How The Recovery Project Increased Referrals With WelcomeWare
The Recovery Project (founded in 2003) is a rehabilitation practice that provides aggressive, focused, and effective rehabilitation to people with spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, neurological disorders, and other conditions that impair mobility. With over 500 visiting patients across their 3 locations each day, ensuring scheduling, collections, and intake accuracy can be challenging.
The multidisciplinary nature of The Recovery Project’s offering requires receptionists to provide hands-on assistance to arriving patients. Polly Swingle (founder) has recently opened a 4th clinic to collect referred patients from the above neurologist office.
Prior to the opening of their new clinic, referred patients were missed, decreasing the amount of referred patients converted to clients. Polly was in need of a check-in solution that would collect referred patients at their de novo clinic while ensuring referred patients’ information was accurately collected.
The Problem
Referred patients had no way of speaking to a Recovery Project staff member directly after their appointment with the neurologist.
Polly did not want to hire a new receptionist solely to collect referred patients’ information at their new location.
Referred patients often missed treatment time during their initial visit as they had to spend significant time on intake paperwork.
Given the hands-on nature of the patient experience, receptionists weren’t able to help both new and returning patients as the new patient intake process was time consuming.
The Solution
WelcomeWare is the check-in solution The Recovery Project uses to quickly and effortlessly collect referred patients. WelcomeWare provides cross-clinic coverage by enabling The Recovery Project to utilize one of their experienced receptionists from another location to greet referred patients, guiding each patient through the intake process, ensuring paperwork is completed, insurance information collected and payment method is clarified.
Referred patients are never missed, and there is a higher percentage of converted patients thanks to WelcomeWare. Immediately referred patients begin to develop a personal relationship with a receptionist who will likely assist them in person at a later date.
Utilizing a Receptionist From a Different Location
Through the use of WelcomeWare’s stand-alone kiosk at their de novo clinic, Polly does not need to hire an in-person receptionist. Instead, a receptionist, who is free from another location, can help those referred patients (which is often when those receptionists have available time).
Empathetic Experience
Prior to WelcomeWare, patients would often leave the neurologist’s office hearing bad newswith no immediate connection to someone who was going to aid their recovery. WelcomeWare’s platform ensures all referred patients are now greeted by an empathetic and knowledgeable receptionist from The Recovery Project whose care and support offers patients peace of mind that they are on the road to recovery.
Efficient Check-in
Utilizing WelcomeWare, The Recovery Project ensures that paperwork is completed, insurance information collected, and payment information is clarified ahead of a patient’s visit. Given the multidisciplinary nature of their treatment
protocols, patients may see multiple therapists per session. The fast check-in experienced by patients ensures they receive maximum treatment time with their therapists.
The Result
The Recovery Project has streamlined the intake process for their referred patients. Intake processes are completed ahead of time using the WelcomeWare kiosk.
As a result, The Recovery Project has higher collection and reimbursement rates, decreased administrative errors, and increased patient satisfaction. Polly spends more time focused on treating patients as time, which would have been spent hiring and training a new receptionist, is saved.
Increased Referrals
Hiring Stress Eliminated
Seamless Check-In Experience For Patients
Increased Patient Satisfaction
Improved Collection Rate
$30,000 – $40,000
Saved Per Year
Cost Savings Through Reduced Hiring
Polly and The Recovery Project save between “$30,000 – $40,000 per year” by utilizing WelcomeWare, as they did not need to hire an in-person receptionist at their 4th location. As The Recovery Project plans for future expansion, WelcomeWare will be used moving forward to help reduce costs and leverage experienced front desk staff across new locations, all while increasing access to care.
Increased Referrals
Not only is The Recovery Project saving money, but they are also increasing their patient volume by capturing patients right after they see the neurologist. This also decreases the time between the patient seeing the neurologist and receiving treatment at The Recovery Project.