A recent survey by RingCentral reveals critical insights into patient preferences and provider challenges in this evolving landscape.
RingCentral is the trusted leader in AI-powered cloud communications, offering businesses of all sizes an integrated platform for phone calls, messaging, video conferencing, contact center solutions, and virtual events. With over 25 years of innovation, RingCentral empowers more than 400,000 organizations globally to connect effortlessly and drive meaningful interactions, whether they’re engaging with customers or collaborating internally.
In the healthcare space, RingCentral delivers solutions to address critical communication challenges faced by providers and patients alike. Long patient wait times, fragmented interactions across channels, and increased demand for an effective, secure communication experience are common industry pain points RingCentral helps solve by leveraging its HIPAA-compliant unified communications platform.
In the ‘2024 Healthcare Communication Trends Report’ by RingCentral, they find that effective communication correlates strongly with patient satisfaction, according to 95% of providers surveyed. However, 36% of practices report dissatisfaction with their current communication technology. This disconnect highlights a clear opportunity for improvement.
Patients increasingly expect seamless interactions across multiple channels. While 69% still prefer phone calls for scheduling appointments, significant numbers want to use online portals (34%) or mobile apps (26%). For general communications, only 32% of patients selected phone as their preferred channel, with the majority favoring digital options like email, text, or patient portals.
Long wait times emerged as the top patient frustration, both in-person (61%) and on the phone (33%). Other major pain points include staff that seem stretched thin, insufficient time with their care provider, and difficulty scheduling appointments. These issues all point to a need for more efficient communication systems.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a growing role in addressing these challenges. Among practices that have implemented AI communication tools:
- 57% saw a decrease in missed appointments
- 78% report improved ability to act on patient feedback
- 78% experienced increased patient satisfaction scores
However, patients express some reservations about AI in healthcare settings. Privacy (54%) and data security (46%) are the top concerns, followed by worries about inaccurate transcriptions (31%) and depersonalization of care (27%).
Despite these concerns, poor communication remains the leading reason patients switch providers (32%), far outweighing privacy issues (7%). This suggests that while privacy matters, the quality of communication is paramount for patient retention.
RingCentral’s integrated communications platform is purpose built to improve both internal and external communications. The platform gives healthcare organizations an opportunity to simplify complexity, enhance patient interactions, and optimize operational outcomes.
To tackle long patient wait times, RingCentral offers AI-powered tools like virtual agents and intelligent call routing. These solutions ensure timely responses to patient inquiries, reduce call queue times, and allow healthcare teams to focus on high-priority tasks. Additionally, automated appointment reminders and scheduling tools cut down on missed appointments, further decreasing overall delays in patient care.
For seamless interactions across multiple channels, RingCentral provides omnichannel communication capabilities. Patients and providers can effectively engage on a variety of platforms—such as phone, SMS, email, mobile apps, and secure online portals. This ensures continuity of care, where patients never have to repeat themselves, and healthcare teams can access all necessary conversation history in one place.
Understanding that patients may express reservations about AI in healthcare due to concerns over privacy and depersonalized care, RingCentral employs robust security features, including encryption and HIPAA compliance, to protect patient data. Additionally, RingCentral’s AI tools are designed to assist rather than replace human interactions. AI-powered solutions, like real-time transcription and automated summaries from RingCentral’s platform, enhance the quality and accuracy of communication while allowing healthcare staff to dedicate more time to empathetic, personalized care.
By enabling healthcare providers to reduce wait times, enhance continuity of care across multiple communication channels, and responsibly leverage AI technology, RingCentral helps improve patient satisfaction, streamline operations, and create a more connected healthcare experience. With RingCentral, healthcare organizations can meet the rising expectations of their patients while staying focused on providing high-quality care. Visit RingCentral’s report to learn more.
