From Fierce Healthcare
Today’s consumers now can, and generally expect, to have a seamless user experience with any application/service from any mobile device and want their healthcare providers to follow suit—with convenience and support that extends beyond the traditional patient portal.
When it comes to their healthcare experience, 80 per cent of consumers put a premium on convenience and would switch to another provider if it is more convenient for them. Additionally, the same percentage expect providers to communicate with them via the channel(s) they prefer, which overwhelmingly, is by text message.
For healthcare providers, meeting patients’ mobile-first expectations requires investing in technology that supports patients with a robust digital ecosystem that engages them securely and safely at every point in the healthcare experience—from searching for providers and scheduling appointments to accessing records and refilling prescriptions.
And while there’s no spoonful of sugar to help with the often-high upfront time and resources needed to implement such technology, the long-term ROI from increased patient engagement and appointment volume helps patients and providers in three key ways:
- Patients get a boost from greater control of and confidence in their personalized healthcare journey.
- Provider staff get a break from the daily hours of manual appointment reminder calls.
- Providers and systems reap revenue benefits from enhanced efficiency and patient empowerment.
Patients get a boost
Patients want their healthcare experience to resemble other types of digital consumerism; younger patients in particular, are more than twice as likely to choose a provider based on access to digital tools. However, the digital tools available among most providers are not meeting this expectation. More than a quarter of consumers say they “never” access their patient portal, or don’t think their provider even has one.
Beyond portals, though, patients want the end-to-end care experience to be more accessible and convenient anywhere and everywhere— starting with making appointments. Two-thirds (67%) of patients overall (including 60% of those age 65 and older, who make up the lion’s share of scheduled appointments) want to self-schedule/reschedule, but only 37 per cent have the ability to do so.
Even though patients want self-service, they still want support: The number one reason patients give for missing appointments? “I forgot.” And nearly one in ten6 patients blame not being reminded for their appointment no-shows. These reminders still can be provided digitally, via automated calls or text messages, from a holistic solution that allows patients to confirm, cancel or reschedule appointments without provider staff.
Provider staff get a break
Speaking of staff, professionals in a medium-sized practice may spend up to three hours per day conducting appointment reminder calls, taking their attention away from other important office tasks that require human communication and interaction.
Because they require humans, manual appointment reminders are unreliable; if a provider is short-staffed on a given day, reminder calls may lag or not get made at all, which contributes to patient no-shows. Plus, healthcare staff shortages and worker burnout8 are forcing providers to do more with less; automating reminder calls and refill requests alone could save up to 130 hours per year (assuming 30 minutes of call time per staff member, five days a week for 52 weeks).
Providers and systems reap significant benefits.
Providers investing in self-service patient engagement technology stand to gain not only more patients but higher engagement from those patients, resulting in greater ROI than the current patient portal model alone. Patient no-shows alone equal roughly US$150 billion a year in lost provider revenue.
Savvy healthcare administrators can recoup those losses and then some through investments in technology that meets consumer demand, increases patient engagement and loyalty, reduces staff burden and burnout, and lowers revenue drain from no-shows and staff/resource inefficiencies.
TeleVox is a leading provider of omnichannel digital patient engagement technology.
- This article was created in collaboration with the sponsoring company and our sales and marketing team. The editorial team does not contribute.
