You’ve probably heard this a few times by now, by as a PR Team Member, you are the FIRST impression that every patient has of Professional VisionCare. Whether you are answering their phone call, or checking them into their appointment, YOU are their first interaction with our practice, so we want to make sure every interaction is amazing! In this module, we will talk all about working at the “front desk,” which is where you #1 priority is to appropriately greet patients as they arrive for their appointments, and check them in for their appointment correctly.

the patient greeting

At Professional VisionCare, we don’t want to just do that classic “Hi, are you here for an appointment?” in a semi friendly, semi hurry it up tone. We’ve all been to doctor’s office where we come in for our scheduled appointment and we feel like we are interrupting the receptionist, am I right? NOT the first impression we want our patients to have!

Instead, we encourage each of our PR team members to provide a personalized greeting to every patient they encounter-one that is genuine, enthusiastic, and happy to see them. We want to welcome them to our practice, and make them feel like we are glad they are here-no matter how busy we are! Obviously every patient greeting should be cheerful and upbeat, but how do we personalize the greeting? Here are a few examples:

  • Greet them by name. How awesome would it be to go to a doctor and they treat you like an old friend and call you by name? Talk about personalizing the greeting! You can easily do that here at Professional VisionCare. 90% of the patients who are walking in the door are here for a scheduled appointment, so for the first patient of the day and every patient after-take a look at the schedule and see who should be arriving next. Most of our patients have their pictures included on their demographic, so you can boldly welcome them by name the second they come in. Don’s forget to double check if the patient is a Dr or has a preferred nickname listed, and if so, address them accordingly.

  • Compliment something interesting or awesome about them. If a patient comes in with a nifty scarf or a cool umbrella, or you notice their have a really interesting ring or you love their hairdo-tell them! This indicates that THEY have your full attention, often puts them in a happy mood, and this adds a really genuine touch of personalization to their check in process. Be sure to be casual and not creepy, lol, as we don’t want folks to get the wrong idea about the compliment, and be careful not to say something that could be a source of embarrassment (like “oh that’s a cool accent” and its actually a speech impediment).

  • Offer a little small talk. You are busy, and they are ready to get to their appointment. But offering brief and friendly small talk is a great way to personalize the greeting, and make the welcome feel warm and caring. Again, it shows that they have your full attention and are not an interruption to your busy day, but chatting about common things can often reduce any stress or tension the patient had about coming to the appointment in the first place. Be sure to read social cues though-if chatting makes the patient seem uncomfy or they are not engaging in the convo-simply drop it with a smile. Not everyone finds chatting as warm and inviting-but those that do love it! Examples of things you can chat about: the weather (for real, people can always connect on how crazy the storms have been lately or how beautiful the sunshine is), the Buckeyes (any plans for the Buckeye game this weekend?), the season you’re in (got a vacation planned for this summer?), or even just if they have any plans for the weekend. Again—read the patient-if you throw a line out there and they aren’t biting, drop it, but if they are into it-have a nice little convo while you check them in for their appointment.

Here is an example of an awesome patient greeting:

It’s raining outside, and the patient walks in the door. The PR team member says right away: “Hi there, welcome to Professional VisionCare! Bob, correct?” Bob is surprised and appreciative that you knew his name, and confirms that yes, he is Bob. PR team member says, “We’re glad you are here and out of that crazy rain! Here to see Dr Johnson for your annual eye exam, correct?” Bob says yes. “Awesome, well you will be in great hands, Dr Johnson is one of my favs. Before you go back to see him, though, I just want to double check a few things in your chart if that’s okay?” Bob says yep, and you begin the rest of the check in process.

Simple enough, right? And the whole convo is done with a cheerful, upbeat tone and lots of smiling. Sounds easy-but there is a catch some days: When you are working at the front desk, you aren’t just sitting/standing there waiting for the next patient to come in through those doors—you are super busy doing your admin tasks, following up with the doctor on that thing he asked you, double checking if the OA is ready for the next patients, etc. You’re busy. And sometimes, you are super slow-you got caught up on all of your tasks, we had a couple of cancellations, it’s a chill day, and you have a couple of minutes to look at your cell phone and catch up on Facebook all sneakily, because you know its against the rules (true story). At any of these moments-whether busy or slow, a patient could walk through those doors and its 100% your responsibility to make sure they STILL receive that personalized and cheerful greeting, just as fresh and awesome as the first one of the day. Always keep in mind what your posture and facial expressions are as well-are they walking into the office and catching you on your phone? BIG PROBLEM. Are they walking in and catching you with an angry look on your face as you talk about a tough patient you just dealt with? Bummer. Are they walking in and seeing you stressed and frustrated. Shoot. While none of us will be perfectly posed for every patient that comes in lol, its important to make sure you are mindful of this, and do your best to make sure every patient that walks in feels welcomed and that you are legit happy to see them. Make sense?

