Clinic to introduce streamlined check-in kiosk Published Dec. 4, 2012 By Don Branum Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- A new, centralized kiosk at the 10th Medical Group clinic will speed up the patient check-in process when it opens for business Monday. The kiosk will serve patients of the Family Practice, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics clinics, said Tech. Sgt. Luis Caracosa, NCO in charge of the Family Practice Flight's White Element. The centralized check-in idea originated with 10th MDG Commander Col. Tim Ballard, who saw the concept in practice at another Air Force Base, Caracosa said. The 10th MDG staff conducted an efficiency study to determine whether the same idea would work here and came up with encouraging results. The 10th MDG consolidated its administrative personnel from Family Practice, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics into the White Element, Caracosa said. Some of those personnel will staff a four-person call center, while others will serve patients at the kiosk. "When it was decentralized, medical techs were pulled away from their duties to cover administrative support," he said. "Now that we have this element, I can plug in staff where I need them, and the med techs are free to perform their regular tasks." As a result, patients will have quicker access to check-in services, he said, as anyone at the kiosk can check them into any of the participating clinics. "We're not going to have the lines we had previously," he said. And because more med techs will be freed from their desks, patients will have access to care more quickly as well, he added. The kiosk will supplement the information desk currently near the clinic entrance. The volunteers who staff the front desk will remain there to help answer questions.