Patient onboarding is one of the first touchpoints between your patients and your practice. It builds the first impression that shapes how patients feel about their entire healthcare journey and whether they decide to stick around. 

The traditional patient intake process involves many people: receptionists, nurses, doctors, you name it. The more people involved, the higher the chance of miscommunication and mistakes. 

Plus, a lot of intake processes are still stuck in the dark ages and rely heavily on manual entry, which opens the door to medical errors.

In this article, I’ll explain how you can improve your patient onboarding process using digital tools, saving yourself time and improving patient experience simultaneously. 

Patient onboarding challenges

Patient onboarding is a headache in many healthcare facilities, not just for patients but for staff as well. Too many providers still struggle with outdated, inefficient onboarding processes that create stress for everyone involved. 

Unfortunately, healthcare onboarding still struggles with the following challenges: 

• Tons of paperwork: The sheer amount of paperwork patients have to fill out is definitely overwhelming. Not to mention, staff are stuck sorting through and processing it all, which eats up time and resources.

• Fragmented communication channels: Communication between patients, doctors, and administrative staff is often all over the place. 

• Data entry errors: Mistakes are bound to happen when staff manually input patient info. Errors in data entry lead to incorrect medical histories, wrong prescriptions, and more serious consequences, all of which can easily be avoided with a more streamlined process.

• Delayed access to medical records: Patients often have to wait a long time for their medical records to be shared with new providers. The delay impacts the quality of care and leaves patients feeling frustrated.

• Lengthy wait times: Traditional onboarding processes add to wait times. From filling out forms to verifying insurance, patients often end up spending way too long in waiting rooms.

6 Helpful tips to improve patient onboarding 

Switching to digital tools makes the online patient onboarding process in healthcare more accessible and frees doctors from tasks like charting or explaining payment details. 

However, the transformation to digital systems is a change many of your patients may not be ready to accept. So, you must implement measures that will make your patients feel more empowered using patient portals rather than being overwhelmed.

Here are 6 tips to help you make the most of digital patient onboarding.

1. Replace paper-based forms with digital solutions

A survey from Intuit Health found that 73% of Americans are all for using secure digital tools to check lab results, book appointments, pay bills, and message their doctor.

And when it comes to millennials, 67% wouldn’t even think about seeing a doctor who doesn’t have an online presence, according to another survey from Harmony Healthcare IT.

So, the first thing you should do to improve patient onboarding is to switch to online patient intake forms instead of paper ones. They’re faster and more efficient for filling out and collecting information. A paperless onboarding system is also more sustainable and environmentally friendly. 

Make your forms smart with conditional logic such that the form adapts based on how a patient answers. For example, if someone gives a specific response to a medical question, the form should show relevant follow-up questions or skip over sections that don’t apply.

You can easily create HIPAA compliant patient onboarding forms with advanced conditional logic using Formalooo’s easy drag-and-drop builder while also being assured that your patient info is secure. 

2. Adopt an automated appointment scheduling system

An automated appointment scheduling system reduces the back-and-forth that often happens when scheduling appointments over the phone. 

It’s also a great way to improve patient experiences since they can choose their preferred time and date directly from an online system. 

From the clinic's perspective, staff are free to focus on more meaningful tasks instead of handling repetitive administrative work. The system also sends automated reminders to patients which reduces the chances of no-shows.

A case study looked at almost 2 million appointments at over 30 practice sites between 2019–2021 and noticed that automated self-scheduling went from just 4% to 15% of appointments. 

It was especially popular with younger, commercially insured patients and led to very few missed appointments. That’s a huge deal because no-shows can really hurt both the health system’s finances and the quality of patient care. 

3. Address common onboarding questions

People from all backgrounds come to your clinic, and they vary widely in age and comfort with technology. Younger or more tech-savvy patients may easily figure things out on their own, however, many others resist changes to familiar practices.

When you shift to an online patient-onboarding system, set appropriate measures in place to not overwhelm your patients, but transition them into a more convenient solution. 

An FAQ section is a great starting point. Use it to clearly explain the advantages of using your patient onboarding portal. Make it clear that these tools aren’t just there for your efficiency, they empower patients to take an active role in their healthcare.

In-app guidance can be incredibly helpful as well for coaching new patients through the onboarding process. You can have interactive walkthrough videos that explain exactly how to use online forms or schedule an appointment. 

4. Train your staff adequately

Well-trained staff provide better support to patients. Here’s why you need to invest in staff training: 

• Many patients, especially those uncomfortable with technology, struggle to use online systems. With trained staff available to guide them, patients can more easily learn how to use the onboarding portal. 

• Training staff in basic cultural awareness and language sensitivity enables them to communicate more effectively.

• Certain groups, such as elderly patients or those with disabilities, require additional assistance during onboarding. Trained staff can recognize these needs and provide tailored support to ensure everyone has access to care.

• A well-trained staff team presents a professional image that instills confidence in patients. 

• Patients are more likely to engage with their care and adhere to recommendations when they feel supported from the very beginning.

Therefore, you must schedule ongoing training workshops to keep your staff updated on how your onboarding portal works and general best practices for patient onboarding. The training should also cover cultural sensitivity, diversity, and communication strategies.

Promote a culture of teamwork in your practice where staff can share experiences and tips on handling patient interactions. 

5. Hire an onboarding specialist

Doctors are trained to diagnose, treat, and manage patient health, not to handle administrative processes. It’s not part of their core responsibilities or expertise, and that’s completely understandable.

Even the most compassionate and skilled physicians lack the time and specialized knowledge to manage patient portal issues or explain digital forms and procedures simply because it is not their area of expertise.

A dedicated onboarding specialist helps patients get the hang of things from the moment they connect with your practice. Their job is to explain to patients how to use patient portals, fill out forms, and understand the practice’s policies and services.

Many practices struggle to get patients to use digital health tools. An onboarding specialist can show them the benefits and provide hands-on help. 

6. Take patient feedback seriously

The purpose of collecting patient feedback is twofold. 

1. Identify areas of improvement: Feedback sheds light upon areas of your service that require improvement. Patients can have requests like responding quickly to calls and texts, adding more food options in the cafeteria, issuing clearer invoices, need for a more professional staff behavior, etc. 

2. Gather testimonials: When patients are happy with their experience, you want to capture that positivity and use it as social proof.

Encourage feedback through SMS, email, social media, or HIPAA compliant patient feedback forms. You can keep it simple with a single NPS question or get into more detail. Even better, you can do both. 

Start with a broad satisfaction question like, “How would you rate your experience today on a scale of 0 to 10?” and then follow up with more specific ones, such as:

• Would you recommend our clinic to others based on your experience?

• Did you have any trouble booking an appointment?

• Are you currently covered by health insurance?

• Did you ever get conflicting info from different staff members?

• How would you rate our staff’s professionalism?

Reach out to satisfied patients and request them to leave reviews on Google, Yelp, Facebook, Foursquare, or any platform where you’re active. 

Let Formaloo assist you in patient onboarding

Formaloo for healthcare is a secure hub where you can easily manage everything about your practice while keeping it HIPAA-compliant. 

The platform lets you create a custom patient portal in just a few minutes without needing any coding skills that you may use to share medical info, schedule appointments, and create engaging dashboards all in one place. 

You will also get access to real-time reports with insights into patient needs, all while managing staff access based on their roles to ensure everyone has the right info at the right time. Also, all your medical forms can be customized with logos, colors, fonts of your choice. 

Try out Formaloo today.