Physician Scheduling Vendors Promise Automation, But Issues Arise

Automated solutions promise to simplify physician scheduling, but healthcare organizations are experiencing hiccups with achieving efficiency.

Providers in the new KLAS report, “Physician Scheduling 2023 Organizations Improve Scheduling Efficiency & Visibility despite Complexities,” share their experiences with implementing a physician scheduling solution and those haven’t always been positive.

Solutions are not complicated to use for day-to-day tasks, rule navigation, and cross-departmental scheduling, KLAS reports. A steep learning curve associated with the solutions also requires a substantial amount of initial and ongoing training for healthcare organizations.

Furthermore, providers told KLAS that they feel their organization’s schedule is too complex or unique for the solution. Physician scheduling solutions are better suited for more straightforward schedules, respondents agreed.

Providers also complained that vendor communications are typically reactive in what healthcare organizations usually have to initiate conversations.

Despite physician scheduling automation hiccups, very few respondents told KLAS they plan to replace their solution. The main reason is that they typically use their physician scheduling vendor in other areas of operations or clinical care. However, healthcare organizations are seeing some efficiency gains just by eliminating some manual physician scheduling processes. Organizations also reported seeing the value and outcomes they want if they put the time and data into their solutions.

Overall, providers ranked PerfectServe’s Lightning Bolt Scheduling solution above the market average with 90.9 points out of 100 points. Rounding out the top three vendors (out of five total analyzed) was QGenda for its Provider Scheduling solution (88.4 points) and TigerConnect for its Physician Scheduling solution (84.5 points).

Notably, PerfectServe’s Lightning Bolt Scheduling solution and TigerConnect’s Physician Scheduling solution are specifically workforce management technologies. KLAS found that PerfectServe customers reported increased ease of use over time and commended the vendor’s technology support, while TigerConnect customers highlighted the vendor’s reliability.

Meanwhile, QGenda’s Provider Scheduling solution focuses on clinical collaboration through scheduling and other areas. The solution is largely used enterprise-wide by large organizations, which report increased scheduling visibility and a single source of truth — two outcomes critical for large organizations with multiple facilities. The solution is also flexible to accommodate scheduling complexity, KLAS wrote.

All three vendors also ranked above the market average for proactive service, according to KLAS.

Other vendors included in the KLAS report were UKG for its EZCall solution and Amion for its Physician Scheduling solution. However, KLAS had limited data on the overall performance of these vendors and their solutions.