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Author: Jeff Tormey

How to Reduce Patient Waiting Time in a Hospital or Clinic

How to Reduce Patient Waiting Time in a Hospital or Clinic

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Manage.

Time spent in the waiting room seems like such a small fraction of the patient experience, and if you are like most medical practices, you do what you can to make it a pleasant experience. You have magazines, attractive décor, and the radio or TV playing for distraction. Even if the wait times run a little long, it can’t have too much of an impact. Right? Well, we have bad news. Nearly all patients report being frustrated with how long they need to wait at medical offices and hospitals. Feeling like your time has been wasted in a waiting room is essentially a universal experience. The good news is that there are ways to decrease patient wait times and increase patient satisfaction. Here are our top suggestions.

1. Focus on Customer Relationship Management

CRM in healthcare manages all interactions between you and your patients, facilitating ease of communication and keeping all essential elements organized. The patient end of this is your online patient portal. Through this, you can have patients upload documents, fill out a health history and HIPAA forms, and even give a brief write-up of the current condition they are seeking treatment for. This helps eliminate time spent sitting in the waiting room filling out paperwork and allows your patient to arrive right on time rather than 15 minutes early.

2. Use Digital Queuing

Restaurants already have this one down pat. People hate just waiting in line, so instead, enter their information into an automated system and when it’s five minutes before you can see them, they get a message to head on in. This lets them wait in their cars where they might feel more comfortable or enjoy a latte at the café next door.

3. Be Firm in Your Late Arrivals Policy

An excellent way to reduce patient waiting time is by not tolerating late arrivals. While we all know that sometimes, life happens and being late is unavoidable, your other patients shouldn’t have to suffer because of someone’s bad luck or poor planning. Set your policy on how late a patient can arrive and still be seen, and be firm in enforcing it.

4. Set Up Express Care

Express care will require another care provider, such as a registered nurse, to be available for walk-ins and short-notice bookings. These appointments should be restricted to simple conditions, such as common colds, splinter removal, and even stitches, depending upon the situation. This way, they do not disrupt the overall flow of the practice. Reducing practice and hospital wait times is possible with the correct approach. Focus on patient engagement solutions, firm policies, and medical technology that can help with time management. For more information about digital solutions or medical online marketing, contact Guideway Care. Schedule your demo today.
Person Using A Handwash

How the Pandemic Has Changed Healthcare

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Women's Health.

COVID-19 dropped like a bomb and radically shifted the landscape of our daily lives. While some of these changes have shifted back to their pre-pandemic norms, many of the changes in the healthcare industry seem to be sticking around. From digital consultations to greater interest in medical patient portals, here are the ways the pandemic and quarantine have permanently changed American healthcare.

The Telemedicine Boom

When looking at the pandemic and healthcare, perhaps the most significant and lasting change is interest in telemedicine. Telehealth is nothing new, but it was a severely underutilized tool. Once the pandemic hit and offices had to limit their capacity, many patients were happy to opt for a virtual consultation where they didn’t even need to leave the house. While there will always be cases where seeing a patient in person is best, the truth is that there are many appointments that can just as easily be attended digitally. Patients are happy to get the same level of care without needing to alter their schedule as much.

Virtual Patient Support

Up until 2020, patient portals, medical websites for practices, and secure medical messaging platforms were severely underutilized by patients. Most practices had them, but only the rare patient with a love of technology would bother using them. Since March of 2020, these have become essential components of the patient experience. They are authentic patient engagement solutions, making it easier for patients to communicate with your practice, get the answers they need, schedule appointments, and set up automatic reminders.

Practice Management Software

Having a well-running practice has always been important. However, in light of the pandemic, maintaining a smooth flow is more important than ever. Patients need to get in and out without much waiting around, and you need to minimize patient overlap wherever possible. Patient management software assists you with everything from scheduling to maximizing reimbursements. While some things are destined to return to their pre-pandemic state, interest in virtual solutions and automation for the healthcare industry is certain to remain. Healthcare technology came up against COVID-19 and came out of the battle stronger. And with more Millennial and Gen Z patients, these trends are only going to increase with time. To learn more about how medical technology, outsourcing, and automation can improve your practice, work with Guideway Care. Schedule your free demo today.
How Patient Appointment Reminders are Changing the Healthcare Industry

How Patient Appointment Reminders are Changing the Healthcare Industry

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Appointments Reminder.

