Josh Weiner

Healthcare and technology. They’re a match made in heaven. In fact, the industry boasts some of the most advanced technologies and scientific breakthroughs available today. Ideas that would have once seemed like science fiction have become reality. We’ve got Artificial Intelligence (AI), 3D printing of medical devices or biological materials, robotic-assisted surgeries, remote health tracking, virtual reality…the list goes on and on. 
	Unfortunately, medical organizations often fail to take advantage of technology in one of the most basic (but important) of its processes: communication. Traditional processes often create critical communication gaps that hurt collaboration, care, and-ultimately-outcomes. There are communication breakdowns happening throughout the entire continuum of care. Just as small holes in a ship can eventually lead to a catastrophic sinking, small holes in your communication can sink your practice as well.

It’s important to continually inspect your “medical ship” and see if you have any gaps that may eventually become big problems. By arming your practice with the latest communication advancements in technology, you can alleviate these problems and develop a strong continuum of care experience (and bring that ship safely home!).


	Between rising deductibles, increased competition, and falling reimbursement levels, medical practices have recently been tightening their belts to pay for overhead, staff, and simply keeping the doors open. As a result, many practices have been forced to schedule as many appointments as possible in a single day.

The average physician sees around 21 patients in a single day-leaving a total of just 10-15 minutes per patient. Unfortunately, this means that there isn’t a lot of time for meaningful communication. On average, patients have just 11 seconds to explain the purpose of their visit before a physician interrupts. This rushed experience can inadvertently lead to patients being ushered out before fulling understanding their diagnosis or treatment plan-ultimately leading to poor outcomes and patient dissatisfaction. One big hole in patient communication is the expectation that all necessary communication will take place during those rushed few minutes.


	Cutting-edge technology can improve the communication process before and after an appointment. Today’s modern society is accustomed to using technology to communicate. Take chatbots, for example.

Once upon a time, having a website was all you needed to communicate online. That is no longer true. Today virtual chatbots can be a stop-gap for communication between you and the patient. These bots use artificial intelligence to answer some of the most common questions patients have. If the bot is unable to answer the question, that patient is then handed off to your office. The best thing about chatbots is that they are so sophisticated today that the majority of patients will never know that they were speaking with AI.

Another great technology that often gets forgotten is text messaging. Practices often send out appointment reminders to patients via text, but it is much less common to regularly talk back and forth. Today, there are a variety of technological tools that allow you to easily communicate with patients through text message, no matter where you are (stuck in a boring meeting, for example). The best part is that technology has advanced to a point where these conversations can be compliant with regulations like HIPAA.

Automated outreach between visits is another key to boosting communication with patients. Whether through newsletters or social media, technology has given us the ability to automate a significant amount of communication. Newsletter templates can be personalized to your practice and then scheduled to automatically be sent to patients. Likewise, you are now able to sit down and schedule out social media posts as far in advance as you want. Through these touchpoints, you can remind patients of the kinds of things they should be doing to improve their health.


	Studies show that poor communication among practice staff can be just as detrimental to health outcomes as poor patient communication. When staff members fail to effectively communicate with one another, inefficiencies and mistakes are the result. It’s easy to see why 96 percent of healthcare executives say that poor intra-office collaboration leads to mistakes within their organizations and two-thirds of employees say that their colleagues could help them do their job better.

With today’s intra-office communication technology available, communication between staff members is far easier. Medical practices have options that include things like custom chat rooms, direct messaging, notifications, photo sharing, and so on. Instead of needing to hunt down coworkers, staff can now simply shoot off a quick message and get a reply. Implementing these technological platforms helps staff members share their expertise with one another easily and efficiently, reducing the number of mistakes and miscommunication that would otherwise take place. 

As patients become more and more discerning when it comes to their health, practices need to take a serious look at where they may be lacking. Communication is one of those crucial areas that is often overlooked. Taking advantage of the technology solutions offered today when it comes to communication can improve patient outcomes, leading to happier patients, higher retention rates, fewer malpractice suits, and a healthier bottom line.

