Tuesday, November 25, 2008
By Cindy V. Culp
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Getting through the check-in line at the doctor’s office during cold and flu season can seem like half the battle in getting well.
New technology being used at some Scott & White clinics, however, is cutting down on that irritation. Patients now can check in and pay for their visit by turning to an automated kiosk that takes only a minute or two to use.
The terminals are much like the automated check-in stations used by airlines. Patients use a touch-screen to type in their Social Security number or name and date of birth to get the system to call up their information. The computer then retrieves their appointment time and sends a notice to the nurses’ station.
The machine also can process a person’s insurance co-pay if made by credit card. Just like at retail stores, patients swipe their cards through a reader and take a printed receipt.
Scott & White has the kiosks at its four busiest clinics — the family medicine clinic in Waco and three clinics in Bell County, where the health system is based. Other sites could get the machines in the future, said Bryan Rugh, Scott & White’s associate director for regional clinics.
The health system installed its first kiosk in Killeen in September 2007, Rugh said. It proved so helpful that Scott & White added machines at other high-volume clinics. In the past three months, the kiosks have been used more than 3,000 times, he said.
“It has come in handy,” Rugh said. “(Automated check-in) is becoming more and more popular. I think we’re probably on the leading edge of this, though.”
Lisa Sparks, supervisor of the Waco clinic, said it got a kiosk in April. People still tend to go to the regular check-in desk if there is no line. But when there is a queue, people turn to the kiosk, she said.
Patients still have to go to the regular check-in desk if they are paying by cash or check. The machine also may direct them to staff if there is confusion about which patient record belongs to them. For example, if two people have the same name and birth date, the kiosk won’t let either check in via the machine, Sparks said.
For people who have moved, changed telephone numbers or switched to a different insurance carrier, the kiosk allows them to enter updated information. Plus, the machine tells patients if they have past-due balances.
Several patients at the Waco clinic who used the kiosk for the first time Monday said they definitely would use it again on their next visit.
“It was really easy, quicker,” said Julie Spiech, 38, a local social worker.
cculp@wacotrib.com
757-5744
Comments
By My Opinion
Nov 26, 2008 7:54 AM | Link to this
I use Drs. Patricia and Robert Wilcox at Sanger Avenue Medical Clinic. Gladys and the other ladies that check you in are so sweet and give such personal attention to you. There is no way that you can replace that kind of excellent customer service with a computer. I don't mind waiting a few extra minutes if that is what it takes. Good grief people what is the hurry?? You are still going to have to wait once they get you back to a room.
By Darla
Nov 25, 2008 6:52 PM | Link to this
OOOOOOOOH FRRRRRRRRRRRRED
By Fred's Counselor
Nov 25, 2008 12:09 PM | Link to this
Fred??? I know your Uncle Marvin may very well have spent a wee bit too much "quality time" with you throughout your childhood. I am certain that's got alot to do with why you've gotten your brain stuffed so far up your backside orifice in the present day. But like we've already discussed at our last session, there are successful counseling and mentor programs in the area that can be taylor-fitted to suit the specific needs of your personal issues. All that you're doing here though, well, is just racking up a universal collection of bad karma woes to come back on you in the future. Can't you see that? When it all comes back around on you, and believe me it will, God help you then, Fred, because I no longer will be able to. That stuff with your Uncle Marvin is in the past, Fred. It wasn't your fault. Let it go now. Just let it go.........
By mom
Nov 25, 2008 11:21 AM | Link to this
Fred, seriously, if the doctors were greedy they would not work for clinics but each would be a private practice.
By anonymous lurker
Nov 25, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this
Fred, you simple dumba$$. I love the kiosk...when I'm sick and it hurts to be alive, the LAST thing I want to do is stand in a line for 15 minutes behind my fellow sick citizens- if I can check in this way and have a seat, then awesome for me.
You probably don't even have health insurance, you hater.
By escapewaco
Nov 25, 2008 7:51 AM | Link to this
I was at S&W clinic when Waco Trib was there taking the pictures. When my girlfriend was trying to use the automated system, the girl doing the intake came over and started pushing the buttons for me to speed the process up. Her billing information and other information is on the screen, but she wanted me to skip through that. If I had done that she would not have caught an adress error. The info in the machine is only as good as the person who inputs it. If S&W want this to work properly they must allow the patient to read all their information to make sure it is correct.
By Fred
Nov 25, 2008 3:35 AM | Link to this
Now patients (in Slaughterhouse Waco) can grab a number and jump on a conveyor-belt. This has nothing to do with "patient convenience" but rather making MORE money for the greedy Doctors. The more "bodies" that can be funneled through, then the more MONEY can be made. Even the Doctors are GREEDY in Slaughterhouse Waco.
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