Automation has helped to simplify and improve many of the processes that keep medical practices running. Take medical appointment reminders, for example. In the past, receptionists had to spend hours each day calling patients to ensure they were aware of their upcoming appointment and that they would make it. Even with the phone call, many patients would get busy and forget to attend their appointment.
With every no-show, practices lost revenue. But now, things are different.

The Patient Appointment Reminders Revolution

Now, automated systems connect with your patient scheduling program and send out reminders to patients. Not only can patients get a call the day before, but they can also get multiple reminders across various platforms at varying times.

Read more: How To Schedule Patients Effectively: Medical Appointment Scheduling Guidelines

For example, your patient who works at a busy law firm might want a call to her receptionist the day before, an email to herself that night, and a text two hours before her appointment. Not only is this possible, but your staff doesn’t have to schedule all of these reminders. The patient can do it on their own through your medical center patient portal.

Ways Patient Appointment Reminders Improve Healthcare

You Save Time

There are two key ways you as a provider save time with automated appointment reminders. First, you no longer need staff to dedicate time to the task, freeing them up to attend to other matters that can speed up your processes and keep appointments on track.

Second, you don’t end up with as many gaps in your day due to patients failing to show. While on the surface, that sounds like getting time back, you know from experience how much it can throw off the whole day.

You Save Money

Depending on the size of your practice, calling patients for appointment reminders could be a part-time position. But even if your practice is small enough that it is merely as a task for your primary receptionist, automated reminders will save you money since patients will show for more appointments, allowing you to bill them or their insurance providers in full.

Patients Take Control

If your automation includes letting patients set reminders through your medical center patient portal, they get to take control over the process. Whereas regular calls often feel invasive, when the patient schedules the time and method of contact, it feels natural and personalized. It turns appointment reminders into patient engagement solutions.

Patient appointment reminder automation is typically offered by healthcare advertising companies as part of their outsourcing and automation packages. To learn more about your options, schedule a demo with Guideway Care.

How Chronic Care Management Can Improve your Bottom Line

How Chronic Care Management Can Improve your Bottom Line

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Manage.

Roughly 130 million Americans have some form of chronic illness—and that number continues to grow each year. To meet the needs of this segment of the population, chronic care management (CCM) programs have been implemented by healthcare providers across the country. CCM in the healthcare industry was developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS). A quality CCM program can revolutionize the lives of patients struggling with managing their conditions. But what is less talked about is how chronic care management can improve your bottom line.

Ways CCM Can Improve Your Bottom Line

Reliable Revenue

The whole idea behind chronic care management is that it is consistent care delivered to patients who need it. Once you take on a patient and establish their CCM program, they are likely to be working with you for the rest of their lives. This can help pad out the other patients you are working with on a less frequent basis.

Options for Outsourcing

Most CCM program services are not rendered in person and can be offered by staff other than medical doctors. In many cases, CCM programs focus on things like goal setting, monitoring, and assisting patients with things they can do on their own to manage their conditions. How CCM helps your bottom line in this situation comes down to the savings of outsourcing by appointment rather than paying a full-time or even part-time staff member.

Improved Patient Outcomes

People with chronic conditions need regular care. However, with standard office visits, most providers cannot see their patients more than once a quarter. CCMs help provide patients with the level and frequency of attention they need. This includes care coordination, regular check-ins, help with prescriptions, and the chance to really talk with a healthcare provider. As a result, patients are happier with the care they receive, feeling more seen and being better positioned to manage their condition. The way chronic care management helps your bottom line in this instance is by leaving patients feeling more positive about your practice, positioning them to continue working with you and recommend other patients. Chronic care management is essentially another way to package services you already provide while making them more profitable for you and more beneficial for your patients. If you are interested in setting up CCM programs for your patients, it can become part of your package with your healthcare advertising agency. More than just online ads and medical SEO, many of these companies offer comprehensive solutions, schedule a demo with Guideway Care.
Guide to Keyword Research for Your Healthcare Facility

Guide to Keyword Research for Your Healthcare Facility

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Other.

