Shift Admin, QGenda Top Physician Scheduling Vendors, KLAS Reports
Providers are finding physician scheduling tools from Shift Admin and QGenda save time, while AMiON provides the most accuracy, KLAS found.
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By - Shift Admin and QGenda are the physician scheduling vendors giving provider organizations their money’s worth for the time saved using the solution, KLAS recently reported.
In a series of interviews with over 200 healthcare executives, scheduling directors, and other leaders, customers of the two automated physician scheduling vendors were almost unanimous in reporting that they significantly saved time using the scheduling solutions and their time-savings resulted in high-value.
Shift Admin is most frequently used to schedule emergency and operating room departments. Customers touted the time savings they achieved by automating physician scheduling with Shift Admin’s solution. A handful of respondents said their organization eliminated a full-time equivalent position because of the efficiencies realized.
Respondents also praised the vendor’s scheduling solution as user friendly and commended the solution’s ability to address physician preferences, meetings, days off, and circadian rhythms.
QGenda was also worth the money, according to KLAS. Nearly all interviewees using QGenda said the physician scheduling tool had a positive impact on time. One client stated that the solution reduced the amount of time it takes to create a schedule from 2.5 weeks to just 2.5 days, and the automated scheduling tool allowed the organization to schedule five months in advance.
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Customers also liked the solution’s rules flexibility and transparency, as well as the solution’s ability to allow physicians to enter their own information into the system.
QGenda’s solutions are more commonly used enterprise-wide rather than at the department level unlike Shift Admin’s product. The vendor offers a solution that is more frequently sought after by provider organizations: enterprise-wide deployment.
Physician scheduling tools are traditionally used at the individual department or facility level, KLAS explained. However, provider organizations are now looking for solutions that can be used throughout a health system or hospital.
“The ability of physician schedulers to schedule across multiple locations, manage on-call schedules, maintain equality, and balance time-off requests plays a key role in physician satisfaction,” the report stated. “As more organizations consider deploying physician scheduling solutions enterprise-wide, automated scheduling will become increasingly essential.”
Other physician scheduling vendors analyzed in the report included AMiON, OpenTemp, Lightning Bolt, Kronos, Intrigma, and Cerner.
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While Shift Admin and QGenda gave providers the most bang for their buck, respondents ranked AMiON as the top physician scheduling solution in terms of scheduling automation accuracy and quality. The vendor earned 8.2 out of nine points, tying with Shift Admin and beating out QGenda by 0.5 points.
KLAS also named AMiON as the most cost-effective physician scheduling solution.
The vendor differs from others in the market because the solution has limited functionality. The physician scheduling tool is primarily used as a basic web viewer and it lacks scheduling algorithms and rules engines offered by market leaders such as QGenda, Lightning Bolt, and OpenTemp.
KLAS found that robust physician scheduling solutions, such as those offered by QGgenda, OpenTempo, and Lightning Bolt, can challenge provider organizations.
Provider organizations can access significantly more automation features compared to AMiON’s simpler solution, which helps balance the scheduling needs of larger healthcare organizations. But customers also reported struggling with establishing more complicated rules.
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Provider organizations are using the AMiON solution for its ability to serve as a single source of truth for physicians and hospital staff who rely on schedules to identify who is on call. Customers are satisfied with the simple templates in the solution that can be built once and replicated.
Additionally, KLAS uncovered that provider organizations are less interested in a physician scheduling solution’s mobility. Respondents indicated that mobile functionality was not a top priority for their organization despite vendors emphasizing their solution’s mobile app.
Specifically, QGenda customers pointed out that the vendor has significantly invested in a physician scheduling mobile platform. However, the platform did not increase overall satisfaction among customers.
Shift Admin has taken a different approach to mobilizing their physician scheduling solution, KLAS noted. Customers were uncertain if the vendor offered a mobile app, but they reported that they did not need an app because they could easily look at the solution’s schedules on their smartphones through a web interface.
OpenTemp is another vendor investing in mobile functionality. But customers rated the functionality belong average and administrators said they do the majority of their work within the standard interface.
Provider organizations are still on the fence with most mobile applications for physician scheduling. Mobile apps from the majority of vendors in the market do not seem to add value to a provider organization’s experience with scheduling. But as the technology matures, mobility may boost scheduling convenience.
