To say we’re having a tough time in the healthcare industry is an understatement.
After almost two years of battling COVID, healthcare organizations face a new normal. This heightened stress and new medical care requirements have left providers and staff exhausted and frustrated. In addition to their typical responsibilities and current care loads, medical practices have been asked to go the extra mile. But in the flurry of efforts to meet the pandemic demands, it can be easy to lose focus on a crucial component of care – the patient care experience. Continue reading for four tips for keeping patients the priority of the care experience.
Adjust patient engagement strategies.
Analyze how well your team interacts with patients. How can your engagement strategies and practices better align to meet their expectations and needs? Ask yourself these questions:
- Do you make it easy for patients to connect with you using various technology methods?
- Have you implemented a quality social media strategy?
- Do you know your patient’s communication preferences and match them?
- Do you have to deal with no-shows because you utilize less effective strategies like phone calls for appointment reminders?
Nothing shows that you care about your patients more than making regular improvements that demonstrate you’re in tune with their needs.
Ensure you are getting quality patient feedback.
Send electronic surveys for the best results assessing patient satisfaction. Medical practices that communicate effectively, offer a high level of friendly customer service, and are responsive will solidify patient satisfaction and loyalty.
Focus on empathy and compassion.
Medical offices are busy, things can get stressful, and some days can be overwhelming. It’s easy to become detached when interacting with patients.
When you have a patient in the office, go above and beyond. Learn the important information about patients and those vital details that make them “them.” Some things you can do include:
- Devote all your attention to the patient when interacting with them.
- When they enter the office, smile and look them in the eye.
- Really listen to them – don’t interrupt or rush.
- Ask questions about things not related to the appointment.
- Treat the patient like a friend.
Adopt modern technology solutions based on current trends.
In a more consumer-driven healthcare world, patients have high expectations about treatment and how their providers engage with them. This includes higher technology capabilities and modern methods to communicate about their appointments.
Since text messaging is quick, easy, and accessible, it’s time to take a text-first approach to connect with patients. Do you use automation tools to make patient communication more efficient and reduce staff workload? To make communication truly patient-centric today, providers should strive to adopt tools and technologies that are consumer-friendly and responsive.
With our new normal, today’s healthcare environment is more competitive than ever. Practices that can provide a more modern, yet personalized care experience will not only become everyone’s favorite medical practice; they will win the loyalty of their patients and will enjoy a more profitable future.
Tags: Care Experience, medical office management, medical offices, national organization of rheumatology managers, NORM, office management Posted by
