One of the biggest mistakes a healthcare organization can make is assuming all their patients are active and engaged with their own care. Tools that allow a healthcare organization to effectively communicate with their patients are a key part of keeping patients involved and informed about their care, and their financial responsibilities.
A 2019 article in Patient Engagement HIT suggests the following:
“[Communications] provide an opportunity for providers to give a personalized nudge to a patient who may be less activated in self-management. Text messages or phone calls can remind patients to receive preventive care, take a certain medication, or adopt a new healthy behavior.” 1
Technology has created many possibilities for automating patient communications to run a healthcare organization more effectively, as well as improve patient outcomes, participation, and satisfaction. Utilizing automated tools such as e-mail, text messaging, and IVR phone communications frees up your staff to focus on in person service and keeps patients informed and active in their care. Communications tools like CPP Flex Engage, offer the ability to reach large numbers of patients through consistent application of routine tasks like appointment reminders, forms, patient balances, and procedure instructions.
Increased communications that are relevant and timely are becoming increasingly important in today's healthcare environment. Utilizing various communication methods in a reliable and consistent manner shows patients that the organization is attentive and responsive. An effective and constant line of communication between the office and its patients leads to a better overall experience for both parties and has even become expected by many patients.
The point of giving a less active patient a gentle nudge, for example, is one of the easiest ways to increase both patient satisfaction and practice revenue. Just a gentle reminder that “Hey, you should probably come in for an exam since it’s been 12 months. Would you like to schedule an appointment today?” goes a long way in making the patient feel appreciated while also generating revenue if they schedule an appointment. Additionally, using reminders to make sure that a patient's lab work has been done in advance, or a reminder to bring paperwork with them, helps the entire process run smoothly.
Communications tools like CPP Flex Engage offer a return on investment that can heavily contribute to an organization’s bottom line.
A 2019 article published in the National Library of Medicine says:
“...As the health care competitive environment increases, experts are looking for new and effective methods of engaging consumers by using experiential marketing strategies and, at the same time, make them loyal to the organization or the service provider. Besides building loyalty, a core outcome of the engagement process remains the industry’s shift towards value-based care. A value-based consumer care orientation has revealed ROI implications linked to increased patient loyalty, reduced malpractice claims, improved efficiency and increased physician satisfaction.” 2
One of the benefits of using a patient communications tool is the notable reduction in patient no-shows. For example, if you were able to reduce no-shows by 70%, how much more revenue would you capture in a month? Given the low cost of sending these reminders, the financial incentive to offer this service to patients becomes notably more worthwhile. Keeping just a few more appointments every day can add thousands of dollars of revenue every year.
The last area that we will look at today is a happier and more effective office staff. Missed appointment and balance reminder calls are often the most dreaded tasks of the day. If your staff gets busy, it is usually left to the end of the day or may not get done at all. Automating these tasks with a communications tool like CPP Flex Engage will go a long way to improving the overall happiness of your staff. Taking away hours of manually calling patients will give your staff more time to greet patients, answer the phone and more quickly respond to a patient’s needs.
As we have seen above, utilizing modern and cost-effective communication solutions like CPP Flex Engage along with a well thought out approach leads to happier and more engaged patients and increased revenue. Deploying a robust and well-designed patient communication strategy allows office personnel to experience greater job efficiency and satisfaction. It is a win-win-win for the organization, its employees, and the patients.
If you would like to learn more or have questions about how CBOSS can help you achieve these goals in your organization, please contact us.
1 Patient Engagement Strategies for Improving Patient Activation
2 Patient Experience Return on Investment in Ophthalmology Services
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6943281/