Who is the top healthcare provider in the United States?

While you wrack your brain trying to think of the busiest practice or doctor you know, someone else is likely heading to Google to find the answer. And you know what? That right there is the answer. We live in the age of Dr. Google. What do we mean by that? Essentially, before seeking treatment from a medical professional, most U.S. adults will first ask Google about their symptoms. • How can I tell the difference between allergies and coronavirus? • What does a spider bite look like? • What are the symptoms of appendicitis? Of course, Google itself doesn’t provide them with answers. Websites do. And which websites show up first in the search results comes down to medical SEO.

Increasing Patient Interest With Online Marketing

If you can rank in those top results, you can pull in more patients and increase your practice’s profile. Medical online marketing is essential to your success—word of mouth doesn’t cut it anymore. This isn’t a small amount of traffic, either. One in every 20 searches on Google is related to health and healthcare. While these come from all over the globe, many are local to you. On top of that, just being seen as an authority can help boost your reputation.But how can you do keyword research for medical industry topics? Here are a few tips that could work for you.

Think About What You Would Write

Start with the services you offer, then ask yourself what you would write if you were to head to Google to find a provider or learn more about a condition. Make a list—a long one—with all the phrases you can think of. Then, add your location to them to help them be more specific. Now, you have keywords to incorporate into your website.

Look at Competitor’s Pages

Back to Google. Search the following phrase: [your type of practice] + [your location] So, if you are a podiatrist in the Bay Area, search “podiatrists San Francisco.” Then, click on the top three results—not ads—and see what keywords they are using. Try to mimic these in your content.

Turn to Professionals

Keyword research for the medical industry isn’t easy, and you don’t have to do it alone. Digital marketing companies specializing in healthcare can locate the ideal SEO keywords for your practice. In fact, Guideway Care excels at this. If you need assistance in creating a robust digital marketing campaign, we are here to help. Schedule a consultation today.
Outsourcing your Medical Call Center

6 Signs for Outsourcing Your Medical Call Center

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Connect.

Healthcare today has moved beyond being purely transactional and now value-based care is the focus. Value-based performance centers around patient experience , efficient processes, and good customer service. These in turn lead to higher patient retention and revenue. One of the cornerstones of value-based healthcare is an efficient medical call center. Additionally, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requires annual hospital submissions from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey. This data is used in classifying the payment level of healthcare providers within the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS). This financial incentive from the federal government hinges on service measures such as staff responsiveness. With a growing practice, maintaining stellar service in your call center can become exceedingly difficult. How do you know when to outsource your healthcare call center?

6 Signs to Outsource Your Medical Call Center

Low Healthcare Call Center Efficiency

If patient hold times exceed 60 seconds, more than 5% of callers hang up before reaching support, or call rerouting accuracy falls below 99%, your practice may be struggling with understaffing or insufficient training. These issues can negatively impact the patient experience and the quality of care. In such cases, outsourcing specialized clinical support, such as a nurse triage service, can help manage medical calls more effectively, improve patient outcomes, reduce internal workload, and ensure faster, more accurate call handling.

High Call Center Staff Turnover

Usually, in-house call centers are entry-level positions staffed by people who have basic front desk training. This is an inadequate skillset for a healthcare environment. Their skill limitation will show up as an inability to handle patients properly or dissatisfaction and resignation in favor of other jobs within the organization or elsewhere.

No Ongoing Coaching and Training for Call Center Staff

Employees who feel ill-equipped to serve patients will be frustrated and are more likely to quit. More importantly, they will transfer their frustrations to the patient with the poor service that they deliver. This leaves a lasting negative impression on patients and affects customer retention.

