Quality of care and convenience are the two things most patients prioritize when looking for urgent care. That’s why CareXpress, an urgent care with five locations in Amarillo and Canyon, TX, turned to Solv–creating an efficient patient flow amid the pandemic has allowed their practice to grow, both in patient loads and in reputation.
Before Solv
CareXpress adopted Solv Experience, Connect, and Video Telemed two years ago after trying to create a hybrid system to support telemedicine. The practice used another leading wait list management software but that solution did not integrate with eClinicalWorks, or any other EHRs. Without EHR integration and a growing need for telemedicine, they started looking for solutions.
Tolk Persons, Director of Analytics for SKP Creative, their business agency, says that Solv has packaged many essential services for success into one convenient platform.
Three factors drove their decision to try Solv:
- Their prior scheduling software offered solid usability, but developers had neglected to update the system over time, creating inefficiencies
- The pandemic spurred a move toward telemedicine–CareXpress Urgent Care tried to create a telemed system using their scheduling software and Zoom but found that the system wasn’t smooth or efficient for patients or providers
- Eliminating paperwork became a priority, not only for germ mitigation but for time management
Persons says telemedicine was on the business’s roadmap, but the pandemic fast-tracked that goal exponentially.
“The fact that Solv integrated the telemedicine option and had a solution to help us load balance across providers at different locations was very attractive.” Tolk Persons, Director of Analytics for SKP Creative
Telemed Expands Reach for Rural Areas
Amarillo, TX, where CareXpress is based, acts as a healthcare hub in the Texas panhandle. Persons says that telemedicine significantly reduced the lag time between patient complaint and care. With many patients at least 60-90 miles from an urgent care or emergency room, telemedicine allows low acuity cases to be seen quickly and efficiently.
“Do you want to drive 45 minutes to receive urgent care in the middle of the night, or do you want to get on your computer or your phone, be seen, and have a prescription called into your pharmacy before you could ever get to the clinic in person?” Persons notes.
CareXpress isn’t the only practice that found telemed was a lifeline to more efficient care. In a recent webinar, Michael Barber, Solv Senior Director of Brand Growth, showed that telemed visits increased from nearly zero pre-pandemic to almost 14% during the pandemic. And it’s not just younger users–many older, high-risk patients tried telemed and found that mitigating risk wasn’t the only benefit—it’s incredibly convenient to receive care from your couch.
Easy Onboarding
While adopting any new software can have growing pains, Persons says that Solv offers an intuitive platform for patients and staff. With ample documentation as a basis for training for frontline staff, CareXpress found the transition to be extremely smooth.
While some staff was change-averse, after a month of using Solv, they found that patient experience was already improving, starting with more realistic expectations for wait times. By providing more realistic expectations for patients, they’ve increased patient satisfaction and outcomes.
Persons says that the overall reaction to Solv was positive–now, two years on, they say that Solv is essential to their office functionality. When their current EMR has technological hiccups, their staff knows Solv will be steadfast in its reliability and functionality.
“They have come to rely on Solv as a source of truth in patient management when our primary EMR is not functioning,” says Persons. “Not only have they come to like it, but they see it as a backup system for our EMR.”
Patients find the system easy to use as well. In addition to eliminating costs for paper, printing, clipboards, and writing utensils, digital registration allows patients to enter their information at their leisure and in an environment where they feel safe. No more infection-laden waiting rooms and dubiously sterilized pens. Patients input their information, which can be automatically integrated into CareXpress’s EHR–saving 7 minutes per hour or nearly three hours per day.
Finding New Patients: Solv Connect Offers Targeted Search
Finding the right patients is key to creating a viable business model for an urgent care. CareXpress found that Solv Connect created a low-cost flow of new customers to the practice.
Solv Connect provides targeted SEO that allows clinics to capture more patients that might otherwise click elsewhere. Persons says that while CareXpress may have the resources to devote to SEO and marketing, smaller practices rarely do.
“For a smaller clinic, they can’t effectively manage its SEO and compete. And Solv can, in huge ways, bring them business they would otherwise miss,” says Persons.
Availability Beats Loyalty in the Urgent Care World
While Solv is constantly guiding new patients to CareXpress, they are also doing the impossible, or at least the improbable–helping retain patients. In 2021, 64% of CareXpress’s patients were return visits. Persons says that loyalty is hard to come by.
CareXpress presents an attractive option for incoming patients with five locations to choose from, especially since Solv helps with load balancing across sites by real-time updating of available appointments. With many options to choose from and easy online registration and booking, choosing a Solv-based provider becomes easy.
That choice is even easier the second time. Once patients are registered, they are only two clicks away from booking another visit. Add telemed capabilities, and there’s good reason to return.
Not only are patients returning, but they are telling friends. As a result of their easy booking, low wait times, and many locations, CareXperess maintains a 4.7 rating on Solv and a 4.5 rating on Google.
Digital Registration Paves the Way to Greater Productivity
Medical histories, insurance documents, and HIPAA compliance paperwork–what do all of these equal? Engagement time with the front office staff. With every pen stroke on paper and bit of data entry, patient wait times slow, and efficiency is lost. Luckily, digital registration can help regain that time.
Persons says that utilizing digital registration has been an enormous time-saver, with each patient that preregisters online saving five minutes in the office. And while five minutes may not seem like a significant gain, when those small increments compound throughout a workday.
CareXpress Urgent Care has successfully worked with Solv to integrate with eClinicalWorks, their EHR provider, so that every bit of information transfers seamlessly to the EHR. Eliminating the double data entry portion of the equation removes the friction in another way.
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The Moveable Waiting Room: How Solv Facilitates Good Patient Experiences
A crying baby, last year’s magazines, a maskless cougher in the corner, a TV droning on just barely too quiet to hear–an urgent care waiting room can be annoying at best and, in a pandemic, hazardous at worst. With two way SMS-messaging, CareXpress, and Solv have given patients the option to wait in the freedom and comfort of their own cars.
Persons says that they first appreciated the ability to use two-way SMS messaging because of the pandemic but now find it useful in most situations. He says CareXpress receives significant feedback about the positive benefits of being untethered from the waiting room.
Solv and CareXpress: An Ongoing Partnership
Two years on, CareXpress has found a flow of incoming patients, reduced friction and workload for its staff, and increased patient retention, all with the help of Solv. Persons says that Solv quickly proved its value, providing ways to balance patient loads, attract new patients, and save money on new patient acquisitions and labor costs.
“When you factor in those incremental time savings, even just in the patient acquisition process, that has more than paid for Solv on a monthly basis. Add in the patients coming from the Solv platform, even right out of the gate, and it’s easy to sit down and do the math and see that you’re gaining ground,” Persons says.
Not only has Solv helped bring more patients in, but Persons also says that Solv has helped the practice operate more efficiently in times of high caseloads, such as the January Omicron surge.
Creating opportunities for urgent cares to perform to the best of their abilities is the driving force at Solv, and we’re honored to partner with providers like CareXpress. If you’re ready to see how Solv can make your practice more efficient and soluble, we’re here to help.
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