- According to a new study, before the pandemic, the worst part of the doctor’s office was sitting in the waiting room for long periods of time.
- Better appointment scheduling during the pandemic helped with waiting room time.
- Some changes in the healthcare setting might stay post-pandemic.
One pre-pandemic occurrence that might stay in the past is the time you spent sitting in your doctor’s waiting room.
And people are happy about that.
According to a study by Yosi Health, nearly half of respondents (46 percent) claim that before the pandemic, the worst part about the doctor’s office was sitting in the waiting room for long periods of time.
Also, 30 percent of respondents said the best change their doctor’s office made since the pandemic is better appointment scheduling that cut back on waiting room holdups.
“By allowing patients to book their appointments online, and asking the patients to show up right at that time, clinics are now removing the wait time for patients… Clinics are now paying more attention to how long the patients waited. Now they have an incentive to reduce the wait time and not make the patients wait longer than they need to or be exposed to other patients,” Hari Prasad, health tech expert and CEO of Yosi Health, told Healthline.
The traditional waiting room experience often involved patients sitting with other patients, filling out forms on clipboards, touching kiosks, and other devices. But now those things are slowly going away, Prasad said.
“We are seeing an improvement to the digital experience of that patient as they start demanding more of these conveniences as a consumer,” he said.
Curbside care is one way providers embraced a new type of care.
Dr. David Berg, president and co-founder of Redirect Health, says that until the pandemic hit, physicians’ offices historically were not efficient at separating sick people from healthy people receiving annual exam services or procedures.
“In the early days of COVID-19, doctors and health systems had to invent ways of caring for people while minimizing their time in office. The car became the new exam room for some situations. And once insurance companies jumped on board and started paying the same amount for virtual visits at parity with in-office, the entire way we approached healthcare changed,” Berg told Healthline.
Source: healthline