Josh Weiner is president and chief operating officer of 

Articles

There are communication breakdowns happening throughout the entire continuum of care. Is technology the solution?

Want better outcomes? Improve patient communication

Quality over quantity is the mantra of value-based care. Or, maybe outcomes over checkouts. 

CMS and commercial payers have been pushing hard to make the shift to value-based care a reality and it seems to be working. Value-based care payment programs have reduced unnecessary medical costs by 

, and less than 40 percent of all insurance payments are now entirely fee-for-service.

Despite the benefit, it has taken a long time to get here. Why? Because value-based care relies as much on changes in patient behavior as it does provider behavior. Change is hard, but in healthcare, it’s extra hard. Moving from paying for visits to paying for outcomes and experience is a big ask, especially because outcomes rely on so many factors. For example, a diabetes patient may want to manage their A1C, and a provider can be supportive, but making lifestyle changes to address that can be hard, and ultimately a provider has little control over patient behavior.

Patients have to be all in. Patients say they 

 in their care and wellness. But, there’s more. They also want more engagement reciprocated from providers. While it is great that patients want to play that important role, their higher expectations often create additional burden for providers. Not only do providers need to engage patients to improve outcomes, but they have to do it in a way that delights patients as well.

A recent Physicians Foundation survey showed 

 are considering switching providers for a better experience. At the same time, 

 most of what their provider says during their visit. Many patients don’t show up to appointments simply because they forgot. How can providers address both of these problems to improve outcomes while providing a personalized, customized, and delightful patient experience?

According to Black Book, 92 percent of healthcare consumers surveyed say that improving customer experience should be a top strategic priority for medical providers over the next twelve months. 

An effective patient relationship management (PRM) platform, which connects providerswith patients at every stage of the patient journey, can improve communication and help providers create a better patient experience, which can improve outcomes by 

 Providers should look for platforms that include:

Patient appointment reminders for scheduled appointments as well as unscheduled preventive care and follow-up visits

Post-visit communications like surveys and education

Convenient access to online scheduling and real-time, two-way text messaging

Targeted communication for situations like office closures or urgent notifications (e.g. last-minute appointment openings)

Getting patients to their appointments might be one of the most impactful things a provider can do to improve outcomes. But just sending a reminder or an email with education about preventive care or disease management isn’t always enough for patients to confirm or schedule an appointment.

In other industries, such as retail and hospitality, consumers are firmly planted in the “era of personalization,” with offerings of a personalized experience increasing revenue and customer loyalty. Healthcare is no exception. 

 want more personalized information from their providers and that patients say that when they “feel like a number,” they are willing to find another provider.

In addition to looking at specific types of communications as mentioned above, providers should look for a system that can send those communications with capabilities such as:

Personalizing communications with the patient’s name as well as appointment details

Providing appointment-specific information in reminders, such as “remember to fast for 24 hours” or “please bring your new patient paperwork”

Delivering messages based on patient preferences for mode (i.e., text, voice calls, or email) as well as timing, frequency, and language

Targeting education based on factors like gender, age, diagnosis, or treatment

Using the right PRM system can result in higher patient engagement and better patient experience, which can translate into better outcomes. This is not only important for success in value-based care but also in a traditional fee-for-service environment. Long-term success of any healthcare organization now hinges on having a patient relationship strategy in place.

Josh Weiner is the president and chief operating officer of 

 Weiner has been recognized by Utah Business as a 2017 CXO of the Year and as a 2018 Forty Under 40 Utah Rising Star. 

Not only do providers need to engage patients to improve outcomes, but they have to do it in a way that delights patients as well.

