Electronic patient kiosks upgraded in European MTFs

Photo By Kirk Frady | In an effort to expedite patient flow, standardize individual healthcare encounters and decrease patient wait times, Army medical treatment facilities in Europe are upgrading software in older patient kiosks and installing new kiosks located in clinic waiting rooms and pharmacies across the theater.  

GERMANY

07.15.2021

Story by Kirk Frady 

Medical Readiness Command, Europe

SEMBACH, Germany – In an effort to expedite patient flow, standardize individual healthcare encounters and decrease patient wait times, Army medical treatment facilities in Europe are upgrading software in older patient kiosks and installing new kiosks located in clinic waiting rooms and pharmacies across the theater.

The original deployment of existing patient kiosks began back in 2014 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and have since been employed at most Army Medical Treatment Facilities in Europe.

“The software update to the existing kiosks is an attempt to standardize the patient experience across the enterprise,” said Annmarie Schultz, business process manager for Defense Health Agency health informatics. “The official enterprise name for the kiosk system is Patient Queuing and Numbering System, or PQNS for short. The overall goal of the upgrade is to provide the same patient experience in every MTF.”

According to senior Army medical officials, the installation of the new kiosks, and upgrades to existing kiosks, will help to identify areas with long wait times, improve customer service and increase revenue from third party insurance companies.

“The good news for patients is, there will be fewer calls to the front desk to answer additional questions and fill out more paperwork, thus limiting the back and forth during check-in,” said Schultz. “Another benefit of the system will be patient wait times being displayed on the kiosk monitor. Patients will be able to see where they are in the queue and will alert those who may have had their number called but were not present in the waiting area to hear or see it.”

In addition to streamlining the overall patient experience, Army medical experts indicate the other benefit of the upgraded kiosks will be the ability to gather a patient’s other health insurance information, or OHI, if they have any.

“The kiosks will electronically gather a patient’s OHI information and will collect a digital signature on the touchscreen,” Schultz added. “As the kiosks roll out, all beneficiaries, excluding active duty, will be required to provide information regarding other health insurance (OHI) coverage annually, or when there is a change in their coverage status. The system will note the date when the information was collected, and the patient will not be asked to enter the OHI information again until 365 days have passed.”

“Another benefit will be that after entering their OHI information digitally in the electronic kiosk, patients will no longer be required to fill out a paper copy of DD Form 2569 for third party collection,” added Schultz. “This will save the patients time and improve their customer experience.”

Army medical officials also say that MTF management will be able to use the data collected by the kiosks to justify what may be needed in their departments to improve customer service and to identify any potential bottlenecks.

• Date Taken: 07.15.2021
• Date Posted: 07.15.2021 04:48
• Story ID: 400942
• Location: DE