Dr. Jones-Poland has partnered with Desert Oasis Healthcare and the California Quality Collaborative to apply an innovative customer service centered approach to patient scheduling, access and communication. We have initiated the following improvements.

1. Advanced Access Scheduling -- Pre-booked appointments work well with our senior patients, but they don't work well for our younger patients. Appointments have to be canceled at the last minute for many good reasons:

* Work schedule changes
* vacation
* conflicting appointments
* kids get sick
* You don't feel well enough to go out
* bad weather
* transportation falls through
* short on money
* oversleep
* you simply forget! It happens!!

With our busy lives today, it's just not practical to make an appointment weeks or months in advance, and expect to be able to keep that appointment. Nowadays, we live our lives more day to day. Pre-booked appointments don't allow for those last minute things that come up!

We wanted to find a way to accommodate our seniors and our patients with chronic illnesses who need regular visits, and also make ourselves available to our younger patients with crazy schedules who need to be seen right now. It is estimated that by the time a patient calls their doctor to make an appointment for something that is bothering them, they have had that problem or concern for an average of two weeks already. So, you don't want to wait another week or two to see your doctor!

We looked into alternatives to traditional pre-booked schedules and came up with our new hybrid scheduling system. We have set aside half of the appointments for our providers to pre-book. The other half are available for same day (or next day) appointments only. That way, you can call us on the day that your schedule allows for an appointment and we will give you an appointment that same day. We can see you for your follow-up, for a pap, an acute illness, anything you would like. You don't have to try to rearrange your schedule to fit in a doctor's appointment. Just call us on the day you can do it!

If you missed work due to illness, we will see you that same day so you don't have to miss another day of work to see the doctor. If you need an off work note, or a return to work note, we can see you that same day. We hope to use this new scheduling system to provide outstanding customer service to all our patients!


2. Agenda Setting -- Our office uses an Agenda Setting Tool which was designed to FOCUS your doctor's appointment to maximize the time the doctor spends with you. There is something about walking from the waiting room back to the exam room that causes amnesia! All the things you thought about mentioning to the doctor, prescription refills you need, referrals you would like, are easily forgotten.

Before we started using the Agenda Setting Tool, patients would stop on their way out of the office and tell the receptionist "Oh! I forgot to ask her for that prescription!" , or referral or something else they wanted to mention. With our computer system, it is difficult to go back and re-do the notes for last minute additions.

When the patients complete the Agenda Setting Tool before their appointment, they are prepared for the appointment and we make sure we address all of their concerns and requests, refill their medications and focus the appointment on those things that concern them the most! We want our patients to leave feeling satisfied.

The Agenda Setting Tool is available on this website on the Print Forms page. Please print it and complete it prior to coming in for your appointment. We really do appreciate it when our patients use the Agenda Setting Tool!!


3. E-Mail -- E-mail is our preferred way of communicating with our patients. We send appointment confirmations, flyers, correspondence regarding results, referrals and other NON-URGENT matters by e-mail. E-mail is the fastest way to contact you, it's reliable and free.

We have four incoming phone lines which is more than most doctor's offices. And yet, there are times when you try to call and you get a busy signal! How can this be? It's because one staff member is on the phone reminding patients of appointments, another is calling patients with test results and another is calling regarding referrals. That only leaves one phone line for the patients to call in!!! No wonder you get a busy signal sometimes!! If we are tying up all the phone lines making outgoing calls, you might not be able to reach us when you need to! We re-directed this routine patient communication to e-mail to free up the phone lines for your incoming calls.

Not only is e-mail immediate, you can keep a copy of the information for reference. You can reply with any questions you need answered. You can access it when it is convenient FOR YOU. We can only phone during normal business hours, but our normal business hours may not be your normal business hours!! Contacting you with results, referrals and regarding routine matters can be done much faster through e-mail. We typically only reach the patient when we call them about half the time. Phone tag is eliminated and we can spend our time more efficiently when we e-mail. All you have to do is check your e-mail!