Value-based care rings in a new era in patient engagement 

Here’s the deal: Of course we all want to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. These are big challenges the healthcare industry is up against. But the bottom line is really, well, your bottom line. You can’t care for patients if you can’t keep the lights on. At the end of the day, you are running a business. Whether or not practices outright state it, just like any other business, the ultimate goal of providers and healthcare organizations is to have a healthy balance sheet. 

While the strategies may seem simple-attracting new patients and/or getting your current patients to be more consistent in their care-it is often an uphill battle. However, based on your specific revenue goals (as well as your practices’ current strengths and weaknesses), there are a lot of ways to do this, and any practice can be successful with the right balance of techniques and tools. 

This kind of goes without saying, but the more patients you provide care to, the more revenue you bring in to your practice. But what are the most effective ways to increase the number of new patients visiting your practice? 

Ask for referrals. I like to call a patient referral the “golden ticket” of the healthcare world. Referrals from one patient to another are one of the most effective ways to attract new business-and should play a big part in your marketing strategy. Train your staff on how to request referrals from satisfied patients. This could be through word-of-mouth or by sending a link in your online communication. 

Create a strong website. There is nothing more important in today’s business world than having a good online presence. That starts with your website. Make sure you are regularly updating your site. Make it easy to navigate. If possible, include educational pieces (such as common health questions or a regular blog) to position yourself as an expert in the field. Providing valuable content on your site will also improve the chances that your site will rank higher in search engines. 

Encourage online reviews. Just as your website is important to creating an awesome online presence, reviews are also critical. The best way to build your online presence is to ask your satisfied patients to leave reviews. Modern PRM (patient relationship management) systems now let you send quick requests to patients after their appointments asking them to review your practice on a particular site. 

Does it feel like more and more patients are becoming inactive? You’re not just imagining things. Americans are visiting their healthcare providers 19 percent less often than they did in 2000. As your regular patients start to disappear, so does the revenue they bring with them. As regular visits to providers continue to fall, recall efforts have never been more important. Here are a few quick ideas to give your recall program a little jumpstart. 

Automate your efforts. Using automation to reach out to inactive patients is important because it ensures that no patient falls through the cracks. Implement a system where you can automatically send out messages to patients who are due (or overdue!) for care.

Uncover why patients aren’t coming. You can send a survey to all inactive patients to get a feel for why they might have stopped coming. Ask questions honestly…”Are you afraid of visiting?” “Does the cost prevent you from making an appointment?” and so on. Doing so will enable you to address the unique issues your patient base may be facing.

Unleash the power of the internet. From social media to email, there are lots of great ways you can connect with patients online. Doing so will help keep your practice top-of-mind with patients, even between visits.

The average practice sees no-shows rates of 

-and those numbers can be significantly higher depending on your specialty. That’s almost one in every four patients just not showing up! Each one of those lost appointments is expensive (ranging from 

, depending on specialty). Fortunately, there are things you can do to help alleviate no-shows and cancellations.

Consistently remind patients of appointments. The most common reason to miss a doctor’s appointment-

-is that the patient simply forgot. Reminders make a big difference in helping jog those memories. A 

 found that no-show rates fell 26 percent after sending a reminder. Automating these reminders is a key piece to making sure reminders go out at the right time and to the right patients.  

Use the most effective reminder. Sending a reminder via the communication method that patients prefer is one of the best ways of ensuring they actually show up. This means that some reminders will need to go out via text message, some through email, and others with an old-fashioned phone call. On all of your intake forms, in emails, or even in person, be sure to ask each patient how they want to be contacted-and then use that method. 

Actively use a wait list. Experts have found that about 

 scheduled appointments will end up being canceled by patients. These cancellations create headaches for staff and losses on your balance sheet. The best way to tackle last-minute cancellations is to keep an active wait list. Track those patients that would like to be seen earlier and then, when an appointment becomes available, send those patients a quick message seeing if they’d like to fill it. It’s easy and effective. 

