With the outbreak of COVID-19 healthcare industry has quickly transitioned from traditional in-office, in-person, to digital-first.
And in this new era of helping people boost their health or get it back, health practices need to provide service that is:
- digital (not always, but often remote);
- convenient;
- and 100% secure.
It sounds overwhelming but using just one patient scheduling software helps you nab all three conditions at once.
Medical practices nowadays must use patient scheduling software in order to stay current and competitive on the market.
These tools and software automate the business side of things as much as possible, and they also help you provide top-notch service for your customers (40% of potential customers prefer booking appointments online and from the comfort of their homes).
They help with smoothing out the patient’s journey from inquiring to paying by handling scheduling, billing, insurance scrubbing, and overall management; + some of them can be used as telehealth platforms which instantly boosts the convenience level off the charts.
Out of the 100+ so-so patient scheduling tools and software on the market, I’ve singled out the 12 best ones.
Spend the next 10m reading and you’ll feel empowered to pick software that will serve you well for the years to come.
Let’s get started!
Here are the Best 12 Patient Scheduling Software to Use in 2022
As mentioned in the intro, there are already over 100 patient scheduling software and new players are jumping into the game all the time.
We’ve curated the 12 best one’s here based on features and competitive pricing.
#1- NextGen Healthcare EHR
NextGen Healthcare is a cloud-based EHR (electronic health record) built to support your practice’s growth, increase patient volume and satisfaction and save your staff’s time.
Using NextGen Healthcare your care team can benefit from a cost-efficient, easy-to-use technology that adapts and enhances their workflow and that can be accessed from any device and from anywhere where there’s internet.
As for the patients, NextGen Healthcare empowers them and makes their lives easier. They can use the platform’s telemedicine capabilities to schedule appointments and virtual doctor visits, request refills and connect with their providers via SMS, text chat, or video connection.
#2- Central Reach
CentralReach is a HIPAA compliant, web-based EMR (Electronic Medical Record), built for ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) therapy providers who treat autism and other related conditions.
This platform integrates workflows such as scheduling appointments, patient billing, insurance claim management, clinical programming, data collection, and more.
More than 1000 therapy practices use CentralReach and are happy with it (their customer reviews on major review aggregators are mostly stellar, with only minor complaints).
#3- VCDoctor
VCDoctor is a HIPAA-compliant platform and healthcare solution that helps bridge the gap between patients and doctors.
It helps physicians connect with patients over a secure video feed. There is also a group call feature that lets the chosen physician call a college of theirs to give their opinion on the patient’s treatment.
Other options offered are:
- appointment booking;
- HD video group conferences;
- payment platform;
- E-Prescription;
- SOAP notes;
- EMR and EHR for optimal consultations;
VCDoctor is an effective solution that helps patients avoid the dreaded queues that make them even sicker and reach their chosen doctors as fast as possible.
The benefit for medical practices is that doctors can use the platform to safely store patients’ data, schedule them efficiently and bill them easily. All in all, VCDoctor is a patient scheduling software that makes life easier for both patients and doctors.
#4- Local Med
LocalMed is an innovative service that integrates with dental MPS (practice management service).
It’s innovative because it’s the only platform on the market that allows for real-time scheduling which ensures no double booking, no booking overlap, and no missed appointments.
Using Local Med is a way for your dental practice to automate patient handling as much as possible while leaving you and your staff to do what you do best, i.e., dental wizardry that results in happy patients and shiny smiles.
Potential patients can use LocalMed on your website to book appointments, but the service can also be accessed via your GMB, Facebook and even Instagram.
Basically, LocalMed can be displayed pretty much everywhere on the internet, and wherever potential patients can access it, they can use it to view the available time slots and schedule appointments.
The biggest advantage of using LocalMed is that it’s a service that helps your practice grow 24/7. This is akin to having an ever-watchful and restful employee scheduling patient appointments all day long.
#5- Shift Wizard
ShiftWizard is a nurse scheduling software developed for nurses by nurses.
