INTUIT HEALTH CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY

The Orthopedic Clinic Association

Find out more at www.IntuitHealth.com

The Orthopedic Clinic Association’s (TOCA) five offices located throughout Phoenix and the surrounding area continually received patient complaints about long appointment wait times in the lobby and long on-hold phone timesFounded over 60 years ago, TOCA, a 32-provider association has remained committed to giving their patients the best orthopedic care in the Phoenix area. Also essential to this growing association is state-of-the-art technology for specialty procedures. While the technology positively impacted a high level of care, scheduling appointments and attempting to get other requests fulfilled was strenuous and tedious — patients were becoming disenchanted with their overall patient experience. In this day and age of advanced technology, TOCA figured there had to be some kind of communication technology for patient-physician interaction. It was through TOCA’s continued networking with other orthopedic clinics in the area that they discovered the Intuit® Health Patient Portal.

Dramatically reducing patient complaints while realizing time and cost savings After surveying their patients and receiving an overwhelming response to provide a way to interact with the practice online to manage non-urgent tasks, TOCA implemented the Intuit Health Patient Portal in early 2010. “Even though we have a large scheduling department, we were still bombarded with daily phone calls — keeping our patients on-hold for a good amount of time — and it created excessive patient complaints,” said Michael Hughner, front office manager. Mailing registration packets to patients in advance of their appointment resulted in less than a ten percent return rate and long wait times in the lobby. “We were also defeated with wasted staff time and paper costs,” said Hughner.

Now patients are thankful they can complete pre-registration and custom health forms online and in advance of their appointment from the comfort of their homes, at any given hour of the day. “It has greatly reduced the wait time in the lobby, and staff is no longer spending hours scanning paperwork, which gives them time to help other departments as needed.

Plus, we see up to 500 patients daily, and now that a patient can request an appointment online it has significantly reduced phone traffic and long on-hold times,” said Hughner. He went on to say that providers also benefit from patients completing their forms online because forms are legible, the providers can be proactive about care, and it allows for more time with the patient. “To our surprise,” says Hughner, “patients glady gave us their email address when they found we were offering online services.” After emailing over 10,000 patient welcome invitations to complete registration and health forms online, we received over a 92% response rate. In just one year we received over 17,000 forms completed through the portal.” 1 Hughner added that they have also realized significant savings in mailing and paper costs.

After implementing the portal, TOCA patient surveys have shown a dramatic reduction in complaints and the association has continued to experience a big jump in patient engagement and satisfaction.

Patients making payments online — pays offThrough the portal, TOCA also offers their patients prescription renewals and online bill pay. Every billing statement patients receive in the mail promotes online bill payment. Hughner emphatically stated, “We were chasing our patients for payments during working hours. With Intuit Health’s Online Bill Payment solution, we’ve been able to realize approximately $16,000 monthly in collections compared to about $500 monthly before collecting payments online. It’s amazing. I love it.” 2

Overall, the portal has produced significantly better patient engagement while providing value to the practice with improved office efficiencies and increased collections. “The portal has definitely proven to be a method of getting our patients and staff engaged, and improving our office workflow and revenue. It’s something every practice should implement,” said Hughner.

1This testimonial represents the individual experience of this customer. Most customers realize, on average, 1,644 forms completed online in one year. Intuit does not guarantee that these results will apply to all customers.

2This testimonial represents the individual experience of this customer. Most customers realize, on average, $3,543 in monthly collection through Online Bill Pay. Intuit does not guarantee that these results will apply to all customers.

The Orthopedic Clinic AssociationPhoenix, Arizonawww.tocamd.com

5 locations20 physicians12 mid-level providers

Services OfferedSpecialized orthopedic care

Business ChallengeThe Orthopedic Clinic Association was receiving patient complaints about the wait time in the lobby and the hold time on the phone.

Featured Solutions• Pre-registration• Health Forms• Appointment Requests• Online Bill Pay• Prescription Renewal

Results• Optimal patient engagement• Improved office efficiencies• Increased collections

The Orthopedic Clinic Association’s (TOCA) five offices located throughout Phoenix and the surrounding area continually received patient complaints about long appointment wait times in the lobby and long on-hold phone timesFounded over 60 years ago, TOCA, a 32-provider association has remained committed to giving their patients the best orthopedic care in the Phoenix area. Also essential to this growing association is state-of-the-art technology for specialty procedures. While the technology positively impacted a high level of care, scheduling appointments and attempting to get other requests fulfilled was strenuous and tedious — patients were becoming disenchanted with their overall patient experience. In this day and age of advanced technology, TOCA figured there had to be some kind of communication technology for patient-physician interaction. It was through TOCA’s continued networking with other orthopedic clinics in the area that they discovered the Intuit® Health Patient Portal.

Dramatically reducing patient complaints while realizing time and cost savings After surveying their patients and receiving an overwhelming response to provide a way to interact with the practice online to manage non-urgent tasks, TOCA implemented the Intuit Health Patient Portal in early 2010. “Even though we have a large scheduling department, we were still bombarded with daily phone calls — keeping our patients on-hold for a good amount of time — and it created excessive patient complaints,” said Michael Hughner, front office manager. Mailing registration packets to patients in advance of their appointment resulted in less than a ten percent return rate and long wait times in the lobby. “We were also defeated with wasted staff time and paper costs,” said Hughner.

Now patients are thankful they can complete pre-registration and custom health forms online and in advance of their appointment from the comfort of their homes, at any given hour of the day. “It has greatly reduced the wait time in the lobby, and staff is no longer spending hours scanning paperwork, which gives them time to help other departments as needed.

Plus, we see up to 500 patients daily, and now that a patient can request an appointment online it has significantly reduced phone traffic and long on-hold times,” said Hughner. He went on to say that providers also benefit from patients completing their forms online because forms are legible, the providers can be proactive about care, and it allows for more time with the patient. “To our surprise,” says Hughner, “patients glady gave us their email address when they found we were offering online services.” After emailing over 10,000 patient welcome invitations to complete registration and health forms online, we received over a 92% response rate. In just one year we received over 17,000 forms completed through the portal.” 1 Hughner added that they have also realized significant savings in mailing and paper costs.

After implementing the portal, TOCA patient surveys have shown a dramatic reduction in complaints and the association has continued to experience a big jump in patient engagement and satisfaction.

Patients making payments online — pays offThrough the portal, TOCA also offers their patients prescription renewals and online bill pay. Every billing statement patients receive in the mail promotes online bill payment. Hughner emphatically stated, “We were chasing our patients for payments during working hours. With Intuit Health’s Online Bill Payment solution, we’ve been able to realize approximately $16,000 monthly in collections compared to about $500 monthly before collecting payments online. It’s amazing. I love it.” 2

Overall, the portal has produced significantly better patient engagement while providing value to the practice with improved office efficiencies and increased collections. “The portal has definitely proven to be a method of getting our patients and staff engaged, and improving our office workflow and revenue. It’s something every practice should implement,” said Hughner.

1This testimonial represents the individual experience of this customer. Most customers realize, on average, 1,644 forms completed online in one year. Intuit does not guarantee that these results will apply to all customers.

2This testimonial represents the individual experience of this customer. Most customers realize, on average, $3,543 in monthly collection through Online Bill Pay. Intuit does not guarantee that these results will apply to all customers.

“It has greatly reduced the wait time in the lobby, and staff is no longer spending hours scanning paperwork, which gives them time to help other departments as needed. Plus, we see up to 500 patients daily, and now that a patient can request an appointment online it has significantly reduced our phone traffic and long on-hold times.”

The Orthopedic Clinic Association

Find out more at www.IntuitHealth.com052011