the patient check in

Now that we have talked about the patient greeting, let’s talk about the actual check in tasks you will complete for each patient while you are providing that personalized greeting! Here are the steps that you will complete for each patient as you check them in:

  1. “ARRIVE” THE PATIENT. The very first thing you will do is “Arrive” the patient to their appointment. You can do this by clicking on the patient’s name in the “Today’s Appointments” section to the left of your screen in Eyecare, and then clicking on the footsteps icon to arrive them. The other way you can do this is by double clicking on the patients appointment for today in the “Appointments” section of their demographic, and then in the schedule that appears with their name highlighted, right click on their name and select “Arrive.”

  2. NEW PATIENT? WELCOME THEM, ASK HOW THEY HEARD ABOUT US, AND GIVE THEM THE HIPAA FORM TO SIGN. If the patient is a new patient to our office, welcome them cheerfully and thank them for choosing our office for their vision care needs! Ask them how they heard about us, and notate their answer either on the printed scheduled at the front desk, on a post it, or in the NP Referral Spreadsheet. Next, grab an iPad and pull up www.straightouttapvc.com, go to Patient, and then HIPAA Form.” Have the patient sign this HIPAA form, and in their Eyecare demographic, edit the patient demographic info to have today’s date next to “HIPAA.”

  3. VERIFY PATIENT DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION. For all patients, ask the patient what their preferred name is, and add this to the nickname section in their demographic. Verify that the address, phone, and email is correct, and add any info that is missing.

  4. VERIFY PATIENT VISION BENEFITS AND MEDICAL INSURANCE, AND SCAN MEDICAL INSURANCE CARD. Next, for every exam patient, please double check with the patient that the vision benefit we have on file is correct, and ask for the patient’s insurance card. If the insurance is already listed, and the group # and policy # are the same as what was previously entered in, simply scan the front/back of the card and add today’s date + your initials to the notes section of the insurance screen. If they have a new insurance or the policy #/group # have changed, ADD a new insurance to this section, and fill out all of the fields with the new card info after scanning in the new card. Expire out the previous medical insurance that is no longer active.

  5. VERIFY/ADD EMERGENCY CONTACT. In the “Patient Contact” section at the bottom of the patient demographic screen, verify with the patient that whoever listed is still their emergency contact, and if no one is listed, ask them who they would like to have listed as an emergency contact. Click “add” on the ellipsis, and fill out the following fields: check the box for emergency contact, the contacts name and relationship to the patient, and their phone number/email address. That is all that needs to be filled out.

  6. THANK THE PATIENT AND OFFER THEM A SEAT IN THE LOBBY. Be sure to thank them for verifying all of this info, and then offer them to have a seat in the lobby area, as an OA will be with the shortly to begin their appointment. You aren’t quite done yet with the check in process—there are two more important steps.

  7. ADVANCE RECALL ONE YEAR. In the “recall” section on the right middle of the patient’s demographic screen, double click on “Comprehensive Exam” and change the date to “One year.” This will ensure that the patient receives reminders for their next exam when it is due, one year from today! If there is no “Comprehensive Exam” listed in this section, click “Add” from the ellipsis and choose Comprehensive Exam from the dropdown.

  8. MAKE SURE “PLAN” AND “PROVIDER” ARE UPDATED CORRECTLY. In the patient demographic section, make sure that the “Provider” field is updated with the doctor they are seeing TODAY. Often patients see various doctors, but for billing, its important to make sure this is updated with the provider they are seeing for today’s appointment. Also, make sure the “Plan” field is updated to reflect the vision benefit plan they confirmed they had with you during the check in process, or if they don’t have vision benefits, update this to the medical insurance that was shown on the card you scanned in.

While it seems like a lot of steps, you will quickly learn that these steps go by super quickly, and the check in process doesn’t take more than 5 minutes. Don’t forget to be super friendly, patient, and helpful during the check in process, and remember to be relational and make the patient feel at ease! The video below shows you the check in process with a little more explanation, so please watch it at this time!