Following its conversion to the Epic Electronic Medical Record system in August 2018, Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center announced it now offers its patients the ability to go online and schedule appointments with physicians at all of its practice locations.

Piedmont has become a national leader in providing this technology and convenience to its patients. During Piedmont’s 2019 fiscal year (July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019), patients scheduled nearly 200,000 online appointments.

By using the MyChart patient portal, the Piedmont Healthcare website (piedmont.org) or the Piedmont Now app on their mobile devices, patients can book appointments with Piedmont’s physicians and all Piedmont Urgent Care locations in Athens and surrounding communities.

“At Piedmont, one of our values is to embrace technology and by empowering patients to schedule appointments when it is convenient for them, we are helping to deliver on that promise,” said Michael Burnett, Piedmont Athens Regional chief executive officer (CEO). “We know that people prefer to make appointments online, and on their own time, and we’re happy to give them that opportunity.”

Many bookings – 33 percent according to Piedmont’s metrics – are scheduled outside of normal weekday office hours and on the weekends, when it is most convenient for patients.

In a 2018 survey of more than 1,000 participants conducted by the Piedmont Advisors Group, a group of 3,000 Piedmont patients who agree to answer periodic survey questions by Piedmont’s Marketing Department, nearly one-third of respondents said they had scheduled an appointment online using the technology, which is less than two years old.

Among those who had used online scheduling, more than 90 percent of respondents said that it was easy to schedule their appointment online and 83 percent said they were in the “somewhat satisfied” or “extremely satisfied” categories with the process. Among one key age group, ages 45 to 54, 41 percent (137 of the survey’s 1,197 respondents) said they had scheduled an online appointment.

“Our goal is to provide the best experience for every patient, every time and we know that scheduling an appointment can be a hassle,” said Katie Logan, Piedmont’s vice president, patient experience. “By making it easier to book an appointment, we are making a doctor or retail clinic visit as easy as booking a restaurant reservation or hotel room.”