The front desk is essentially the heartbeat of your entire physical therapy operation.
How has this role evolved, especially in this post-pandemic landscape?
On this Zoomcast, Nicole Walczak PT sits down with Andy Kuan (CEO of Raxia), Scott Wilson (Head of Product Raxia), and our very own Jennifer Till (MEG’s Client Liaison).
Nicole: “The front desk coordinator must act as a patient care advocate.”
The front desk sets the tone of what the patient should expect from their physical therapy experience.
It’s important to remember the main product of the front desk: to have all patients arriving on time as scheduled throughout the duration of their care.
Jenn discusses the importance and role of the Patient Care Representative, having thrived in this role for many years. She emphasizes the need to celebrate wins through success stories, etc. This not only strengthens your Marketing efforts, but is a testament to the quality of care and success of your clinic.
Nicole then goes on to explain the Physical Therapist role and how their interaction with the patient is mission critical. They are responsible for gaining compliance with the patient’s plan of care and educating the patient so that they may achieve the optimal health that they’re seeking.
The next integral member of this front desk team is – believe it or not – the Billing team! This is an area where open, transparent communication is simply everything.
Can technology help take off the pressure of the man-power needed at the front desk?
Andy Kuan and Scott Wilson of Raxia take the mic on this.
The front desk suddenly felt extra responsibilities during the pandemic. The key element to help support the front desk system is through automation.
Raxia’s digitized systems and apps (a virtual waiting room, as just one example) greatly streamline the efficiency and productivity of the practice’s front desk.
The panel also discussed Raxia’s auto-pay option and their collection of data to best optimize the patient’s user experience.
How easy is this to integrate into your practice?
With only two weeks to onboard and the team constantly striving to make the systems physical therapy clinic-friendly, it is super worth it! It both simplifies and standardizes your front desk systems of operation.
And this works with all of your patient demographics! Raxia conducted a study and found that even the older population did very well and had no trouble using this technology.
A very interesting question came up during the event: Do you (panelists) ever see a world where a practice would not require a front desk?
The Raxia team doesn’t think so. They think people will need to continue to be involved through live human interaction – certain routines and connections are pretty irreplaceable.
Nicole then follows up with the reminder that many were forced to integrate more automation during the furloughs and lay-offs of 2020.
She summarizes that we are moving in that direction, and the better you can off-load the manpower for more efficiency, the better. But she agrees that the human element may never go away (nor should it!). But streamlining the majority of the process would be ideal.
People skills really are everything. In fact, one of our biggest training certifications in MEG Academy is the Front Desk Certification. This is one of our most robust and popular packages for a reason.
Discover what your patients need and want, and then fill that need. It’s so important that you keep an open mind and be willing to not run your practice even as you did back in 2019. Allow technology to help you redirect the efforts of your practice to bring the most value to your community.
In case you missed the Zoomcast, you can watch it here! In fact, you can explore the whole Zoomcast Vault for almost a YEAR of Zoomcasts by signing up. It’s free!
