Tired of waiting to check in at your doctor’s office?
The days of waiting in line to check in at your doctor’s appointment - standing in line, filling out forms, paying bills – are now over for most patients at Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC) offices. Cape Cod Healthcare’s electronic medical record, Epic, gives patients the opportunity to check-in for an appointment from the comfort of their home.
The electronic check-in (“eCheck-In”) saves you time, both in the waiting room and, potentially, in the exam room because your care team will already have answers to the questionnaires that patients usually complete during the office visit. By the patient completing these questions in advance, the clinical team can get right to addressing the reason for the visit, said Elizabeth Dunton, NP, chief operating officer for employed physician practices at CCHC.
“Before eCheck-In, you could have ten minutes of your visit taken up with answering questions from the nurse or medical assistant that screen for depression and fall risk, as well as health risk and activity of daily living assessments. With eCheck-In, the patient has answered the questions in advance, so the care team can get right to addressing any questions and concerns the patient may have,” she said.
Any patient can eCheck-In for their appointment through a text or email reminder, but the easiest way to do to it is through MyChart, Epic’s patient portal. Epic’s MyChart has been available to all CCHC patients, providers and employees since November 2020. It is a feature-rich electronic health record accessible to you and your healthcare providers and allows you to drive the process of connecting with your physician’s office, at a time and place convenient to you.
Patients who sign up for MyChart can manage their healthcare from their computer or hand-held device. The MyChart portal, among other things, allows patients to:
- Find care and schedule appointments,
- View upcoming and past appointments and their associated progress notes and after-visit summaries,
- Manage medications, including refills,
- Get test results,
- Pay your bill, and
- Message your clinical care team.
“I cannot promote MyChart enough,” Dunton said. “I have used it for my children’s pediatrician appointments even before Cape Cod Healthcare was on Epic, and I use it all the time. I now also use it myself as a patient of Cape Cod Healthcare. You have all of your health information right there at your fingertips; you can see doctor’s notes and test results; you can schedule and cancel appointments; you can chat with your care team; you can pay your bill. And now, with eCheck-In, I can check in and I am more prepared for my visit. It also helps me go green because I’m not printing out papers and signing them at the front desk.”
If you are not computer-savvy or find it hard to work a computer keyboard, the MyChart portal allows you to assign a proxy, like a family member or trusted friend, who can do the work for you, she said. Patients can also sign up for virtual doctor’s visits through MyChart and join that virtual appointment with their provider right through the portal.
Epic also has the ability for patients to turn on a secure locator feature that alerts the physician office when the patient has arrived and has pre-registered for their visit - for a completely “touch-less” experience, according to Dunton. The patient enters the waiting room, takes a seat and when your care team is ready, they will call you in to the exam room – this is something we may consider in the future, she said. (Note: due to ongoing COVID-19 precautions even when patients eCheck-In, we ask that they notify the front desk that they have arrived, so that staff can ask about any symptoms/exposure.)
Even with the extra step required to answer COVID questions, the touch point will simply be a welcome, brief and friendly interaction with staff, she said.
Many patients have already been using the eCheck-In feature through MyChart, and Dunton has asked patients coming into the various CCHC physician practices she visits how they like the experience.
“Anecdotally, when I ask patients if they happened to eCheck-In for their visit, when they have, every time they say, ‘it was awesome’ and they would definitely do it again, ‘fast and efficient,'” she said.
While the eCheck-In process definitely saves the patient time, it also saves office staff time and can free up clinical staff for more time in your actual appointment, Dunton said.
“If you have appointments that are very questionnaire-heavy – a big one is the Medicare wellness visit – they can take up time in your appointment. But, if the questionnaires are answered in advance, a couple things can happen. You as the patient may get more time to discuss things in the office, and it can also free up time for clinical staff to do other things, like address messages that come from patients through the MyChart portal,” she said. “It’s nice when you have something that’s a win for patients and also makes our staff more efficient.”
