Opening the Door to Patient Retention: A Look at New Technology Trends

We live in a world of increasing change and limitless options. As a result, more than ever before, your patients easily become restless and actively pursue other choices. And many of these choices are readily served up on the Internet. It should come as no surprise to you that almost all of your patients are online doing medical research. Their search is typically in two areas:

• Understanding their own medical condition or desired procedure. (You’ve noticed this because of all of the questions they come prepared with.)

• Searching to evaluate providers. (Even long-time patients will look to see who else provides the services they are seeking.)

Sometimes the search is simply driven by curiosity, but it often leads patients in a different direction. Instead of coming straight back to you they may veer to the right or to the left. As a result, you will lose some patients. That’s a fact, and a few of them will drift away without your ever being aware. The key to keeping these patients loyal to your practice is to provide an environment where they have no desire to search out greener pastures. A happy, content patient will be less inclined to wander.

The Push and the Pull

I remember, as a child, being fascinated with magnets. I loved experimenting with them; and I loved how, if you brought two of them together, they either pulled or pushed depending on the orientation of the poles. Your practice works the same way.

A happy, content patient will be less inclined to wander.

Your patients have experiences that push them away, but there are other experiences that draw them in. How are your poles aligned? The curt receptionist, the extra-long wait, the incomplete explanation of the proposed procedure—these things all push the patient away. On the other hand, patients will be magically drawn to your practice if you are intentional about turning the magnet the right way so the poles are properly aligned.

I call it “patient relationship management.” It’s a concept that revolves around going the extra mile to make sure you’re providing a memorable experience for your patients, even when they’re not in your office. Just out of curiosity, did you take Patient Relationship Management in medical school? I didn’t think so. Perhaps you can view this article as a quick fellowship in the art of patient communication, an area of practice management that is often overlooked.

Marketing dollars are expended to bring in new patients, but little is done to make sure they stay.

We all know that it’s less expensive to keep a patient than it is to generate a new patient, so it seems obvious that this should be an area of focus for any vibrant practice. The revolving door of “patients in and patients out” doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that’s exactly what’s happening. Marketing dollars are expended to bring in new patients, but little is done to make sure they stay after that first experience.

Recent Studies

A few years ago, Ted Kaptchuk, a professor at Harvard Medical School, conducted a study on the effect of caring and communication with regard to patient outcomes.(1) Using a group of gastroenterologic patients who all presented with the same symptoms, he set up a randomized controlled trial. The two groups in the study received identical treatment, but the method of delivery was different. In the control group, little time was spent with the patients, and there wasn’t a lot of interaction. The second group received the same medical treatment but the visits were longer, with the caregiver exhibiting a high degree of interest and empathy. The results went way beyond the placebo effect. The second group, in fact, had “measurably” improved outcomes. An increased level of caring equated to an increased level of healing. Surprised? Well, you shouldn’t be. What you do “for” your patients is as important as what you do “to” them.

In July 2014, the independent research organization NORC at the University of Chicago published a report on its findings with regard to patients’ opinions of caregivers.(2) The 1000 study participants were asked not what made them “like” their doctor, but, rather, what they thought makes a “high quality” doctor. Your first thought might be that things like training, expertise, skill, and experience would be at the top of the list. Well, that wasn’t the case. It’s interesting to note that “communication” was the factor most cited. In fact, it was as much as 40% more important to the study participants than the second factor—accurate diagnosis. The logical conclusion is that patients would prefer that you misdiagnose them over not communicating with them. While that may bring a smile to your face, it is in fact what the study showed. Of all the responses, 63% had to do with communication and caring, whereas only 25% had to do with training, education, and expertise. Patients want to be heard, and they want to know that their practitioner really cares about them.

What can we learn from these studies? It should be obvious that you need to listen to, and communicate with, your patients. Some of this is through face-to-face communication, but there are also a number of technologies that can help you maintain a dialog with your patients even when they are not in your office. Let’s look at ways you can make effective use of the latest tools to keep connected with your patients and to give them every reason to stay loyal to the practice.

Technology to the Rescue

Smartphones are the new black. It seems that everywhere you look, people are on their smartphones, and statistics bear it out:

• 80% of U.S. adults with Internet access own a smartphone.

• 98% of smartphone users are texting.

• 90% of smartphone users are on the Internet.

• 87% of smartphone users are checking e-mail.

It is interesting that making phone calls is now a secondary use of a cell phone. Today’s smartphones are more of a “communication” device that leans toward texting, e-mail, and search as the primary uses. You see people every day walking down the street, or sitting in a meeting, or riding the bus with their fingers darting across the screen of their indispensable communication device, but rarely is it held up to their ear. A 2014 Bank of America study showed that almost 50% of Americans couldn’t go more than 24 hours without their smartphone.(3) These people are your patients, and you might as well reach them on the device that has become a lifeline for them.

Let’s start with a list of things an efficient practice can do with the help of automated tools that make it easy and effortless. Every practice should be aware of, and should be tracking their efforts in, these areas. Look at this list and see if anything here matches up with your own list of priorities:

• Maintain a full schedule with a low no-show rate.

