Creating an effective patient communication strategy for your practice will reduce costs, improve efficiencies, and have a positive impact on your bottom line. It is the simplest and most cost effective assessment that you can do that will produce tangible results in revenue and efficiency.
Here Are Five Key To Do’s To Get You Started:
1) Create a preferred method of contact form for your practice.
- Understanding how to contact your patients effectively will reduce the number of attempts your staff will have to try before reaching your patient. Feel free to email me if you would like a sample copy.
2) Determine what portion of your patient calls can realistically be automated? Investigate the technologies and costs to determine if your current process is the most effective for such tasks as:
- Appointment Reminders
- Billing Reminders
- Mass Patient Notifications
- Preventative Care Programs
3) Review your protocols.
- Studies show that the most effective patient communication strategy is one that is customized to the needs of the practice. Understanding your patient demographic, how to effectively reach them requires a proper analysis of your practice needs.
4) Determine how timely your reporting methods are, and how they can be improved upon.
- Having the most current and timely patient appointment information is critical to optimizing your providers’ day. By choosing the right technology or patient communication method that will provide real time reporting your staff and providers will be able to generate increased revenue.
5) Research what technologies are available to your practice that will work with your existing scheduler.
- Over the past five years there have been dramatic improvements in patient communication technology. It is important to review these new patient communication tools to determine if they can play a role in your practice environment. For a list of appointment reminder applications visit the 2010 MGMA Buyers Guide as a quick resource.
Implementing a customized and effective patient communication strategy is critical to the success of any enterprise level practice today.
