DocDiary is a new online booking and practice management system connecting patients to doctors or medical professionals in real time in South Africa.
Launched by Cape Town-based Handré Dreyer to help make booking doctors online simple, DocDiary is free for use by patients while doctors pay a little subscription fee to be listed and licensed to use the platform.
“Our mission is to help doctors by eliminating or alleviating their frustrations, saving them time and money, helping them manage their practice more efficiently, increasing their revenue and improving their quality of delivery,” says Dreyer. “For the patients we provide convenience and peace of mind. DocDiary empowers them to manage and take control of their own medical health, history and future.”
The platform is easy to use.
Patients can easily and conveniently search for and book appointments at the most appropriate healthcare professionals. They can make and manage these appointments from anywhere, at any time. They also can view doctors’ real-time schedules, make appointments for themselves and their dependants online, submit doctor’s forms, manage their own medical history profile and information and even receive better, more informed consultations and diagnoses.
DocDiary helps to minimise waiting time at the doctor, helps patients get quick and accurate doctor’s referrals, help them to connect with doctors online and also manage their healthcare online and acess their medical records online.
On the other side, doctors or medical practitioners use the service to manage their schedules, make or receive appointments around the clock, receive and process patient forms, get instant access to patient symptoms and medical status. The platform ensures that mpatient medical records are secure and safely stored, helps doctors connect with patients effortlessly via automated patient recalls, follow-ups and reminders. Gives doctors a professional online presence to increase patient visits and can also help them do quick and accurate patient referrals apart from just saving them time.
Before the platform connecting doctors and patients online was cumbersome and frustrating. Launched in beta last week, Dreyer says DocDiary has been well received by both IT and medical professionals and early adopters. The online booking and practice marketing and management system aim to take real-time appointment scheduling and high Internet visibility for doctors in South Africa easily.
Because its search results are Google indexed, medical professionals are instantly accessible by patients looking to find the most suitable – and available –healthcare provider to see to their needs. Practitioners can be found by geographic area, field of specialisation or gender. Patients can compare compare doctors’ credentials and reviews and also able to see doctors schedules to allow them set up their own appointments.
“The prevalence of digital media in the purchase decision process – including healthcare consultation – has created an opportune time for launching this online service,” says Dreyer. “We are collaborating and sharing data and know-how with the more established Medpages, the authoritative resource of the healthcare industry.”
Dreyer is not starting a new culture in South Africa. He says there are already over 600 000 searches per month for “doctor” or similar specialists from Medpages, DocDiary aim to just make it better.