Originally published in American City & County.
Originally published in American City & County.
Originally published in InsightsCare.
Originally published in HIT Consultant.
Originally published in RouteFifty
The long-awaited Covid-19 vaccine has arrived. As of now, three pharmaceutical companies—Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca—have announced that their vaccines are anywhere from 70 and 95% effective. And with the approval of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the U.S. is now embarking on the largest vaccination distribution campaign in history. As it did for keeping individuals safe throughout the pandemic, technology and data will need to be leveraged in order to ensure distribution plans are on track and successful. But in this unprecedented time, state and local governments are struggling to understand what technology is actually needed to create a safe and efficient distribution pipeline. They also need to understand what data is necessary to collect and how to keep it safe. And all of these solutions need to be implemented in a timely manner so that state and local governments can quickly and safely distribute the vaccine.
Third-Party Vendor Considerations
There are major time constraints for getting the infrastructure in place to support the vaccine distribution. This means that health care and government organizations will need to rely on existing technology infrastructure and solutions instead of building out their own platforms. Similarly, this means working with existing technology vendors through RFP processes known to take weeks or months to get new projects approved. In our current situation, speed is pivotal. Finding a balance between speed and process is extremely important at this time. Governments should consider ways to avoid lengthy RFPs so that the technology is in place for the distribution. This could mean entering a pilot program agreement or looking at direct sales—anything that will allow the technology to be implemented in a timely fashion. Consider trusted vendors that have experience working with government organizations and understand the security requirements.
Technology Implementation
The technology that governments choose to implement needs to be able to manage the flow of traffic and vaccine appointments in health care facilities. The health care system is already overwhelmed with patients sick from Covid-19. Adding an onslaught of patients needing vaccines to busy hospitals that are already under strain could cause many issues. Vaccine distribution needs to consider how to keep everyone safe by managing the flow of traffic in these facilities. Integrating appointment management solutions where patients can wait at a safe distance will help keep clinics safe and running smoothly during the distribution phase. It will also help them manage the distribution of the vaccines alongside the need of other healthcare services.
Data Collection
With so many different distribution phases and vaccines, governments will need to collect patient data to keep track of who has been vaccinated, who needs a booster shot if receiving the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and who still needs the vaccine. This will be critical information when it comes to ordering vaccine doses and moving through each phase, but also to monitor the needs of healthcare providers.
Originally published in Healthcare Business and Technology
Originally Published in HealthCare Business & Technology
Healthcare and hospital facilities need complex systems for managing patient data, appointment scheduling, and patient queues. Providing your staff with the right system for the job can make their roles easier and increase the efficiency of your business. With the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s no better time than now to update old systems with new technology. The QLess hospital queue management system has a myriad of features and benefits that can improve your hospital’s processes.
When it comes to the healthcare industry, your medical management system needs to be functional in many different ways. You need to be able to collect detailed information about patients; provide automated appointment scheduling, confirmations, and reminders; and create healthier medical waiting room environments since the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic that has radically transformed our world. Since the pandemic hit, healthcare facilities across the nation have been revamping the way they manage patients with modern technologies like QLess that offer a new approach to processing data, appointments, and queues.
With the recent coronavirus pandemic, animal shelters have seen a significant increase in the number of pet adoptions. Quarantine and stay-at-home orders have made people crave extra companionship, and they realize the extra value that a pet can add to their life. Cats and dogs are always ready to give us affection, and they help inspire us to get out and exercise with them. With more daily business and social distancing safety measures that need to be observed, animal shelters and hospitals can benefit from a management system that uses software that works directly with customers’ cell phones.
Between 3D printing and robotics, the world of healthcare is rapidly changing due to emerging technologies. Unfortunately, these technologies rarely filter down to the customer experience level, nor to individual clinics. That’s because healthcare rarely thinks of patients as customers.
Believe it or not, the coronavirus pandemic has had some positive effects on our society. Because of the pandemic, our healthcare system has gone through radical changes to better fight the spread of disease between patients, staff, and healthcare providers. New policies and procedures promote the health and safety of all. And though COVID-19 may be declining in severity, we need to learn from these new policies to keep doctor’s office waiting rooms safe.
How many times have you arrived at a scheduled appointment, only to find out that the person you’re meeting is running behind? You're forced to wait minutes, maybe hours, for something that you expected to happen on time, which results in your entire day being uprooted. We’ve all been through this. Doctors, dentists, lawyers — they’re all guilty of this minor, but frustrating, offense.
At QLess, our mission isn't just to eliminate lines and improve the customer experience – it's to do all that in the most cost-effective way possible. Sure, if cost weren't a consideration, you could just hire more staff or redesign your waiting room or store to account for service delays. But those aren't options for a responsible operation. With QLess' scalable, easy-to-use platform you can solve problems that are costing your organization major revenue at a price that you can afford.
Still skeptical? Check out our new ROI calculator. Walk through this simple and free resource to see how you can potentially increase productivity, improve customer satisfaction, and manage sustainable growth with QLess.
When it comes to improving the customer experience, execution is everything. It’s one thing to offer a digital queue manager; it’s another thing entirely to provide a platform that solves some of your most pressing business needs while also improving the customer experience.
