The practice of medicine is as old as time, but in today’s world, technology can vastly increase efficiency and expand access to care. MD Today Urgent Care, with two locations in the San Diego area, partnered with Solv four years ago, stepping into the world of online scheduling, registration, and marketing, and left the clipboard and waiting room lines behind.
MD Today Urgent Care started as many do–as a walk-in-only clinic. With Scripps Ranch and Carmel Valley locations, they managed with their pen and paper system, but growth was difficult. After considering the options, they chose Solv as their all-in-one platform and watched their efficiency and patient loads increase without stress on their staff.
“Solv really helps patients know where they are in line. It keeps everything organized and is a great communication tool, whether patients need to add an insurance card or pay their bill.—Amy Simmons, Practice Manager at MD Today Urgent Care”
MD Today Urgent Care started the way many urgent cares begin–with one doctor’s commitment to giving patients the care they need, fast. Founded by a former primary care physician, MD Today Urgent Care was focused on providing care the way it used to be delivered–on demand by dropping by the office.
But as their business grew, handling patient loads became difficult, and wait times stretched on. While walk-in business was brisk, patient satisfaction was low as they languished in crowded waiting rooms, had to fill out numerous forms, and wondered where they were in the queue for care.
The leadership decided to pursue an online solution for scheduling, registration, and reputation management four years ago. Looking at the competition, they chose Solv due to its user-friendly interface and easy adoption. With one decision, they went from clipboards and communal pens to iPads for registration that offered all regulatory paperwork, medical history, billing options, and means of further communication.
Simmons says Solv’s system was fairly easy to adopt for patients and staff.
“Some of the other systems weren’t user-friendly–there was a lot of verbiage that we knew patients wouldn’t read. With Solv, it was user-friendly, self-directed, and patients could do it on the phone instead of a computer.”
Now, MD Today Urgent Care operates a hybrid model–they still accept walk-ins but limit them to two per hour to keep wait times manageable. Solv helps with the rest, registering new patients online and cutting wait times in half–from 39 minutes for walk-ins to 16 minutes for patients that register online.
Relieving Staff Pressure
The staff welcomed the transition from walk-ins only to hybrid. Simmons says that the Solv platform was easy to adopt and provided the two things their team needs most–time and flexibility.
“It’s a great tool for organization,” Simmons says. “They can see who’s there, who’s next, and who has left and will come back.”
Staff also values the built-in communication tools that allow them to interact with patients without picking up the phone. Simmons says that staff can ask for insurance, IDs, payment, and more, all within the app. She says that the ability to see canceled appointments and the reasoning has also been helpful.
Streamlining the Waiting Room Experience
While walk-in models capitalize on the on-demand portion of urgent care, they can also lead to long wait times in uncomfortable waiting rooms with more potential for infection. MD Today Urgent Care wanted to keep the immediacy of the walk-in model while eliminating the pain points. Solv helped.
One of the biggest time savers is online registration. From January to September 2022, 99% of MD Today Urgent Care’s patients completed their registration digitally through Solv, with 55% completing it before arriving. Completing paperwork in advance offers huge advantages–patients save 22 minutes of wait time on arrival. For staff, online preregistration frees up their time to interact with patients calling on the phone or walking in.
While time savings are essential for staff, the waiting experience is where patients experience the Solv difference. By scheduling online and receiving communications directly from the team via the Solv app, patients can wait in the safety and comfort of their car, a coffee shop, or at home. For patients with children, this is a huge advantage.
“Our wait times are very low compared with other urgent cares, and our patients comment on that,” Simmons says. “It speeds up our ability to see patients faster, and that’s the best thing you can do for your reputation and making patients happy. That translates to five-star reviews.”
Telemed: Keeping the Coughs At Home
Amid a respiratory surge, Simmons says that Solv’s telemed capabilities also helped keep waiting rooms clear and patients and staff safe.
“Telemed really helps for load balancing,” Simmons says. “For respiratory problems, we can do telemed, and if they need testing, we direct them to curbside testing. If patients still want to be seen, we can reverse that and do testing outside–if they are negative, we can see them inside the practice. If positive, we can do telemed.”
Solv: Cementing Positive Reputations
With stiff competition in the urgent care market, reputation is everything. Simmons says Solv has not only made the customer experience more pleasant, but it has also helped drive online reviews that help attract new patients.
Simmons says that the practice has seen a massive increase in Google five-star reviews, including many positive comments and praise in the last year. Solv makes it easy to leave a review, and MD Today Urgent Care offers incentives for reviews. The one-two punch helped boost their Google score to 4.82 in Q3.
“People come to us and say, ‘We came to you because of your reviews.’ I would recommend Solv to anyone for building an online reputation, Simmons says.”
Those reviews are working. Since adopting Solv, MD Today Urgent Care has seen 4,362 new patients with an average revenue of $150 per visit.
Summary
MD Today Urgent Care has consistently provided quality care for their patients, but partnering with Solv helped them transition from a small practice with limited reach to a growing practice with access to more than 5 million patients searching for care each month. Streamlining the registration process and providing real-time booking options saves hours each month and reduces staff fatigue.
Fast, efficient service for patients has created a stellar reputation, which drives even more new business to the practice. MD Today Urgent Care and Solv have found a partnership that leads to growth.
Are you ready to move to the next phase of your urgent care practice? Solv would love to help.