Dissatisfaction Among Referring Physicians

Specialist visits constitute more than 50% of outpatient cases and one in three patients is referred to a specialist each year. This is a huge chunk of the business that could be underperforming due to an inefficient call center. If patients are not getting through, neither are primary care physicians with their referrals. This is money down the drain for your practice.

Inconsistent service and procedures

A practice with several departments should have a call center that services and is in touch with all of them seamlessly. A lack of this integration shows in the need for multiple calls for the patient to receive all the care and tests they need.

Poor Call Data Entry and Review

Data is a key building block of service delivery and customer relations. Data quality is essential in making sure that you’re giving your patients the best and your practice stays on target, financially and service-wise. If you cannot positively answer these questions, it means your call center needs an overhaul. 1   Is your call center verifying insurance and entering the correct billing and payment information? 2  Do you know how much your appointment volume grows year on year? 3  Are you able to monitor dropped patient handoffs? 4  Do you regularly review data from calls and your medical patient portal against your guidelines? 5  Do you have the data and tools to evaluate customer service quality? Outsourcing your call center can free up both time and resources to expand your business and offer better service both via call and on your medical website. Contact us today to find the right call center solutions for your practice is that it’s more effective.
Patient Retention Strategies

Proven Patient Retention Strategies That Work

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Connect.

Leads, appointments, and patients are the key goals for most medical practices. Unfortunately, many providers focus on increasing patient footprint in their facilities rather than patient experience and aftercare. Your practice’s medical marketing strategies are more efficacious when applied to patient retention than being focused solely on building leads. It costs five times more to acquire a new patient than to retain existing patients. So, what are some of the most important patient retention strategies?

Digital Marketing and Healthcare Advertising

The top proven customer retention solution is regularly staying in touch with your existing customer base. For an exclusive business model with a small number of high-value clients, the best approach is a 1-on-1 approach. However, don’t despair if your practice is unable to implement such a time-consuming approach. Digital marketing steps in where your overloaded personnel leaves off. Email marketing and social media marketing can help your practice achieve success in the following ways: 1   Leverage personalization such as a personal address, birthday wishes, 2  Provide an avenue to reach out to patients you haven’t seen in a while 3  Remind customers of the services and any offers or seasonal tips 4  Smooth the aftercare process and follow-up visits. Targeted healthcare digital marketing can reinforce existing patients’ awareness of what your business offers and make them more likely to come in for new procedures.

Be a Hub of Information and Education

Today’s patient is focused on value addition and that extra touch that differentiates your practice from others offering the same medical service in your area. Since digital resources have opened up their options of care providers, you need to put extra effort into ensnaring their interest and respect. Enter content marketing. Expert, authoritative, and trustworthy information that is specific to your target patients’ needs and demographics will cement your reputation in their minds. A solid reputation will result in more repeat visits and leads. Whether your content is in the form of a blog or video or social media posts, just remember to consistently offer value. Investing in healthcare SEO will put your content and business on the map.

Double Down on Positive Patient Experience

Patient experience is the heavyweight of patient retention strategies. It doesn’t matter how many emails, follow-ups, and high-quality content you flood your patients with if their experience in your facility is subpar. Some of the ingredients of a positive patient experience include: 1  Convenient booking, changing and canceling of appointments either automated or online 2  Improved wait times plus clear, timely communication of visit timelines and delays 3  Transparency in pricing 4  Prompt responsiveness to inquiries or aftercare follow-ups 5  A compassionate personal touch across all staff members 6  Efficient systems across functions such as billing, referrals, and handoffs between departments A crucial support pillar of patient experience is the proactive seeking of feedback from patients. Open the lines of communication, make your patients feel seen, and address their concerns. This is a valid way to increase retention. The key takeaways about patient retention strategies are better communication, improved patient experience, and creating a patient resource. Some of these can be implemented in-house. However, you might need to look to professionals for telemedicine, CRM management, and healthcare search marketing solutions & trends.
Plastic Surgery Marketing

Plastic Surgery Marketing Strategies to Attract New Patients

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Connect.

