The use of hardware and software like Measure boosts their clinical success. Their team works with data they secure through Measure to increase purchasing – and repurchasing – rates in the shops. For many clients, hearing is relative. They don't know exactly what they are missing until they come into the clinics and experience hearing aid demonstrations firsthand. The Hoorcentrum Aerts audiologists use Measure data and testing to determine the extent of each client’s hearing loss and come up with a solution to meet their needs and help them overcome their hearing challenges.
“If you don't use any software to measure hearing aids, I think that you will still have some results, but less than you’d have using a tool like Measure,” Lore explained.
Measure workflows for trial optimization
Hoorcentrum Aerts offers a six-to-eight-week trial for hearing aids, and customers don’t have to pay upfront. During this trial period, the organization uses Measure to manage the clinical workflow and a practice management system to process booking appointments and follow-up calls on specific dates. Their team provides each client with the best solution, the proper fitting, a pro-active follow-up experience, and exemplary customer service throughout their journey. Measure ensures that the ENT doctors and health insurance companies receive all necessary documentation, making it easier and stress-free for patients to get their reimbursements. In short, the organization uses Measure to elevate the customer journey every step of the way, and to ensure consistently excellent experiences.
Future aspirations for the system
Currently, only Hoorcentrum Aerts audiologists use Measure for their workflows, but their managers hope to expand it to other non-audiologist staff, like the front desk workers.
“There’s a telephone conversation before a customer comes into our hearing center, and I could imagine something in the workflow that our front desk staff could use to check some boxes before the initial appointment, but that's not the case at the moment,” Lore explained. “We could ask questions and fill out the responses through an online form in Measure, so we’re sure to ask each customer the same things as part of the workflow. And if the front desk staff determines that a customer has problems hearing in noise, for instance, that can help the audiologist know to run tests around that issue.”
To improve efficiency and reduce the amount of manual work in the clinic, Lore would eventually like to have an encrypted, secure link they can send to each customer prior to the first visit. The link would include a questionnaire about the customer’s hearing loss and medical history. Once complete, audiologists throughout the enterprise would have secure access to this information through Measure, making the process more efficient. This way, the customer wouldn’t need to explain their medical history and hearing issues in depth during a pre-appointment telephone call or at their initial visit.
Lore also envisions a more integrated approach, where the Measure software and other practice management systems are aligned.
“The thing that’s missing in the workflow is that we cannot see exactly what kind of tests are being done. Our workflow and our practice management system don’t talk to each other. So, we have to open the workflow in Measure and can see what's done, but we cannot see updates,” Lore said. “In the perfect situation, we would love to see what kind of rule our audiologists used for fitting the hearing aids, using the Measure software.”
“An integrated system with clinical processes guiding staff all the way would take less time, be easier, boost quality, require less assistance, increase accuracy, and cost less,” Lore continued. “The biggest challenge is that it's not that easy to combine everything, and maybe it would be slow because it's a lot of data.”
In Belgium, customers must wait five years to purchase a new hearing aid with reimbursements. So, the Hoorcentrum Aerts team alerts each customer after four years to remind them that, in a year, they’ll have a new reimbursement and can get new hearing aids. They need to do this manually in the practice management system to filter by specific criteria, such as pulling a list of clients who have had their hearing aid for four years.
“We would see a benefit if this process was automated and you've got a list every month of who needs to be contacted because it's a year, or four years, to determine who needs to be notified,” Lore said.
In terms of improving the workflows in the Measure software, Lore would love to have audiologists type in why they didn't do something that’s standard practice. If there was an electronic form for the audiologists to explain why they altered from the workflow, their managers could immediately understand their rationale.
While there are always areas of improvement in even the best systems, Lore said the Hoorecentrum Aerts team has truly enjoyed using the Measure system and has found it to be tremendously beneficial for the customers, audiologists, and enterprise.
