A decade of changes in the health care industry has forced doctors to approach their practices with the hard line attitude of a shop foreman rather than with the loving touch of the trusted and dedicated family physician.
As HMOs dictate patient care with a strict eye on the bottom line, doctors can only watch as their profits dwindle. And with only so many hours in the day, doctors need to become more efficient and find ways to see more patients to make up the financial difference.
Enter the Patient Results Network.
Anyone who has ever played phone tag with their doctor over the results of a lab test knows how frustrating a game it is. First, the doctor calls while you’re at work. Then, when you try to call back, it’s either after hours or the doctor is seeing another patient. Even then, someone has to “pull the chart” and have the doctor get back in touch with you.
PRN, on the other hand, is a voice mail system that allows doctors to record temporary, individual messages for patients to call at their convenience. According to one PRN study, nearly 65 percent of calling activity occurs outside of normal business hours.
“As practices get larger and larger, they can’t keep up with the volume of phone calls that they’re getting,” says owner Gregory A. Marcus. “Every call we can eliminate saves time and money. And, it makes people more productive.”
Marcus purchased the six-year-old company — which he estimates serves about 100 practices comprising 1,000 physicians — in December 1998. In March, he moved it from Chicago to Cleveland, locating in Woodmere Village.
The key to the service, explains Marcus, is the software which operates the computers, tracking calls. It can handle up to 24 simultaneous calls. By turning to recorded messages, the average physician can save about eight hours a month, says Marcus, who has only recently begun marketing in the Cleveland area. While that may not seem like much, it’s a full day’s work that can be used elsewhere.
After a test is performed, the doctor gives the patient a card with PRN’s 800 number, the doctor’s I.D., a patient’s unique identifier (usually a Social Security number) and a date after which they can call to check the results. The message remains in the system for two to three weeks and doctors receive a report detailing which patients never called for results.
“It’s reduced the amount of telephone tag I’m playing with my patients,” says Dr. Neil Baum, a New Orleans urologist who’s used the service for about three years. “I am able to give them their results in a timely fashion. I am able to give them information that is personalized because I speak directly to them.”
Doctors usually record messages in batches, Marcus says, and once a physician learns the system, it takes about 30 seconds to record each message. Doctors can also record a series of messages focused on a specific type of test. This saves time for specialists who order the same few tests for many patients.
“I do about 15 twice a week,” says Baum, who is the author of “Marketing Your Clinical Practice Ethically Effectively and Economically.”
“It takes me about eight to 10 minutes to do 15 of them. As a result, we are not experiencing multiple calls from patients. Patients know their information immediately. They can call from anywhere in the country and get access to their results.
“They can have their test today; or if a week from now they are on vacation, they can call and get their results. They don’t have to call my office and disturb my nurse.”
Baum never delivers bad news through the system, however. For those calls, he always delivers that personal touch.
The PRN system isn’t a budget breaker; for a one or two physician practice the cost is about $150 per month. Larger practices are dealt with on a per message basis, Marcus says.
The only patients who can’t use the system are those without touch-tone phones. In an age in which you see cell phones on virtually every street corner, it’s not something most people are concerned with.
“There’s no downside,” Baum says. “It’s cost effective to do. Patients appreciate it. It improves the efficiency of your practice. It’s appreciated by patients and staff alike.”
Although the system was designed for physician practices, it could have practical applications in other industries. It’s been suggested to Marcus that he consider marketing to large retailers offering delivery service. Customers could call to learn when their merchandise should arrive, but that’s down the road, Marcus says. For now, he plans to concentrate on physicians.
How to reach: Patient Results Network, (216) 292-0050 or (800) 613-9050
Daniel G. Jacobs ([email protected]) is senior editor at SBN.