This service offers integrations with all major Time/Attendance and EMR systems and it enables cost-effective decision making based on real-time Unit of Service and Worked Hours HPPD and HPPV.
ShiftWizard helps practices schedule their nurses effectively so they can in turn put their focus on patients making them healthier and happier.
ShiftWizard software is not reserved only for the bigger health system and hospitals. Even small practices can benefit immensely from better staff handling and ShiftWizard can help you get there.
#6- Luma Health
Luma Health is a patient engagement platform that offers self-scheduling capabilities for the patients, cancellation/reschedule management and referral management for PCPs hospitals and specialties.
More than 100,000 practices use LumaHealth technology to streamline the entire patient journey, from the discovery of the potential practice to the treatment given.
Patients love using Luma Health because it’s an intuitive platform that works on any device and anywhere where there’s the internet; and practices profit from having it because LumaHealth usees the innovative AI technology to reduce patient no-show rates, manage cancellations, and ensure no two patients are booked for the same time slot.
Luma Health makes life easier for everyone.
Some of the features are:
- Automate patient appointment reminders (20+ languages out of the box);
- digital intake;
- Boost online reviews count;
- insurance intake,
- HIPAA secure chat;
- etc
#7- My Vission Express
My Vision Express is a robust medical practice management software built to help ophthalmology practices streamline their workflows and keep and serve more customers.
This platform gives a convenient way for you and your ophthalmologists to schedule appointments, create orders, fill prescriptions, process payments, and more.
And all is conveniently done on one screen where your ophthalmologist can maintain accurate control of frames, spectacle lenses, contact lenses, lens treatments services, and also keep track of inventory in real time.
My Vision Expert can also be used as a HIPAA-compliant patient engagement platform.
Use it to reach patients via voice, two-way text messaging, SMS and email.
#8- Centricity EMR
Centricity is an EHR system built to support practices clinically and administratively.
Centricity helps you achieve efficient practice management at your practice. Things like scheduling patient appointments, billing, and follow-ups are all efficiently handled and this enables physicians to perform the day-to-day tasks involved in running a successful practice.
Additionally, Centricity is a HIPAA compliant telemedicine platform that patients can use to communicate with their physicians and doctors easily while making sure all of their sensitive data is encrypted and safely stored. They can also use the e-prescribing functionality to schedule appointments, view lab results, and billing statements.
There’s more to Centricity to this, but this isn’t my Centricity review and there’s no room here. Learn more about this patient scheduling software (and much more than that) but clicking the link below.
#9- Epic
EpicCare is an EMR platform created for large healthcare systems and hospitals.
Similar to Centricity, EpicCare is an all-in-one solution that helps practices run their finances better and that helps them organize efficient patient flow.
Through a standard combined dashboard, EpicCare allows clinics to track bills, payments, and invoices while also showing critical info about the patient. These dashboards work great out of the box but can be customized based on the preferences and needs of individuals using them.
EpicCare is also a telemedicine platform and it lets doctors communicate with patients via chat, SMS texting and videos, and it also works on mobiles and tablets.
Your patients can also use EpicCare (via a mobile app they need to install) to view their test results, sort out billing and schedule appointments, and contact their doctor in cases of emergency (SMS, chat, and video call)
#10- Care Cloud Breeze
CareCloud Breeze is a comprehensive patient management solution for healthcare practices to streamline their front and back office.
This platform is built to help practices enhance their customer experience and offers features such as customer check-in and check-out, appointment and follow up booking, patient reminders, online payment processes, queue management … and is overall designed to aid healthcare businesses in improving their customer experience.
CareCloud Breeze also gives a healthy feeling of control and information to the patients as they can easily book, modify, and cancel appointments, make payments, and amend personal information within their personal patient file.
Finally, Breeze is integrated with CareCloud’s PM and EHR systems meaning that information is automatically synchronized across the platform when changes are made and staff always have access to up-to-date info regarding patient treatment.
