Month: April 2022
Consumers Demand Great Customer Service
The Key to Patient Loyalty
While delivering safe, high-quality, patient-centered care remains the top priority for healthcare providers,
consumers demand great “customer service” and strong communication throughout the experience.
In fact, respondents cite the demeanor of front office staff as being more important than bedside manner in earning their loyalty and impacting their likelihood to recommend.
59% of patients consider good pre- and post-appointment communication as key to their loyalty—a 27.9%
uptick since 2019.
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More than a third also value text and email appointment reminders.
When asked, what other factors influence your loyalty to a provider (i.e., you would recommend them to a friend or seek care from them multiple times):
WHY WON’T THEY BOOK AN APPOINTMENT?
The Public searching online for a provider, has found you.
But what has discouraged them from making an appointment?
Once a Consumer Selects a Provider
Many factors may prevent a consumer
from becoming a patient.
“Difficulty contacting the office” is the #1 reason a patient is deterred from booking an appointment.
The second-biggest blocker of successful acquisition is untrustworthy reviews, followed by an average rating of less than 4 stars and incomplete listings information.
Referrals are still a critical part of the patient journey—but no longer enough to secure a patient. After receiving a referral, 83% of patients today will go online to read reviews about the referred provider. And 84% say they will change their mind about a referred provider if they are rated less than 4 stars.
A Better Communication… Conclusion
Medical practices increasingly face administrative burdens and staffing challenges that make truly patient-centered care difficult — if not impossible. But maintaining good patient relations pays dividends through higher patient satisfaction scores, increased loyalty and higher revenues during a time when margins are thin.
Secure, HIPAA-complaint asynchronous and synchronous communications can help the same number of staff to manage more patients, preserve provider time for the sickest patients and create workflow efficiencies.
Thank you to MGMA -Insight Article -3/21/22
What is your Online Presence saying?
A Better Communication Strategy Part 4
Patients shouldn’t need to take additional steps to communicate with the practice, such as download an app or remember log-in credentials for the patient portal. Mobile devices are convenient, handy and the preferred communications method for an increasingly tech-savvy population.
A communications platform that includes secure photo and video capabilities reduces significant barriers between patient needs and provider time.
Telehealth visits comprised a tiny portion of total medical visits prior to the pandemic. After skyrocketing by a factor of 78 during the early months of 2020, telehealth usage remains 38 times higher than the pre-COVID-19 baseline. Going forward, patients expect synchronous video to continue as a viable provider/patient communication avenue.
Asynchronous communication through text or photographs can increase patient touchpoints and satisfaction while making the practice more efficient. A dermatologist can look at a patient-submitted photo and determine whether a skin condition is harmless or warrants an in-person visit. A surgeon can look at a photo of an incision and determine whether it is healing properly.
Asynchronous communications can also help patients manage their chronic conditions. When integrated with the practice management system, personalized and templated messages can be sent to certain patient cohorts at pre-determined times. A cardiologist, for example, can request blood pressure readings for at-risk patients, or a general practitioner can request blood glucose numbers for diabetes patients. If the numbers look good, the provider can send a positive note that encourages future compliance, while negative numbers may require an appointment.
PHE Extended Through 7/15/2022
Will the End of the PHE Impact Physicians Practices and Patient Coverage?
You Bet Your Rain Boots it Will!
The Modern Patient Journey
PHE extended, yet again!
Today, Secretary Becerra renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) for an additional 90 days, effective April 16, 2022.
A Better Communication Strategy Part 3
A communications platform with HIPAA-compliant texting can create efficiencies within the practice in numerous ways besides appointment reminders, allowing staff to have one-to-many asynchronous conversations rather than one-on-one phone interactions. Staff members and providers in the practice or in practices within the same ecosystem can also have secure, asynchronous text conversations by simply @mentioning individuals or team, with those conversations becoming part of the patient record.
Practices can use smart routing to direct incoming messages to the correct clinical, billing or front-office department to ensure no patient slips through the cracks.
How often do practices receive calls about directions, parking or practice policies? Templated responses answered by text rather than phone free up staff time and increase the percentage of on-time patient arrivals. One physician using a HIPAA-compliant, text-based communications platform reports that his practice has never had a patient miss an appointment or arrive late.
Onboarding and front-end practices also can be accomplished by text. Having patients complete and send pre-appointment forms ahead of time can make the visit go more smoothly. Practices want a platform that can track communications, so that only those who haven’t filled out pre-appointment paperwork, for example, receive reminders.
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