Usually booking an appointment for healthcare services is a relatively simple operation. Although appointments can usually be booked with a few clicks, sometimes it may happen that when the citizen is booking an appointment for the desired service at the chosen healthcare facility, there is suddenly no suitable laboratory equipment or other resources available for the planned procedure.
If, for example, the customer is supposed to have a blood sample taken, a problem may arise that although booking an appointment online goes smoothly, due to the rarity of the examination, the sample collection or processing cannot be performed at the health center or laboratory chosen by the customer.
In addition, in laboratories, for example, there may be several different lengths of time available for similar tests and sample collections depending on the examination, and the customer may inadvertently book a longer time than the procedure requires – which in turn consumes healthcare resources in the long run.
How could it be ensured that the selected service, location, and time are exactly right?
An organization using the Vihta appointment booking system can use the service to take advantage of strong customer identification, which significantly facilitates the guidance of the customer to the appropriate service and place.
Strong identification, such as with online banking credentials or mobile ID, enables the retrieval of research requests from an integrated background system for the customer. Based on the information in the research request, the customer can be directed towards the appropriate procedure already during the appointment booking in Vihta.
The first way is to provide the customer with instructions based on examination requests in the electronic appointment booking system. By following these instructions, the customer can book an appointment for the service and location that suits their needs, as well as for a suitable time. The customer can also receive preparation instructions for the procedure. For example, if the customer needs to fast for at least 10 hours before a blood test, the customer will know to fast before the sample is taken. The use of examination requests allows for generic preparation instructions to be replaced by personalized instructions that are visible when booking the appointment.
The second way to guide the customer is to limit the available services to only those that the customer can book based on their examination requests. In addition, the reservation can be directed to a specific person or to a desired reservation list if the procedure needs to be performed by a specific professional.
By using strong authentication in the Vihta system, customers can be either instructed or limited to the right path, preventing mistakes and unnecessary trips.
Vihta system’s strong authentication allows for: