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MyKelseyOnline Patient Portal Updated to Streamline Appointment Scheduling
Streamlining web-based appointment scheduling improves convenience for patients and helps reduce medical costs.
Houston (March 16, 2016) – Kelsey-Seybold Clinic schedules 5,000 appointments through MyKelseyOnline (MKO), a secure online patient portal. With more than 250,000 MKO users, the web-based portal has been upgraded to enhance the scheduling of self-service appointments with the goal of having 20 percent of all appointments enabled on MKO scheduled online by the end of 2016.
“Kelsey-Seybold has always prioritized convenience for patients in all aspects of their medical interactions – from our capital investment in clinics, that are highly accessible in communities where our patients live, to our electronic medical records system,” said Phil Price, Vice President of Information Systems at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic.
“Advances in technology give patients the ability to choose how they want to interact with their physicians – and MKO is an example of the direction in which patients are choosing to connect – which is why we’ve updated the platform to improve the online scheduling function.”
Changes to MKO include:
- It is easier for patients to specify the type of appointment they need.
- The system recognizes key words designed to alert that a patient may need to be seen sooner. Depending on the key word, the patient will be directed to take appropriate action, such as calling the Contact Center or the After-Hours Nurse.
- MKO – MyKelsey App now lets users schedule appointments using their smart phone or tablet through the app. Touch ID is another new feature to allow a more convenient, secure login process when logging in from an Apple device.
In addition to the added convenience for patients, scheduling appointments through the MKO patient portal helps reduce overall medical costs with self-scheduling costing an average of $0.01 versus $4 that is spent on each telephone interaction to schedule an appointment.
“Our patients like the ability to schedule appointments and communicate with their doctor’s office in a self-directed fashion when it is convenient for them. Implementing this improved technology fulfills the need to give patients a self-scheduling, detail oriented platform wherever they may be,” said John Lyle, Vice President of Operations at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic. “As technology improves and changes, MyKelseyOnline will continue to expand its capabilities while improving the efficiencies in communication for our patients and doctors.”
Kelsey-Seybold Clinic patients interested in registering for or learning about MKO can visit www.kelsey-seybold.com/mykelseyonline.
About Kelsey-Seybold
Kelsey-Seybold Clinic is Houston's premier multispecialty group practice, founded in 1949 by Dr. Mavis Kelsey in Houston's renowned Texas Medical Center. More than 850 physicians and allied health professionals practice at 40 locations in the Greater Houston area. Kelsey-Seybold offers quality medical care in 65+ medical specialties. The organization operates the largest freestanding Ambulatory Surgery Center in the state of Texas and offers state-of-the-art Varian TrueBeam and Varian Edge radiation therapy technology at a nationally accredited Cancer Center. An accredited Sleep Center, comprehensive laboratory services, advanced imaging and diagnostics, 24 onsite Kelsey pharmacies and one specialty pharmacy, and MyKelseyOnline, a secure web portal, are part of its comprehensive offerings. Kelsey-Seybold partners with major insurers to offer value-based commercial health plans. KelseyCare Advantage, a Medicare Advantage plan offered to Houston-area beneficiaries and affiliated with Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, has achieved the coveted 5-out-of-5-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid for eight consecutive years.
Kelsey-Seybold has been recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as the nation’s first accredited Accountable Care Organization and is home to a nationally accredited Breast Diagnostic Center and Endoscopy Center.
Kelsey-Seybold Clinic achieved a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 91. NPS is the global standard for measuring customer loyalty and satisfaction. An NPS score of 70 or higher is considered by industry experts to be "world class" and an indicator of overwhelming customer loyalty.