Plastic surgery is by and large an elective specialty. Therefore medical marketing strategies are more crucial than ever to reel in this select group of informed and value-conscious patients. Even the more affluent patients will still weigh affordability, convenience, and benefits against their discretionary spending. The foundational concepts to keep in mind when designing plastic surgery marketing strategies are: 1   People don’t buy procedures 2  People buy happiness 3  People buy from people they trust These three factors can help differentiate marketing for plastic surgeons. Remember that your typical patient is not buying a Blepharoplasty, or rhinoplasty, or nose-shaping. They are buying a beneficial solution that will fulfill their aspiration – happiness. Thirdly, patients want to know that they are clinically and emotionally secure in the hands of their qualified, experienced, and reputable plastic surgeon. With these 3 factors in mind let’s discuss some cosmetic surgery marketing strategies.

Connect With Previous Patients

This goes back to building trust. Prospective patients will look at the stellar work on the faces and bodies of your previous patients and ask for some of the same. So apart from giving your patient an excellent experience to crow about on the rooftops, consistently feed them with information about your practice. Informative email newsletters, social media posts, and texts are just some of the applicable tools for this. Offer referral perks for high-value patients and throw in seasonal and birthday greetings which make your patient feel appreciated. They’re thus more likely to send new patients your way.

Complimentary ‘Photoshop’ Consultation

Now we’re tackling the concept of happiness. Despite a high success rate for most procedures, potential patients can still be very leery of committing to a procedure. Clarifying expectations and showing the patient exactly what they will look like can tip the scales in your favor. Apps such as Adobe Photoshop and Crisalix can help you alter your client’s appearance on-screen or even simulate the surgery. Advertize this service add-on everywhere to attract new patients who were on the fence about plastic surgery.

Streamline Your Digital Advertising and Online Presence

Speaking of advertising, the most effective plastic surgery marketing tips would be useless without a cohesive online presence. 70% of patients today will visit a new doctor based on positive online reviews. The areas to focus on for an attractive online identity for your practice are: 1  Build an effective and user-friendly plastic surgery website 2 Focus on local healthcare SEO to dominate search results in your area 3 Demonstrate your expertise with high-quality content (blogs, social media posts, or videos) 4 Invest in remarketing strategies for those who visit your website 5 Employ an online reputation management solution to handle reviews 6 Boost the reach of your content with paid search and Facebook advertising Competition in plastic surgery is stiff and it is no longer enough to be good at what you do. You have to reach out to your prospective patient and meet them wherever they are emotionally and goal-wise. You may need expert healthcare digital marketing companies to walk you through and help you design and implement plastic surgery marketing strategies. Contact us at Guideway Care today.
Doctor Holding A Stethoscope

How to Choose a Healthcare Advertising Agency

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Convert.

It is an inevitable stage in the growth of every practice, the crossroads that propels you to build key partnerships. The choice is to offer substandard service or to get professionals to do it. Customer relationship management is usually one of the first areas that require outsourcing to skilled partners. One such vital partnership is the medical call center service under the umbrella of solutions healthcare advertising companies offer.

Tips for Selecting a Healthcare Advertising Company

Align Your Goals With Their Strategies

Healthcare advertising is more than designing paid ads. The marketing agency you choose should understand the unique requirements of your business. Communicate your marketing goals and how they feed into the overall vision of the business. Ask the prospective advertising agency how they would go about meeting these goals.

Industry Experience

The healthcare industry is highly regulated and held to a different set of standards than other businesses since it deals with human life. Your agency of choice should these regulations and how they affect marketing strategies and the patient engagement solutions they offer.

Strong Measure of Success

Advertising agencies will likely have extremely attractive portfolios and websites. This is not enough. You need to ask tough questions about the success of these beautiful portfolio components. What were their goals vis a vis the results they achieved for each client or project?