Queue management vendors vary widely in this respect.
QLess may not be the only queue management solution out there, but our cloud-based platform is the easiest to use, manage, and implement.
Click here to learn how QLess stacks up to other queue management platforms.
Maintaining an effective medical practice is not easy. With so many factors and moving parts to consider, making sure your office is running smoothly requires constant attention. And it requires identifying different areas that waste time or result in poor outcomes.
Experts predict that by the year 2025, the US healthcare industry could face a shortage of primary care physicians ranging from 34,600 to 88,000 physicians. Undoubtedly, medical practices need to start preparing now in order to survive the burdens of such a shortage of key staff.
There is an undeniable shift in healthcare. Today’s “on-demand” economy has fundamentally changed the way we deliver patient care.
In this new era of competitive advantage, patient satisfaction is set by high expectations. When expectations are not met, retention rates decline.
With technology empowering patients, a winning strategy includes consistent, personalized, and high-value experiences.
One of the most difficult tasks for a medical practice is reducing patient waiting times. Caring for every patient with the punctuality they expect takes a lot of work, and inevitably, the combination of packed schedules, longer-than-expected appointments, and walk-in patients are going to lead to delays. The key, then, is to limit those lag times as much as possible—and to ensure patients are cared for as they wait.
Regardless of what kind of medical practice you work in, understanding how to improve the patient experience is critical.
When a medical practice is short on personnel, operating efficiently and giving patients the care they expect can be difficult. Whether you’re lacking an ideal number of physicians, nurses, or administrative staff, carrying out useful short staff solutions for medical offices is a tremendous challenge. It’s also one that will only become more necessary in the years to come.
We’ve all seen those ticket machines labeled “PLEASE Take A Number.” These internationally recognized symbols of long queues are the best way to signal to visitors that your waiting room is about to live up to its name. They’re out-of-date tools for an obsolete system.
Technology is making all aspects of our lives easier and more efficient, and the same goes for waiting your turn. Here are the top 7 reasons to scrap the take-a-number system:
Today’s consumers have endless options when it comes to where to spend their money, so the savviest businesses (from retailers to doctor’s offices) know they’ve got to set themselves apart from the pack. The most impactful and low-cost way is to deliver stellar customer service. People remember when they get it, tell others about it, and honor it with repeat business. Just as true: people don’t hesitate to bail when service is poor. Below are five ways to help ensure that customers stick around:
Many of us enjoyed an extra hour’s sleep this past Sunday, November 6th, thanks to Daylight Savings Time (DST). The practice of setting clocks back in the fall and moving them forward every spring to maximize evening daylight has its defenders and detractors, but nobody can deny the feel-good perk to “fall back” an hour once a year to sleep, play, read, finish projects, or go shopping.
Now imagine that you had an extra hour every day – imagine saving not one but dozens of hours a year. In fact, you can! That’s because all of us waste hours a year waiting in line. That’s useless, inefficient, frustrating time that we’ll never get back. By avoiding lines at the hospital, DMV, airports, and other places where people are forced to stand around, you can reclaim wasted hours every day. That’s where mobile queuing technology can play a key role in saving time.
In our latest webinar, CEO Alex Bäcker unveiled the top 4 predictions for 2016. More than 85% of our attendees found the presentation insightful! In case you missed it, watch the recording here:
Conventional wisdom says the best way to avoid getting sick is to stay away from sick people. However, easier said than done when patients need to visit a doctor's office. Whether visiting your clinic for a routine examination or accompanying someone who's under the weather, patients enter your waiting room where germs lurk on every surface.
QLess is not just about increasing customer satisfaction. QLess establishments get a treasure trove of data about their customer flow. The plot below, for example, shows the increase in urgent care visits during the flu season for a couple of QLess urgent care locations in Texas:
Many people fear the dentist more than any other common human experience (even more than marriage). They agonize over the drill, the smoke, the sounds, latex - you name it. But for some it comes with an additional price. On this Veteran's day it has been brought to light that many of those who have served in the armed forces so courageously are faced with the additional frustration of waiting in exorbitant lines for free dental work. It is truly a tragedy that so many Veterans return home, struggle to make a living and have to wait for hours for healthcare. QLess can help end the wait for these heroes.
New rules were announced last week aimed at limiting the long wait times for patients in health maintenance organizations to see a doctor.
"I think this is a wonderful way to improve patient satisfaction and reduce expenses…I think this would be a killer thing to have in a healthcare organization. I'd like to have it…It's extremely neat…I wouldn't want to build and operate this in-house --I want to sleep all night long".
With three people in the household who already had the flu, I can attest that this is a flu season extraordinaire. Flu shots have run out in many places. Find out where to get yours at gettheswineflushot.com today and let your loved ones know, too.
Sign up now at Gettheswineflushot.com .
A great article by Trisha Torrey about what and how it costs you to wait for your doctor's appointment.
Led by Kelly Stephens, a pioneer pediatrician, Mercy Health is going QLess: reducing waiting room contagion, showing respect for patients' time, and gathering a wealth of new data about their service.
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