Body Active Physiotherapy is a small independent, NSW based physiotherapy practice with four practitioners working over two locations in Alexandra and Mascot. Originally opened around seven years ago, Body Active Physiotherapy first implemented online booking functionality through MyHealth1st in 2018, and since that time have seen the benefits of online booking first hand.
- Since implementing online bookings, Body Active Physiotherapy has seen over 1200 total online bookings
- Of those bookings, nearly 60% have been made by new patients.
Before Online Appointments
Charles Geddes is the Principal Physiotherapist at Body Active Physiotherapy , working out of the Alexandria office. Before implementing online appointments, the booking process for the practice was an unconventional one. As neither practice has onsite reception at either practice, Body Active Physiotherapy instead utilised an offsite answering service.
“We don't have onsite reception”, says Geddes, “but when someone takes a call, the offsite reception is costing us each time”.
According to Charles, the offsite reception did and continues to do a good job of capturing all the relevant details of patients when they book, such as name, contact details, Date of Birth and the like, but a combination of cost and the fact that booking couldn’t be made outside work hours made the practice look elsewhere.
Initially, Body Active Physiotherapy considered providing online bookings through their PMS, but that was not an ideal solution. “At the time we did look at our practice management software. Front Desk does have an online booking option”, explains Geddes.
“One of the problems (with Front Desk) was that, yeah, it was quite hard for the person to book like that. There’s the login - that wasn't easy. So yeah, it was less effective, it was expensive and it was clunky”.
Implementing MyHealth1st Online Appointments
The choice to implement online appointments through MyHealth1st was an easy one, due to three important factors - ease of use, price point and the utility of the MyHealth1st Marketplace. “There's not too much information to put into it”, says Charles of the MyHealth1st booking form, “it's pretty quick and easy”.
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The MyHealth1st Marketplace
When a practice implements online bookings through MyHealth1st, not only do they get booking buttons inserted on their website, they also gain access to the MyHealth1st Marketplace, a service used by hundreds of thousands of Australians each month to search for and book healthcare appointments online.
Patients being able to see appointment availability in real time online has been an unexpected benefit of implementing online bookings, says Geddes. “I even sometimes get people calling to book after they've checked availability online. That's a good aspect, that patients can check availability”.
Both the practitioners and patients have had a uniformly good experience with the online booking process. “Everyone thinks it's good” , says Geddes. Patients appreciate the simplicity of the booking system, the ability to book online 24/7 and being able to check availability without having to call and speak to a person. For the practitioners of Body Active Physiotherapy, the combination of new booking flow, price and increases in booking efficiency have many online bookings facilitated by MyHealth1st an integral and valuable part of the business.
Key Results:
The availability of online bookings has driven a large number of new patients to the doors of Body Active Physiotherapy. Of the over 1200 online bookings the practice has had since first implementing online availability, just under 60% of those bookings have been made by new patients. Body Active prefers to book follow-up appointments with a patient after the initial consultation, but some people still prefer to check their own availability and book a follow-up online.