Budget, Billing, and Payments

The serious money talk goes beyond how the agency’s work plan will execute the vision without exceeding budget. The right advertising partner will also plan for a high return on your investment. Before you even schedule a meeting to discuss figures, you should have a clear picture of the budget available in your practice, your cash flow situation, and whether your business can afford this new investment. Financial surprises can spell doom for your new business partnership. Make sure you’re all on the same page about billing cycles, fees, retainers, extra charges, and expense approvals. Read more: The Importance Of EMR In Medical Billing

Diverse Marketing Specializations

Medical online marketing today is different and dynamic. It involves an intuitive mix of paid advertising, content marketing, and organic reach tools such as medical websites and medical patient portals. The advertising agency you choose needs to bring a variety of marketing specialties to the table so that your marketing strategy is well-rounded. If your practice needs to partner with a healthcare advertising agency offering medical call center services, contact us today.
Successful EMR Integration

Guide to a Successful EMR Integration

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Connect.

The pandemic exposed the digital deficiencies in healthcare. Mainly, a sizeable amount of patient data is not natively stored in most electronic medical record (EMR) systems. Therefore the growing use of telemedicine, online prescription management, and healthcare mobile apps has heightened the need for EMR integration. The goal of EMR integration is to 1   Make clinical workflow more efficient 2  Improve and secure exchange of information between patient, physicians, and other healthcare providers 3  Digitize, accelerate, and improve healthcare administration 4  Effectively and efficiently diagnose and care for patients

5 Stages of Successful EMR Integration

Planning Goals are determined and set by interviewing all staff and looking into the needs of the business. When all staff participates in goal setting, the team spirit grows. Designing Efficiency and custom design are the focus in this stage. The system design must fit the need of the practice, be accessible to users and maximize efficiency. A blueprint is created of the system’s flow. Building All the data collected by the practice is transferred into the integration system. File formats are converted and the practice chooses which data set is relevant going forward. Testing Quality, reliability, backups, emergency redundancy efforts, and possible scenarios should be tested before the system goes online. Security protocols must also be scrutinized. Implementation After the EMR integration software tests as stable and secure. It should be HIPPA compliant and certified according to national standards. The staff is given technical training on system use and troubleshooting. Periodic updates and security enhancements are essential.

Keys to a Successful EMR Integration

Center Your Clinicians in the Design

The clinical staff in the various departments of your practice are the primary users of the EMR integration devices and software. While the aim is to offer better and faster care to patients, the outcomes are better when clinicians are true stakeholders in the EMR integration process. It is important to incorporate your clinicians’ expectations of how they will interact with the systems and of their improved workflow. When clinicians engage with these software integrations, they will have faster, more efficient workflows and will have better work satisfaction.

Optimize Your EMR Integration Plan

Automation is crucial for medical practices to have satisfied patients, happy clinical staff, and a happier bank balance. That said, it is unwise to lock operations into a single workflow. In this case, optimization means looking at alternative workflows. What is your backup plan in case your EMR is down or data is not flowing properly? How can you reduce potential risks to your patients? Your EMR vendor and patient engagement solutions partner will help leverage their IT knowledge to help you devise these backup workflows. You should also ascertain the level of support you can expect from your vendor.

Security and Future Proofing

A data breach is probably the worst nightmare of any business in a service industry. Security should not be ad hoc. The security controls and encryption methods should be built into every device and data access point. User authentication, differentiated to allow different levels of access depending on a user’s role, will provide greater protection for device and data interactions.

Consider the Needs of the Majority

The 80/20 rule is one of the keys to a successful EMR integration. The solution you design should cater to the majority of 80% of the cases you see. EMR integration is not so much about shiny new technology. It is about better workflow and improved healthcare delivery. If what you have designed focuses on 20%, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. Overall EMR integration aims to make the practice more efficient, profitable and improve patient service and experience. These goals coupled with the right medical online marketing partner will set your practice well on the path to success clinically and financially. SequenceHealth integrates with EMRs to provide a seamless experience for providers and patients. Contact our expert team to ensure a smooth transition and provides ongoing support to ensure your healthcare practice runs smoothly.