone Call, Via SMS
• It should permit Rescheduling
• It should be able to handle Walk-In Patients
• Besides the process, the screens should be simple – Non IT friendly users should
be able to easily use it
o Color Coded Entries: Pending, Completed, No Show, Bill Pending
o Point And Click with Minimum Data Entry
• Should be rigid enough to prevent Scheduling Errors
• Should Support Multiple Doctors and Multiple Specialties
• Maintain 2 Daily Calendar Views
o Appointment View for Front Desk staff, Online Portal
o Scheduled Visits View for Physicians
Appointment Management Workflow
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edge.html ©2006-2011 Plus91 Technologies Pvt. Ltd

3. Plus91 Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Title: Electronic Medical Records: Providing Indian Doctors with an Edge: Vol. 2
Authors: Nrip Nihalani
http://www.plus91.in
http://technology4doctors.blogspot.com
Useful Features in an Appointment Manager which add value to the
Appointment Workflow
A Good Appointment Manager allows appointments and available spots to be displayed
across multiple locations ensuring quick coordination.
It has a visit calendar that showcases the status of the patient’s appointment right from
the initial booking stage to the consultation and finally to the bill payments post check
check-
up.
It contains Smart Customization features that help the staff and doctors to configure the
appropriate time slots, visit options and default visit duration.
It offers Multiple Calendar Screens to View the Appointment Schedules Daily, Weekly
and Month wise.
Sometimes patients forget appointments, which adversely affects the practice’s cash
flow as well as adds Delays in the patients’ treatment. A Good Appointment Manager
will offer automated appointment reminders built into the Appointment manager. This
tomated
will help reduce No Shows as well as Reduce Confusions over time of Scheduled
Appointments. These Reminders can be
• Email Reminders
• SMS Reminders
• Automated Phone Calls Reminding the Patients of the Scheduled Appointment
Patients
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indian-doctors-with-
edge.html ©2006-2011 Plus91 Technologies Pvt. Ltd

4. Plus91 Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Title: Electronic Medical Records: Providing Indian Doctors with an Edge: Vol. 2
Authors: Nrip Nihalani
http://www.plus91.in
http://technology4doctors.blogspot.com
The control center of a successful medical practice is an EMR with an efficient and user-
friendly scheduling system. It will help your practice run smoothly with increased
productivity and optimum patient satisfaction.
In the next Volume we will take a deeper look at how EMR's can presciption
management improves efficiency, patient safety and reduces the possibility of Medico
Legal Issues
About Plus91:
Plus91 is a Healthcare Technology firm developing Innovative High Quality Solutions
for the Indian Healthcare Industry. These vary in complexity from Simple Practice
Management Suites to complicated Telemedicine Enabled EMR's. Plus91 is defining
what the next generation of Healthcare needs to be. Maximized across locations, people,
solutions and verticals; we cater to a growing mass of people in an integrated and ever
changing environment.
Disclaimer:
All content of this Article is provided "AS IS." That means there is no warranty of any
kind. This Article may have statements that talk about things that could happen in the
future. These are called forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements as a
rule are not historical. They are subject to certain risks and doubts. These could cause
actual results to differ greatly from our past outcomes. Plus91 makes no claim that the
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edge.html ©2006-2011 Plus91 Technologies Pvt. Ltd