Take advantage of these communication strategies

Patient-centric medical practices ensure that the care they offer always remains centered on patient needs rather than other extraneous factors. This focus should empower patients to become active participants in their own health care. Let’s discuss a few communication strategies to help you consistently run a patient-centric practice.

Offer multiple channels and online access

Currently, patients can communicate with your practice via phone calls, email, and texts or chats via the practice’s website or portal. Referrals from other practices are also part of the picture. The functionality of all these approaches should be consistent, which requires regularly training staff to ensure they’re providing the same information no matter which communication channel is used.

To support good communication, your practice website should provide as much relevant information as possible. Of course, you need a general page that presents your mission, hours and contact information. But you also need pages that specifically address and elucidate your practice’s specialties. Staff can then direct patients to those pages when making appointments to increase patients’ understanding of their ailments and conditions — and set reasonable expectations for the services you provide.

Strive for personalization

Many patients have specific preferences for how they want to communicate with their doctors. So, for example, if a patient prefers communicating by phone, make a note of that. On the other hand, if others prefer communicating via email or texts, your practice needs to be able to accommodate them.

It’s also important to use technology to address patients in the way they want to be addressed. For instance, put notes in your electronic health record (EHR) system to inform staff how patients prefer to be addressed — whether by first name, nickname, or a title such as Mr., Mrs., Judge or Doctor. Keep in mind, however, that your practice must retain patients’ legal names of record in the EHR system for billing purposes.

Follow up diligently

When it comes to follow-up, getting back to patients in as timely a manner as possible is key. But make sure expectations are realistic and that you clearly communicate those expectations.

Don’t, for example, tell patients you’ll have test results back to them by the end of the day if it may take 48 hours. Most important, have processes in place that ensure staff is answering phones quickly as well as checking your patient portal for messages and replying in a timely manner.

Manage expectations for appointments

As you welcome new patients, thoroughly explain your processes so they’ll understand the general framework of how appointments will proceed and know what to expect. Those processes include diagnostic review and treatment plans, as well as any financial aspects, such as when payments are due.

In general, keep patients well-informed about anything related to their appointments. Some practices take this a step further by having medical assistants act as guides or “care navigators,” leading patients through the process of booking appointments and explaining the different steps of their care plans.

Be as transparent as possible

Many physicians who run successful practices believe you can’t communicate or educate patients enough. The key to it all is transparency: letting patients know what’s going on and why. This can apply, as mentioned, to whether your practice is running late, how much services will likely cost and which payments are due at the time of visits.

Granted, it can be frustrating for staff to schedule patients, verify their insurance and prepare for visits — only to have some patients cancel because they’re dissatisfied with the cost of your services. But this is essentially the price of transparency — it’s generally better for patients to know your charges in advance than to be surprised by their bills later on, which could lead to costly disputes and negative online reviews.

Do it all

For a practice to be truly patient-centric, it must provide care in a tailored and personalized fashion with a strong emphasis on communication. The good news is a patient-centric focus can create a strategic differentiator for physicians in a consumer-driven health care environment.

Of course, your practice also needs to prioritize providing the highest level of care. Fortunately, it’s well within the capabilities of many of today’s practices — including yours — to do it all.

Sidebar:   The age of consumerism

As you’re no doubt aware, consumerism in health care is a major challenge to physicians running medical practices. Today’s patients demand convenience and competitive pricing from physicians, just as they do from any other type of service provider. To cater to patients’ consumerist attitudes, prioritize:

Customer service. It all comes down to how easily and pleasantly patients interact with you and your practice. Many physicians try to keep prices competitive, but providing a good experience is often more important than price in attracting and retaining patients.

Efficiency. Your practice needs to focus on efficient patient flow. Continuously analyze and improve how quickly and effectively your practice functions as patients enter, move through and exit your facility.

Technology. Paying more attention to your tablet or computer than to patients can be a problem. But using technology appropriately to improve critical tasks such as appointment making, filling or refilling prescriptions, and communicating with patients about their care plans can go a long way toward improving the patient experience.

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