Checking Patients In and Out at the Kiosk

The kiosk shows Kiosk Check-In and asks the patient which they are doing: Arriving for an appointment or Leaving after your visit. Staff mostly need to know what it asks for, so they can help when somebody gets stuck.

Checking in

The patient identifies themselves with First Name, Last Name and Date of Birth. All three must match the record, and the kiosk says which one did not - Last name does not match. or DOB does not match.

That is usually a genuine mismatch in your data rather than the patient being wrong: a married name never updated, or a date of birth entered as a typo years ago. Fix the record rather than working around it, or the same patient fails every visit.

Where you take patient photos, the kiosk offers Capture, and Continue Without Photo for anyone who would rather not. Take the second option seriously - a patient who feels pressured into being photographed at a screen in a waiting room remembers it.

Insurance can be added or confirmed during check-in. Insurance on file shows what you already hold; Add Insurance takes a new Insurance Company. If they already have cover on file, the kiosk asks what to do with it:

• Add as Secondary - keep the existing plan as primary and add this one behind it.
• Keep Both Active - both remain in force.
• Deactivate Old - the new plan replaces the previous one.

Getting this wrong causes claim problems weeks later, so it is worth a member of staff glancing at anything that changed. The kiosk finishes with Check-In Complete, and the patient appears on your check-in list.

Checking out

Leaving after your visit settles anything owed and offers the patient their paperwork. Where nothing is due it says No balance due. or No payment is due at this time. and moves on.

The patient can ask for Email me a receipt, Email my encounter document or Email my treatment plan - which saves reception printing anything - and there is an Add a tip (optional) step where the practice uses it. Finish Check-Out completes it, and the kiosk shows Check-Out Complete.

The quiet states

No check-ins pending right now and No patients ready to check out mean exactly that - the kiosk is working and has nothing to do. They are not errors.

Helping a patient who is stuck

• A name or date will not match - check the record rather than asking them to try again. Repeating a wrong date does not make it right.
• Someone does not want to use it - check them in at the desk. The kiosk is a convenience, not a requirement, and insisting costs more goodwill than it saves time.
• Insurance has changed - it is usually quicker for staff to take the card than for the patient to type it in.
• The screen is locked - it needs an Authenticator Code from a staff phone. See Setting Up a Check-In Kiosk.