Improve Experiences, Health Outcomes, and Profitability at Your Practice with a Patient Engagement Strategy

Patient Engagement is arguably one of the biggest trends coming out of 2021 and will continue to dominate headlines in 2022. Healthcare organizations of all sizes are rethinking their approach to patient care.

To stay competitive, it’s no longer about delivering what the patient wants; it’s about exceeding the level of care they expect. So, how can you leverage technology to create a patient engagement strategy that improves experiences, health outcomes, and profitability simultaneously? (Stay tuned for our next patient engagement post, where we’ll give you an inside look at all the specific solutions that will consistently make this happen at your practice.)

When it comes to the patient experience, no aspect of your workflows should operate in a silo. From initial referral to final results (and beyond), your patients should never have to worry about the logistics. By streamlining workflows on the backend, you can deliver a consistent, streamlined experience where it matters most. Easy-to-navigate patient portals with e-forms, patient responsibility estimations, online bill pay, and diagnostic results are all key to empowering patients to be active participants in their health. When these solutions are integrated seamlessly with operational workflows like scheduling, patient records, and other administrative workflows, the requirements of office staff and the expectations of patients will always be aligned.

Automating patient communication makes patient care coordination easier for patients and administrative staff. User-friendly SMS text messages or automated calls can be used to create, confirm, and reschedule appointments. They can also be used to initiate the intake process upon arrival. When patient responses integrate automatically with your practice scheduling software, you can significantly reduce manual administrative time, unintentional user errors, and lost revenue from missed appointments. Patients will benefit from eliminating those frustrating hold times and missed calls to set up, change, or confirm appointments. At the same time, your practice will benefit from the additional time they can redirect into actual patient care. 

Beyond using patient engagement to create more efficient appointments and overall experiences, practices can also use patient engagement to provide personalized education to patients. This allows your practice to show that it cares about patients beyond the single appointment they scheduled with you. Send emails, text messages, and patient portal notifications with continuing education about diagnosed conditions or future annual appointment reminders to stay top-of-mind. Though automated, this approach will feel customized and personalized to your patients. Additionally, you can request real-time feedback from your patients through mobile and portal survey links using your survey software to demonstrate your commitment to improving their experiences and developing long-term relationships with them. This also benefits your practice as it allows you to resolve any issues before they take their feedback to the internet.

By prioritizing patient experiences and implementing robust patient engagement solutions, your office, diagnostic imaging center, or hospital system will benefit greatly from improved patient satisfaction, health outcomes, and profitability.

It’s a simple equation. Better experiences lead to more satisfied patients. More satisfied patients lead to a better reputation amongst your competitors. That reputation, in turn, leads to higher referral volumes, which leads back to more patients (and the cycle continues!). When you put the patient at the center of your operations, you can foster loyal patient and provider relationships, build an esteemed reputation in your market, and open your practice to additional growth opportunities.

The more you empower patients to be active participants in their health, the better their outcomes. With patient engagement solutions, you can send routine reminders and follow-up messages to ensure your patients are always on top of their health. Involving them in the process encourages more participation in awareness, prevention, and treatment of various conditions. You can feel good knowing you’re doing your part in fostering a healthier population, especially in your community.

Modern patient engagement solutions that seamlessly integrate with your existing systems can significantly enhance your bottom line. After implementing a solid patient engagement strategy, you will almost immediately see a reduction in no-shows, an uptick in successful appointment rescheduling, and an increase in upfront payment collections. In addition, you can eliminate many manual tasks associated with patient follow-up, scheduling, and payment collection. This combination reduces costs and leads to better overall profitability.

Are you ready to implement a successful patient engagement strategy at your practice, diagnostic imaging center, or hospital system? See how AbbaDox’s patient engagement solutions can bring all these benefits to you. Book a demo.

Stay tuned for our next patient engagement blog article, where we’ll share all the details on the key patient engagement solutions you need to achieve these outcomes for your practice!