There’s a common misconception among the front desk team when Instinct arrives at a new practice. We often hear questions like, “This will be great for the doctors and nurses, but how can it be useful for us?”
Great question! Instinct isn’t just for the medical team—it’s a game-changer for everyone on staff!
Client service representatives (CSRs) play a pivotal role in a veterinary hospital. They are often the first interaction a client has with the hospital, and confident, efficient communication is key.
Here are the key benefits Instinct can offer to empower the front desk staff and keep them informed.
Patient Status Board
Who is seeing Fluffy? What room are they in? Should I call mom or dad?
These questions are often difficult for the front desk team to confidently answer without some detective work. But with Instinct, patient information can be centralized for easy access in one Status Board.
When a frantic pet owner comes rushing through the door, looking for their pet who just came through emergency, a quick look at the Status Board in Instinct will help you take them to see their pet, inform them which doctor is handling the case, and make them feel confident that they are in good hands.
Triage Tags
How much longer until Fluffy is seen?
Front desk staff dread asking this question, and medical staff hate having to answer it. But the worried pet owner pacing the waiting room will always need to know.
With Triage Tags in Instinct, front desk staff can easily check the order in which patients will be seen.
Having this knowledge easily accessible for the front desk puts staff in a position to consistently and accurately communicate wait times to worried pet owners—without having to interrupt the medical team.
Ready To Go/Ready To Admit
Is my pet with the doctor now?
It happens often: A pet owner appears at the front desk. They don’t know what’s next, you don’t know what’s next, and now you have to hunt someone down to see where the team is in the process of caring for that patient.
With Instinct’s Ready To Go/Ready To Admit flags, the front desk staff can easily know whether they should proceed with invoicing a client following a discharge or if they need to prepare admitting paperwork for hospitalization.
Care Team Listing
How’s Fluffy doing?
Pet owners often call for updates when their pet is hospitalized. It has always been clear which doctor is overseeing their care, but with heavy caseloads, doctors cannot always be the ones to provide patient updates.
So begins the hunt for the veterinary nurse who is familiar with the patient or directly assisting the doctor overseeing their care.
Those days are over! No more detective work just to find someone with answers.
With Instinct, you can clearly list every possible staff member who is associated with caring for a patient using the Care Team feature.
Predictive Billing
What’s my bill going to be if you do the treatment?
Depending on the practice workflow, front desk staff may be responsible for communicating some financial details with owners.
With Instinct’s predictive billing feature, staff can easily provide an owner with an estimate of their current bill at any given moment. They can even estimate a later bill based on the schedule and automation of treatments on the treatment sheet.
When someone asks, “What’s my bill going to be if I keep my pet here another 24 hours?” you can easily know!
Note: It’s best to briefly consult with the medical team prior to giving these quotes, as treatment plans can change easily.
Invoice Audit Tool
Front desk staff are often the final stop of a triple check system for reviewing a patient’s invoice before checking out a client. Even with the best auditing skills, it can be easy to overlook a missing charge on an invoice.
But Instinct has completely simplified the entire process! Front desk staff can clearly review all the services that were performed and their associated charges in our unique Invoice Audit screen.
Instinct’s invoice is built for front desk staff with a simple button to check for missed charges at the end of the visit.
Your Own To Do List of Patients
Instinct has a My Board feature that was primarily built to be an easy location for doctors to see all patients checked in under their initials. But support staff can utilize the My Board as a to-do list, too!
Maybe you need to remember to submit insurance, send records to a referring veterinarian, or call an owner to check in on a patient. Whatever it is, you can pin patients to My Board, creating a running list of patients you need to address something for.
Patients can be pinned by any staff member, and multiple staff can pin the same patients (no one else will see who you’ve pinned). The greatest thing about pinning is the patient does not need to be checked in to be added to the list.
An informed CSR is a confident CSR! And speaking with confidence goes a long way with pet owners, who are much more likely to trust confident communication, especially in stressful situations.
Instinct may have been built to replace treatment sheets, but it has also been extremely successful in improving communication for the entire veterinary practice.