Aside from that, there are also concerns about sharing such personal information at the work place. A lot of people have to share office space with coworkers and are just not comfortable having to describe the reason for the visit over the phone.  This causes patients to feel pressured to complete the call quickly. Which often times means they have chosen a time that is not convenient for them and end up missing the appointment. 

So with that in mind, many doctors are turning to online scheduling software. Online scheduling software such as Scheduleware and Scheduleware Plus, from NexSched can give patients the flexibility and privacy they want, without adding any additional workload to the physcians office staff.

With 24/7 appointment scheduling-via the internet, not only do patients have the ability to log on from home or office to make that appointment, but the practice can save money since it no longer needs to employee an after hours appointment scheduling service. 

There are additional benefits to NexSched, for example, their Scheduleware Mobile, which allows a doctor to download all the appointment information to Microsoft Outlook calendar. Microsoft Outlook can then be synchronized with a PDA or other handheld device. All appointments are then readily available on the go.

But NexSched isn't only about keeping the calendar and scheduling appointments, the software can interact with the practices Electronic Medical Record system, so that patients can request prescription refills online. No longer will office staff have to transcribe refill requests from voicemail. A notification can be sent to the patient via email to let them know their information has been received.  With a few clicks of the mouse the whole prescription process just got a whole lot easier.

A practice can decide to let patients have access to their accounts online with the software. Patients then can check their account balance and even make payments online. This can eliminate time spent answering patient phone calls about balance due and even encourage more timely payments from patients.