Texas Health Resources enhances self-scheduling with flexible options

Amid expected growth in demand from patients to schedule their own clinic visits, an Arlington, Texas-based health system learned that in practice some patients want more than just the ability to go online to choose a visit time, date and provider.

Officials for Texas Health Resources (THR) found that out while implementing a new self-scheduling system, of which patients preferred such things as the flexibility to choose a different provider if their regular doctor or the doctor matched with them by the system isn’t available at their desired time. They also wanted the ability to schedule a virtual option.

“It’s really about meeting the consumer where they are to provide a mix of choices that best meets their needs, said Winjie Tang Miao, senior executive vice president and COO for THR.

The system needs to draw enough information from the patient to ensure they were getting the right visit with the appropriate provider, but also not be so complicated or lengthy that it turns off patients when the goal is to make the process easier.

Miao added that one of the goals of the redesign was to figure out a way for new patients to schedule their own visit, which would invite an increase in demand for its services.

Prospective patients can search for a physician based on their preferences, allowing them to focus the search on such things as geography, language or gender. It shows the availability of the best matched doctor, but it also shows the availability of other providers in the same office, as well as options for urgent care and virtual care.

“So it may be that I’m (a patient) looking for a new provider, and I have time and I’m willing to wait two weeks to get that first appointment,” Miao said. “Or maybe I’ve never had a doctor, but I have an acute issue and I need somebody right now; I can make that choice based on when that provider has availability or based on one of the other options that we offer.”

As part of the self-scheduling process, THR officials recognized that patients won’t naturally know which provider to turn to at a given point in their care, so navigation assistance was also added to their system, which serves as a complement to scheduling.

“The healthcare system is complex, and so we’ve put in some navigation tools to help both our providers and consumers, (who can) find that next step of care, when they need it in the easiest way possible, Miao said.

This summer, THR, along with Community Health Network, Indianapolis and Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital, invested in one of the companies providing technology to the system, DexCare.