• Effectively re-engage overdue or lost patients.

• Educate your patients with timely and relevant information.

• Solicit feedback on the patient experience.

• Send personalized messages (like birthday greetings).

• Maintain a strong social media presence.

• Acquire and manage online reviews.

• Market your products and services to your patients.

If any of these are a priority, there are tools out there that can make life a lot easier for you and your staff. Let’s have a look at a few of them.

Keeping the Schedule Full

If your office is like most, you have someone in the back office making calls every afternoon to remind the next day’s patients about their appointments. The end result is a very frustrated staff member who has left a lot of voicemails on unanswered calls. Let’s face it, most people just don’t answer their phone because they’re working, or in a meeting, or occupied in some other way. An efficient solution is to send out automated text or e-mail reminders that the patients can easily respond to, letting the office know whether or not they’ll be coming in. The result is a full schedule and a less frustrated staff.

Re-engaging Overdue Patients

It’s normal for any practice to have patients that have become distant and less active. There are a number of factors that contribute to this, but often it’s as simple as the patient being busy and not having the practice as a top-of-mind priority. Rather than assigning a staff member to search through medical records to identify and contact these inactive patients, an efficient software program can automatically reach out to them as soon as they hit a timing threshold that has been set up by the practice. For example, if a patient hasn’t had an appointment in 12 months, the system will be triggered to send out a text or e-mail notification with a gentle invitation for the patient to re-engage. This feature has proven to be a huge revenue generator for most practices as long-lost patients come back in for appointments.

Patient Education and Marketing

E-mail newsletters are a nice way to keep the lines of communication open. If the information is timely and relevant, the patient will welcome it. Although there are a number of platforms for this service, Solutionreach is unique in that it not only sets up customized newsletter templates for your practice, but it also has a huge online library of content that can be drawn on at will. In addition, it’s important to use a service that gives metrics on variables such as the open rate, the click-through rate, and others so you can track the effectiveness of the campaign. Another way to use the newsletter feature is for marketing purposes. Let’s say you’re doing a new procedure or maybe you’ve hired a new staff member. A quick newsletter is a great way to inform all of your patients and to invite them back in.

Surveys and Reviews

All practices have their own idea of how they are perceived by their patients, and sometimes they’re right. A practice that is really interested in providing a first-class patient experience will plan improvements based partially on patient input. One of the best ways to gather that information is through post-appointment surveys. Find a service provider that will allow you to customize the survey questions and track the responses with a detailed report. In addition, the last question on the survey should be a “long form” response, which allows the patient to leave a review that can be pushed to your website and Facebook page.

Birthday Greetings

Because of the cost and time involved, most practices have discontinued the practice of sending out birthday cards. It’s too bad because everyone likes to be recognized on their birthday. Services like Solutionreach make it simple by sending out a customized e-mail birthday greeting at noon on the patient’s birthday. Why at noon? Well, most people are with family or friends at noon on their birthday. And when they get this nice greeting on their smartphone, they’ll undoubtedly mention your name and say something nice about you to the people they’re with. So this ends up being a marketing opportunity. Additionally, by inserting an incentive for the patient to return, this can become a significant revenue generator as well.

Social Media

There is no avoiding the fact that patients are searching the Internet for medical guidance and advice before choosing a provider or moving forward with a procedure. You need to proactively reach out to your patients and potential patients through your website and Facebook pages, and you should also consider other platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. It’s important to make sure your positive reviews are displayed prominently on your Facebook page and your website, because studies have shown that reviews are a very strong factor in a new patient’s decision regarding the provider they contact. You should also find a service provider who will monitor your online reputation (“webutation”) to keep you aware of what’s being said about you and your office and then be prepared to respond appropriately if necessary.

Conclusion

If your patients feel sincere engagement from your practice, they’ll have no desire to go anywhere else. An automated communication system that runs non-stop in the background and constantly sends out all of these communications is an essential tool for any thriving and vibrant practice. It’s like having a part-time employee who never takes a break and doesn’t ask for a raise. The cost savings and revenue generation potential are enormous, and once you get started you’ll experience a number of benefits, including:

• Improved office efficiency;

• Happier patients;

• More dedicated staff;

• Better patient outcomes;

• Increased patient satisfaction and loyalty; and

• New revenues and an improved bottom line.

If any of this resonates with you, do some research and find a software service provider that’s a fit for your specific needs.

References

1. Johnson N. Forget the Placebo Effect: It’s the Care Effect that Matters. Wired Magazine. January 18, 2013; www.wired.com/2013/01/dr-feel-good .

2. Finding Quality Doctors: How Americans Evaluate Provider Quality in the United States. The Associated Press, NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. July 20, 2014.

3. Bank of America. Trends in Consumer Mobility Report. 2014; http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/sites/bankofamerica.newshq.businesswire.com/files/press_kit/additional/2014_BAC_Trends_in_Consumer_Mobility.pdf.