As you focus on both increasing the number of new patients and maximizing the appointment attendance of current patients, your practice can expect to see significant improvement in its bottom line. Consider implementing one or two of these methods at a time and then continue to add additional strategies over time. As you do so, you will start to see the improvements in your revenue that you are aiming for. 

Josh Weiner is chief operating officer of Solutionreach.

We all want to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs, but you can’t care for patients if you can’t keep the lights on.

The secret’s out: Your priority is the bottom line

Healthcare and technology. They’re a match made in heaven. In fact, the industry boasts some of the most advanced technologies and scientific breakthroughs available today. Ideas that would have once seemed like science fiction have become reality. We’ve got artificial intelligence (AI), 3D printing of medical devices or biological materials, robotic-assisted surgeries, remote health tracking, virtual reality. The list goes on and on.  

Unfortunately, medical organizations often fail to take advantage of technology in one of the most basic (but important) of its processes: communication. Traditional processes often create critical communication gaps that hurt collaboration, care, and-ultimately-outcomes. There are communication breakdowns happening throughout the entire continuum of care. Just as small holes in a ship can eventually lead to a catastrophic sinking, small holes in your communication can sink your practice as well. 

It’s important to continually inspect your “medical ship” and see if you have any gaps that may eventually become big problems. By arming your practice with the latest communication advancements in technology, you can alleviate these problems and develop a strong continuum of care experience (and bring that ship safely home!). 

Between rising deductibles, increased competition, and falling reimbursement levels, medical practices have recently been tightening their belts to pay for overhead, staff, and simply keeping the doors open. As a result, many practices have been forced to schedule as many appointments as possible in a single day. The average physician sees around 21 patients in a single day-leaving a total of just 10-15 minutes per patient. Unfortunately, this means that there isn’t a lot of time for meaningful communication. On average, patients have just 11 seconds to explain the purpose of their visit before a physician interrupts. This rushed experience can inadvertently lead to patients being ushered out before fulling understanding their diagnosis or treatment plan-ultimately leading to poor outcomes and patient dissatisfaction. One big hole in patient communication is the expectation that all necessary communication will take place during those rushed few minutes. 

Cutting-edge technology can improve the communication process before and after an appointment. Today’s modern society is accustomed to using technology to communicate. Take chatbots, for example. Once upon a time, having a website was all you needed to communicate online. That is no longer true. Today virtual chatbots can be a stop-gap for communication between you and the patient. These bots use artificial intelligence to answer some of the most common questions patients have. If the bot is unable to answer the question, that patient is then handed off to your office. The best thing about chatbots is that they are so sophisticated today that the majority of patients will never know that they were speaking with AI. 

Studies show that poor communication among practice staff can be just as detrimental to health outcomes as poor patient communication. When staff members fail to effectively communicate with one another, inefficiencies and mistakes are the result. It’s easy to see why 96 percent of healthcare executives say that poor intra-office collaboration leads to mistakes within their organizations and two-thirds of employees say that their colleagues could help them do their job better. 

With today’s intra-office communication technology available, communication between staff members is far easier. Medical practices have options that include things like custom chat rooms, direct messaging, notifications, photo sharing, and so on. Instead of needing to hunt down coworkers, staff can now simply shoot off a quick message and get a reply. Implementing these technological platforms helps staff members share their expertise with one another easily and efficiently, reducing the number of mistakes and miscommunication that would otherwise take place.  

As patients become more and more discerning when it comes to their health, practices need to take a serious look at where they may be lacking. Communication is one of those crucial areas that is often overlooked. Taking advantage of the technology solutions offered today when it comes to communication can improve patient outcomes, leading to happier patients, higher retention rates, fewer malpractice suits, and a healthier bottom line. 

Just as small holes in a ship can eventually lead to a catastrophic sinking, small holes in your communication can sink your practice as well.

Author | Josh Weiner

Articles

Want better outcomes? Improve patient communication

Value-based care rings in a new era in patient engagement

The secret’s out: Your priority is the bottom line

Want better outcomes? Improve communications