Effective running of medical clinics requires efficiency at all levels. In particular, an administrator must strike the right balance between managing professionals, providing care, and ensuring patient satisfaction.
Managing a balance between the competing demands is universally achieved through effective scheduling. For a smaller medical clinic within Quebec, managing the office calendar isn’t always challenging.
Larger medical clinics often require medical scheduling coordinators to handle the complex demands of shift and office resource allocations based on specific constraints. However, hiring a dedicated person to handle scheduling alone is not always realistic for many institutions, considering the associated costs of the position.
As such, many medical clinics turn to specialized software, which minimizes error while saving money. In this article, we will explore why your clinic needs to integrate the Team2Book Health Scheduling App into its workflow.
Keep reading to learn more!
How Much Does a Scheduling Staff Cost?
Regardless of the size of your clinic or income, you would have to spend at least $60,000 CAD for a medical scheduling coordinator who would manage scheduling and resource allocation. Clinics that want to save money may assign this task to a doctor or nurse with other responsibilities, thinking scheduling is not a big deal, will quickly start to see missed shifts, double bookings, and much more.
For smaller medical clinics, schedule coordination is typically performed by the clinic manager in addition to their other responsibilities. A clinic manager may earn an average annual salary of $80,000 CAD.
These administrative staff generally perform the following tasks:
- Fairly assign office spaces to medical professionals with minimal bias.
- Coordinate on-call, night, weekend, and special clinic shifts among staff.
- Track changes and make adjustments to different calendars when required.
- Inform and remind staff about the appointments/assignments.
- Avoid overstaffing and understaffing.
- Ensure adequate cover for all shifts.
- Track statistics to improve overall workflow efficiency and transparency.
Considering all these responsibilities, the cost of hiring a dedicated staff that handles scheduling is almost always justified. However, not all clinics can afford to hire an expert dedicated to only handling scheduling.
The only other viable alternative is to incorporate technology. Leveraging the Team2Book Medical Clinic Scheduling App minimizes cost while increasing efficiency.
Benefits of Integrating the Team2Book Availability Scheduling App in a Medical Clinic
The Team2Book Availability Scheduling App offers medical clinics various benefits. By far, the most critical advantage of using this tool is its ability to save money.
Large medical clinics in and around Quebec that spend a minimum of $60,000 CAD on medical scheduling coordinators can save at least $30,000 CAD by introducing this scheduling app into their workflow. On the other hand, medical clinic managers in smaller institutions are partly freed up from calendar management duties and allowed to concentrate on other crucial aspects of management.
Here is an example with numbers for a medium size medical clinic.
Highlighted below are other essential benefits of using Team2Book.
Minimizes Scheduling Time
Managing the schedule of any medical clinic consumes time, especially when performed manually by a medical clinic manager or a medical scheduling coordinator. However, many medical facilities that integrate the Team2Book App reduce the time taken for scheduling by between 30% and 70%, with an average of 50% reduction.
Delays Employment of a Scheduling Coordinator
Medium-sized to large medical clinics do not always have a scheduling coordinator who manages their calendars. As these facilities expand, scheduling complexities increase, which necessitates the need for hiring a medical scheduling coordinator.
However, investing in the Team2Book Availability Scheduling App delays the need for hiring such a coordinator. In some cases, a clinic with decent management can solely depend on this tool until its activities expand to requiring a scheduling coordinator who oversees scheduling and other critical administrative duties.
For clinics that choose to have a scheduling coordinator or manager, Team2Book helps minimize manual work by about 50% (based on our client testimonials), which can significantly increase workflow efficiency.
Postpones Clinic Expansion
As a clinic expands, the need for more physical space also increases. As administrators plan to expand the current building or move to a new location, this demand can quickly translate into thousands of dollars.
At a glance, clinic coordinators or managers may feel there is little or no room to effectively allocate office spaces to medical professionals based on their individual calendars. However, with the help of the Team2Book Medical Clinic Scheduling App, administrators easily identify the availability of office space within specific timeframes, which is challenging to determine manually.
Access to this information allows coordinators to:
- Assess office availability in real-time,
- Track office use with accurate statistics,
- Efficiently assign empty offices to professionals,
- Optimize overall use of the building.
Improves Productivity
The job of a clinic manager and coordinator is beyond just managing calendars. Yet, managing scheduling manually preoccupies administrators from doing any other task, which affects overall clinic productivity.
With the help of Team2Book, administrators only oversee scheduling while concentrating on improving overall patient experience. It also gives them the time to support healthcare professionals and expand clinic services, ultimately increasing revenue.
Supports Mobile Accessibility
The Team2Book App is accessible on a wide range of devices, including mobile devices. Therefore, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professional can easily access their schedule on the go.
This tool allows synchronization of calendars with Apple and Google Calendars, giving users accessibility. In addition, Team2Book provides instant schedule updates and transparently shows who is on call and what office space they occupy.
Improves Transparency and Overall Work Satisfaction
Even the fairest administrators sometimes unconsciously make decisions that are biased toward others. As such, integrating Team2Book into a medical clinic’s workflow minimizes the likelihood of prejudice by offering accurate tracking of shift allocation.
It reduces disputes that arise due to workload distribution, particularly during weekends and night shifts. Through real-time statistics, this tool shows workers:
- Shift swap opportunities;
- Number of unfavorable shifts completed;
- Overall shift distribution;
- Information about unavailable staff.
Access to this information and more builds trust and increases confidence among professionals in a medical clinic setting.
Conclusion
Hiring a medical scheduling coordinator or a medical clinic manager can cost your institution thousands of dollars, while you still struggle with calendar management inefficiencies. Integrating the Team2Book Availability Scheduling App reduces overall cost while improving workflow efficiency.
It minimizes scheduling time, delays employment of a dedicated scheduling staff, and postpones clinic expansion. It also improves productivity, supports accessibility to calendar details, enhances the transparency of the scheduling process, and improves overall work satisfaction.