With the rapid digitization of the healthcare industry, new channels of care delivery are evolving, while new communication channels are also emerging. While tech-savvy patients use various digital media to seek their desired information and services, they are becoming increasingly conscious of their overall experience. The traditional communication channels, such as telephone, have become outdated and are being identified as potential obstacles to the ability to provide high-quality services. For instance, a huge number of patient calls makes staffing and scaling call center financially inefficient. At the same time, it also adds to the agitation level of the patients as they have to work through numerous layers of menus and choices to finally reach their required information. To add to that, America’s diversity calls for more multilingual expertise in call centers. Hence, healthcare organizations are faced with multiple challenges when it comes to leveraging technology for communication purposes and in terms of striking the right balance between human touch and digital technology.

What remains imperative to note is the fact that eventually, the patient demands a single and rewarding patient experience across all touchpoints. This can be best achieved through implementing a hybrid communications strategy. Let’s discuss best practices that can help practices maximize revenue growth through effective communications.

Devise a Strategic Communications Plan

The human component is identified as the most critical part of a communications strategy. Patients always want meaningful and customized communication with their providers. If a company fails to offer personalized communications, consumers tend to switch brands without wasting time. Even if the communication platform is digital, they want to have a communication experience that is tailored to their needs. The same is true for healthcare. For instance, prior to each appointment with the provider, sending out a customized message about what all needs to be done and brought along for the visit can particularly enhance the overall patient experience. Appointment reminders are considered extremely important and valuable with the ability to reduce no-show rates by up to 80 percent.

Read More: How to Stay Connected With Your Patients During Crucial Times

On a similar note, the providers can deploy multiple channels to communicate with the patients, such as voice calls, text messages, emails, etc. This allows them to connect with their patients, significantly impacting patient behavior while also improving appointment reliability and patient loyalty. Allowing them to interact with the provider eventually translates into a long-term provider-patient relationships, leading to revenue growth. This revenue generation can be achieved by deploying a diversity of communications such as the following:

Follow-up Communications

Patients are generally only able to retain between 20-60 percent of the information shared with them during an appointment. Sending out a text message or a detailed email with relevant follow-up instructions and information can render a significantly positive impact on patient satisfaction levels as well as improve their loyalty to the provider.

Patient Engagement Programs

Providers can conduct regular health-related workshops that encourage active participation of the patients. Sending out customized messages to patients regarding various health programs or initiatives can help the providers deliver better care.

Billing Reminders

The healthcare industry’s leading costs are associated with patient no-shows, as high as $150 billion annually on average. Sending out billing reminders regarding any outstanding balances keep patients up to date on their payments.

Message Broadcast System

A message broadcast system is a prereq for an efficient communications plan. It allows the providers to notify their patients about any important happening, such as unexpected facility closure, thereby avoiding any frustrations associated with the event. Notifications can be sent via voice calls, emails or text messages.

Encourage Patient Engagement

Americans are increasingly becoming tech-savvy, deploying various media to get involved in their personal health. They are using healthcare apps and wearable devices to track and monitor personal health, and thereby pursue a healthy and active lifestyle. Similarly, they prefer seeking digital tools to schedule appointments online while also relying on text message-based reminders to show up for their appointments.

Moreover, as they become technologically sound, American patients are embracing digital technologies as their preferred medium of communication – their smartphone to be precise. Receiving text messages, email reminders, appointment reminders, physician referrals, and other self-services over their smartphones has significantly increased their engagement levels. Research has found an average millennial patient to overwhelmingly prefer text messages over phone calls or emails.

Hence, patient engagement is perhaps the best strategy to encourage in-office patient visits. Empower them with the information they need, and see your communications strategy do the magic. Deploying a sound patient engagement solution will potentially eliminate all manual activities by integrating with Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Practice Management Systems. At the same time, it will add to the accuracy of the information since it is coming directly from the provider source, thereby adding to its reliability alongside.

All in all, integrating digital tools with a human touch is the most efficient way forward, which is not only intended to ease communications but also enhance patient engagement, create patient loyalty and ultimately generate revenue.