The pre-visit workflow is a systematic approach to preparing for clinical encounters before they happen. While the concept is intuitive, implementing it effectively requires understanding the sequence of steps, the stakeholders involved, and the technology that enables each stage.
The workflow begins when an appointment is scheduled. At this trigger point, the patient receives an invitation to complete a pre-visit conversation. The timing of this invitation matters: too early and patients forget, too late and there is insufficient time to process the results.
Step one is patient engagement. The AI-guided conversation captures the patient's reason for visit, current symptoms, relevant history changes, and any specific questions they want addressed. This conversation adapts in real time, following clinical logic to explore relevant symptom clusters.
Step two is AI processing. The raw patient narrative is analyzed through NLP pipelines that extract structured data, identify potential clinical concerns, and generate a concise summary. This processing happens in minutes, well before the appointment.
Step three is clinician preparation. The AI-generated summary is delivered to the provider's workflow, typically within the EHR, for review before the patient arrives. Clinicians can scan the summary in under a minute and walk into the encounter fully oriented.
Roles and Responsibilities
Successful pre-visit workflows require clear role definition. The patient is responsible for completing the pre-visit conversation. The AI system handles processing and summary generation. The clinical staff ensures summaries are available and flagged for the provider. The provider reviews the summary and incorporates it into the visit.
Exception handling is built into the workflow. If a patient does not complete the pre-visit conversation, the system can send reminders, escalate to phone-based collection, or simply flag the appointment as lacking pre-visit data so the clinician adjusts their approach accordingly.
Continuous improvement is embedded in the workflow through feedback loops. Clinicians rate the usefulness of pre-visit summaries, patients rate the ease of the pre-visit conversation, and operational metrics track completion rates and processing times. These data points drive iterative refinement.
Understanding the pre-visit workflow is the first step toward implementation. The next steps involve assessing readiness, selecting technology, and designing a pilot program that demonstrates value while managing change effectively.
