Currently, patient engagement is a stable concept, shaped and valued. We really see that a single office visit, clinical decision or transaction isn’t enough to engage patients for a long time. Similarly to any human-to-human interaction, it takes time and dedication, so providers start to build knowledge of patients as individuals with their unique habits and needs exceeding clinical realm.
Nowadays hospitals adopt CRM systems to support and manage their relationship with patients. Each healthcare CRM aggregates EHR-stored clinical data and ties it to consumer and patient data sourced from other clinical systems, creating a centralized hub of patient-focused information. Then the exciting part begins when providers start to work with this information.
Basic CRM-driven steps of patient engagement are pretty clear – segmenting patients, organizing mailout campaigns, setting up reminders and appointment confirmations and then tuning things on the go. Advancing these efforts is where it gets harder, but it shouldn’t be. Here we have three creative ways to enhance any of patient engagement strategies within a healthcare CRM. These bad boys can make any patient outreach more impressive and effective.
Matching patients with right doctors
Overuse of clinical resources is an issue for both providers and patients. Patients will have to spend their time and money to get to an appropriate specialist. Providers, in their turn, risk delivering a poor patient experience and failing at resource management. But a few tweaks to a healthcare CRM system (e.g., Salesforce Health Cloud, MS Dynamics CRM) can help sustain high levels of patient engagement while ensuring proper resource use.
Say, we have a patient with a knee injury. To receive medical attention, the patient can call, use a branded hospital app or fill in an e-form at the point of care, stating the problem. In any case, the information on chief complaint gets into the CRM, where an analytic algorithm matches the stated problem with a pool of specialists, finding orthopedists specializing in knees and considering their schedules to avoid work overload. Upon finding an appropriate doctor, the system can automatically suggest the patient schedule an appointment with them (in the app) or notify the administrative staff and advise them to refer the patient to this particular specialist.
In this case, the patient wouldn’t get to an irrelevant specialist, e.g., an orthopedist who specializes in spinal deformations. Moreover, the visit will be scheduled for the best time possible and really quickly thanks to automated algorithms. The correct reference from the start would optimize diagnostics and reduce the chance of misdiagnosis along with the following treatment errors. Accordingly, getting to the right doctor at the right time will encourage patients to confide in their provider more, improving patient engagement.
Taking care of patients’ convenience
Looking outside the clinical box with their patient engagement strategies, providers can achieve bonus points. For example, MedStar healthcare provider noticed that the patients had troubles with getting at the facility as well as experienced challenges with parking due to overloaded parking spots, which greatly affected the no-show rate.
Since extending parking slots was impossible, the provider collaborated with an Uber-like ride-sharing service and tuned their healthcare CRM system to manage patients’ rides to the hospital. When a patient confirms their appointment, the CRM plans the ride and a car arrives at the patient’s door just in time to get him or her to the appointment. Applying this approach, MedStar achieved high levels of patient engagement while improving access to their services for patients in farther locations.
Making health a family matter
Oh, parents. They always worry, especially when it comes to health problems, treatment choices, vaccinations and follow-ups. But a healthcare CRM can help them to worry less, becoming a tool for family patient engagement. Of course, this strategy implies that patients consent on the health information disclosure to their relatives. Or, if a provider owns a branded hospital app, the patient will be able to tune authorization settings and make sure that their family members get only that information they want them to know.
For example, if a patient has stretched their arm, their mother may suspect the worst – a fracture or a wrench. But an X-ray shows it’s just a pulled elbow, nothing serious. In this case, as soon as the diagnosis is confirmed and the patient gets their treatment, his or her mother gets a text message with short appointment results. For example, “*Patient Name’s* examination has shown no serious injuries. We took a good care of your child, so *he/she* will be fine very soon.” This message shows no details about the patient’s visit, doctor’s name or any diagnosis details, so it is HIPAA-friendly.
In the meantime, the patient’s mother feels slightly relieved and less worried. Even if her child will not contact her ASAP 5 minutes after the appointment, the mother now is more certain that he or she is fine.
Of course, another patient may be not so lucky and get to the hospital. Even then, providers can tune up their healthcare CRM to send a few words of cheer to the patient's close ones. It can be as simple as “Today your loved one’s temperature and BP are back to normal values.”
Being simple gestures of courtesy and humanly attitude, these notifications are powerful tools to build trust. Showing patients that care extends to their loved ones, healthcare organizations can hit two targets – improve patient loyalty and win the trust of their parents. If the quality of services stays on top, there won’t be any questions about who can become a health service provider for the patient’s parents.
Succeeding in patient engagement strategies requires creativity
It is no secret that hospitals and health systems focus their efforts on clinical and operational improvement, however, market forces have made patient engagement an imperative for providers’ financial success. Of course, healthcare organizations can achieve good results even by merely employing a healthcare CRM system as their outreach tool. A few occasional reminders and notifications do work from the start.
Still, there is a level of patient engagement that providers should desire to hit – it is when patients recommend their provider to everybody. To make the word of mouth work, providers should care about their patients beyond the facility walls. If you want to get that high – be creative and personalize your patient engagement strategies.