System allows a few patients to'BIPASS' ER waiting room

By Mr. John Brooks (Army Medicine)May 28, 2015

System allows a few patients to'BIPASS' ER waiting room
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (May 28, 2015) -- The new Beneficiary Instant Physician Appointment Scheduling System or BIPASS makes booking an appointment faster, easier and more convenient at General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital.

Real-time primary care appointment availability can be viewed on a large-screen display outside the emergency room, on another display for those waiting to be seen inside the ER waiting room and online for all of GLWACH's TRICARE beneficiaries.

For some incoming ER patients, this means waiting to see a physician in the ER can be a thing of the past.

"Patients with non-life-threatening injuries may book an appointment faster with BIPASS, before they even enter the emergency room to sit down and wait to see an ER physician," said Capt. Matthew Doellman, GLWACH Emergency Department head nurse.

BIPASS is available online using a link on the hospital website at glwach.amedd.army.mil.

Instructions for adding the BIPASS icon to both Apple and Android smart phones are displayed at the bottom of the BIPASS interface screen -- with Blackberry coming soon.

A smart phone user can also simply touch the appointment line phone number on the screen to book an appointment.

BIPASS displays appointments available at both the Ozark Family-Centered Medical Home, as well as within the hospital.

"Pick your Appointment -- Pick up the Phone," scrolls the colorful marquee banner mounted above a flat screen monitor next to the ER's main hallway entrance.

"Patients can look for an appointment on the screen and pick up the black phone hanging there on the wall," said Randall Moore II, GLWACH's ER assistant chief, "and it is already ringing the TRICARE representative by the time the phone gets to their ear."

Even when patients check into the ER, the ER desk clerk checks BIPASS again to ensure patients receive the fastest possible health care here.

"Appointments may even become available with a patient's own primary care manager or another physician they'd like to see as they're sitting in the ER waiting room," Doellman said, "so we have an appointment screen hanging inside on the waiting room, as well."

Unfilled appointments are shown on the screen up to 24 hours in advance. When a patient cancels an appointment, BIPASS displays it onscreen within two minutes.

"The BIPASS webpage is the most visited page on our website," Moore said.

"There are no hidden TRICARE Prime appointments not shown on the screen," said Diane Hell, GLWACH hospital administrator. "When an appointment becomes available within the hospital, it appears on the screen."

Related Links:

General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital

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Fort Leonard Wood GUIDON newspaper

Fort Leonard Wood website