Breeze also acts as a payment platform where practices can use CareCloudBreeze to generate sales estimates for the patient, and they in turn will know right from the start how much they’ll need to pay to get procedures done and treatment implemented.
Finally, they can also set up various types of payment plans with automated recurring payments.
#11- Kareo
Kareo is a web-based EHR, practice management, and medical billing platform that thousands of physicians use to improve their practice’s workflow, earn more money, and have happier and healthier clients.
With Kareo, practices can schedule patient appointments, process insurance claims, manage delinquent accounts, store patient documents (HIPPA compliant) develop customized reports, and more.
Unlike some of the patient scheduling software on this list (for example Centricity) which are built for massive hospitals, Kareo is best suited for smaller medical practices.
Kareo Clinical EHR can be used across a wide variety of medical sub-niches and specialties, including cardiology, chiropractic, podiatry, mental health, family medicine, pediatrics, and more.
#12- Advanced MD
AdvancedMD is a suite of software solutions built for both larger healthcare organizations and systems and independent smaller physician practices.
AdvancedMD features include telemedicine patient engagement tools, medical billing, practice management, electronic health records, patient charts, reputation management, business intelligence reporting, and financial analytics that all work together to automate medical practice workflows a much as possible.
Within a physician’s dashboard, charting and prescriptions can be done from a centralized location.
Charge capture occurs automatically during the charting process without your billing staff needing to copy and paste.
AdvancedMD’s cloud platform is HIPAA compliant and provides remote access and the highest levels of data security currently available.
AdvancedMD is browser agnostic and works on both Mac and Windows operating systems. It’s also available on any mobile device via an Android and iOS app.
Best Patient Scheduling Software FAQ- All Your Questions Answered!
#1- What is the Best Patient Appointment Scheduling Software?
All 12 software on this list are great, and which one you pick depends on your requirements.
So the best patient appointment scheduling tool is the one that best matches your needs.
That’s why you need to take a deep breath and pick carefully and deliberately, as you’ll be using that software for a long time to come.
#2- How Do You schedule Patient Appointments Effectively?
The key is to prevent patient appointment overlap. The last thing you want to do is have conflicting patient appointments where both persons come at the same time, wasting their time and your reputation.
And if you get a negative review on a popular doctor review site, that’s an even worse outcome for your business.
Patient scheduling software helps you easily avoid this embarrassing mistake.
These tools can warn you if you’re about to book someone for a time slot that’s already taken.
#3- Are Medical Appointment Scheduling Software HIPAA Compliant?
Yes, most patient scheduling tools and apps are HIPAA compliant, and all 12 included on this list are as well.
#4- Can You Schedule Surgeries With These Tools?
Besides using these software tools to schedule regular appointments and health checkups, you can use them to schedule both minor and major surgeries, and it’s all synced up perfectly with your healthcare provider and surgeons.
#5- Do Google and Microsoft Have Scheduling Tools Practices Can Use for Free?
Google has Google Calendar, while Microsoft has Outlook calendar and Microsoft Bookings.
So in theory you could use them for patient scheduling.
But you definitely shouldn’t.
These tools are not HIPPA compliant, which means any sensitive patient data shared and stored on them can be stolen. This would lead to massive fines for your practice.
And also, these services have only basic scheduling capabilities and that’s all.
For example, you can’t handle billing or proper insurance scrubbing with Google Calendar.
Bottom line – don’t use these tools.
Pick a professional patient scheduling software as it’s a good investment in your business.
Conclusion
Don’t use patient scheduling software at your practice’s peril.
They are amazing helpers in keeping your practice punctual, organized, and ultimately (more) profitable.
It’s a mistake not to use use them, but it’s also a mistake to use just any patient scheduling software, the first one you come across while researching online.
As mentioned in the intro there are 100+ services on the market, and not all of them are that good.
The 12 best on this list are a safe choice and it’s up to you to pick which one will serve you best.
