How do you calculate the payback period for healthcare digitalization? In the final part of our blog series, we introduce the Axel Encounter ROI calculator, developed based on hundreds of customer projects and over 40 variables. This calculator provides a fast and reliable estimate of your return on investment. It considers your unit's size, visit volumes, and no-show rates, estimating how quickly self-service solutions and automated patient flow management pay for themselves in saved working hours and euros. We have recently updated the calculator so you can get an even more accurate estimate of your savings potential with minimal effort.
I previously wrote about the benefits of patient flow solutions from a numerical perspective. In the first blog, we focused on the benefits of self-service in support functions, and in the second blog, we looked at the advantages from a clinical work perspective. We were so inspired that we developed an ROI calculator for our self-service solutions to show the estimated payback period as simply as possible. The calculator aims to model, on a general level, the benefits healthcare organizations achieve when their patient flow is monitored more efficiently through digital solutions. In this post, I will briefly explain how the calculator was created and what lies behind the calculation formulas.
Four key variables driving investment size and benefits
Initially, we aimed to identify which background variables impact the investment size and achievable benefits. Naturally, the list was quite long: the number of waiting lobbies, rooms, visits, no-shows, and different visit types, the average visit duration, and so on. We quickly realized that the most important requirement for a high-level calculator like this is a low barrier to use. Therefore, we limited the variables to four key factors: the number of waiting lobbies and consultation rooms (representing the organization’s size and layout), and the number of visits and no-show percentage (representing the volume).
Mobile solution vs. self-service kiosk: How do the selected options impact your savings potential?
Axel Encounter adapts to many different needs, so we didn't want to simplify the calculator too much. Benefits and costs vary depending on the selected options, so we came up with the following choices:
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Self-service kiosk, mobile solution, or both?
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Payment functions (mobile+kiosk)
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Professional's tools
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Dynamic guidance (including info displays and door displays)
Background constants ensure the reliability of the calculation
The toughest challenge was to find the underlying constants for the calculations. In reality, countless factors influence the size of the investment and the benefits achieved. These factors include salary costs, share of self-service check-ins, the adoption rate of mobile solutions across different special fields, internal interest rates, extra work caused by no-shows, and so on. Our calculator ultimately includes about 40 of these constants – and the result is fantastic! While the calculator's results are not an absolute truth, they provide a clear picture of the savings that can be achieved with Axel Health solutions (in terms of euros and working time) for anyone exploring patient flow management for the first time.
Try out the calculator yourself to see what total benefits Axel Encounter can generate for your organization. If needed, our experts can assist you with more detailed calculations.
