The logistics surrounding the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine can be challenging as there are select facilities that have the correct freezer/storage capabilities to qualify as sites for the vaccine, which means they’re tasked with vaccinating not only their own employees, providers, and patients but those of their entire communities.  Getting the word out to the masses is vital but also complicated as states determine who qualifies for the vaccine in what stages. Additionally, scheduling an influx of appointments, keeping them organized, and doing it quickly can be challenging.  Patient Self-Scheduling offers healthcare leaders a way to lift some of this burden, empowering patients to self-select and find appointments themselves, freeing up phone lines and staff. This is how Family Health Centers, a FQHC serving the metro Louisville area, organized and expedited COVID-19 testing earlier this year. With Relatient’s Patient Self-Scheduling solution, Family Health Centers is making it easy for patients to select the location, date, and time that works for them, all from Family Health Center’s website. No phone tag, no portal.

“We wanted to make COVID-19 testing easily accessible to the communities we serve and we wanted the process to be smooth and efficient. We asked Relatient to help us implement patient self-scheduling very quickly and they helped us meet the need within two weeks. Now patients can schedule a time to come get tested at any one of our testing locations using our online self-scheduling tool, it saves us precious time and resources.“

Cynthia Cox, RHIT, CHP, CSCS
Director of Health Information Management, Family Health Centers

Now the same quick-start strategy can be used to get patients scheduled for the COVID-19 vaccine, without requiring registration to the patient portal, an app, or even a user account. Relatient can get your organization access and trained to use Patient Self-Scheduling in a single meeting rather than waiting days or weeks.

How Does it Work? 

• The patient accesses the healthcare organization’s website via a mobile device or computer and clicks the link to “get an appointment”. 
• The patient selects the date, time, and location they would like to get their vaccine and inputs their demographic and other required information, and clicks Get Appointment. 
• The patient receives a text message confirming their appointment  
• The clinic can see each day’s appointments in the Relatient portal

Getting Started

• Give us a call at (866) 473-8160 or request a call here and we’ll get back to you the same day. 
• Know which providers, locations, appointment types, and how many available appointment slots for each day and hour
• We’ll get your account set up with screening questions that are important to your organization and show you how to input your appointment slots. 
• From there, the link gets added to your website and you can start promoting self-scheduling to your patients, staff, and communities.