What is ADA & HIPPA Compliance? Written by Jeff Tormey on October 25, 2021. Posted in Connect. As a healthcare provider, you know the importance of staying on top of regulations and standards. If your medical website does not comply with ADA and HIPAA requirements, you are at risk for fines from the Department of Health and Human Services. In this article, we will discuss what these regulations mean for your website as well as some simple steps to make sure that your site is compliant! What Is ADA Compliance for Websites? The ADA was enacted in 1990 to protect individuals with disabilities from discrimination. One of its mandates is that websites are accessible to people who have visual, hearing, or physical impairments. It’s important to note that the law doesn’t just apply to public accommodations; it also applies to employment and telecommunications services offered by private entities. What Does This Mean for Your Healthcare Website? There are specific guidelines that your website must follow in order to be ADA compliant. Some of the requirements include: Captions on Videos or Sound Files: If there is any audio content, it should have a transcript for people who can’t hear it. Videos must also have captions turned on by default. Alternatives to Flash: If your website uses flash, it must have an alternative that is accessible. Navigation: The main page of your site should be navigable by keyboard only (tabbing through links) and screen reader software. It also needs to follow standard web conventions for how visitors can go back or forward in the browser. Content: All of the content on your site must be accessible by screen readers or other assistive technologies. This includes links, images, and forms so that people with disabilities can access them using adaptive equipment. It also means alt text needs to accompany every image you use (the alt attribute provides a brief description of what is in an image so that screen readers can read it out to their users). What Is HIPAA Compliance for Websites? HIPAA compliance in healthcare websites is not just about putting a lock icon on your website where you can find important information. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 protects the privacy of patients’ medical information. It applies to healthcare providers, health plans, clearinghouses (companies that process claims), data/information which are part of a standard transaction for banking or insurance purposes, as well as their business associates who have access to this sensitive information. What Does This Mean for Your Healthcare Website? HIPAA compliant website design is complex, and the law applies to many different aspects of your business. Some requirements you need to be aware of include: Disclosures on Forms: One HIPAA website requirement is that any form that asks users for sensitive information must have a link at the top or bottom with detailed information about how data will be used. Privacy policy: Your privacy policy needs to be prominently displayed on your website so that users can easily find it and read the information about how their data will be used. Accessibility: Some of these requirements are covered under ADA compliance, but HIPAA also includes requirements for making your website accessible to people with disabilities. Business Associates: This part of HIPAA applies if you outsource any work that involves PHI (protected health information). A business associate agreement needs to be in place and it outlines what they can and cannot do with the data they access from your site. Security: This part of HIPAA requires you to have reasonable security measures in place. This also includes having a privacy officer who is responsible for making sure that the policies are followed. What Should You Do Now? If your healthcare website isn’t ADA and HIPAA compliant, it’s important to take steps now so that you can avoid penalties and damage to your reputation. If you aren’t sure how to get started, Guideway Care is here to help. Contact us today so we can audit your website and discuss what needs to be done for it to become compliant with HIPAA and ADA, as well as design your complete medical digital marketing plan. Want to learn more about why compliance is important in healthcare websites? Read: Keys to a HIPAA Compliant Website.
Key Reasons Healthcare Practices Should Offer Online Scheduling Written by Jeff Tormey on October 20, 2021. Posted in Connect. The healthcare industry is currently in a state of flux. Technology has transformed the way we live and work, and medical practices are no exception to that trend. Patients want more convenience when they visit their doctors’ offices, and many physicians agree. One big change that has happened over the past few years is the advent of online scheduling for medical appointments; it offers several advantages for both patients and providers alike. The Benefits of Online Appointment Scheduling for Doctors There are several benefits to offering online scheduling for doctor’s appointments. Some of the chief advantages include increased patient convenience, better access to providers, and improved staff efficiency. However, there are many other less obvious but still very important reasons why practices should offer this service too. Here is a list of ten benefits of a doctor appointment booking system that will hopefully convince you: Increased patient satisfaction because there’s less time spent on hold with an automated service or waiting on hold with a receptionist for an appointment date. Reduced costs because fewer people show up at clinics unnecessarily (because they confused it with a different date). Improved efficiency by allowing nurses to spend more time with patients by handling fewer administrative tasks. The service easily allows for EMR integration with the right patient portal software. When scheduling online, patients are more likely to utilize other healthcare engagement solutions. Online medical schedulers reduce no-shows because patients are able to see when they have appointments scheduled. Patients gain access to more medical providers in different categories of insurance because online appointment scheduling software can schedule at virtually any clinic, urgent care center, or doctor’s office. Patients are able to schedule appointments in advance, which is especially helpful when they have chronic conditions. Online scheduling services enable patients who lack transportation or live far away from healthcare providers to get the care that they need. When patients aren’t able to visit a practice during hours of operation, online medical appointment schedulers give them another way to get in touch with their healthcare providers. Not sure how to get started with allowing patients to book medical appointments online? Guideway Care is here to help. Speak with us today about our various online solutions. Want more info now? Read our guide to successful EMR integration.
How to Design a Waiting Room Your Patients Will Love Written by Jeff Tormey on October 16, 2021. Posted in Connect. Doctors are faced with a difficult task when it comes to designing their waiting room. For them, it must be functional, holding the correct number of patients while allowing for easy flow in and out. But patients want to feel comfortable while they wait for their appointment. It can be difficult to strike the right balance, which is problematic, given your waiting room is a critical component in healthcare CRM. Luckily, there are some simple design tricks that will help you create an amazing waiting room that will make your patients love you! Here are a few waiting room ideas to keep in mind. 14 Tips for Patient-Centric Clinic Waiting Room Design Include high-quality art to make your medical or dental waiting room feel more welcoming. Place plants in the corners of the patient waiting room, adding life and visual appeal. Make sure that there is adequate lighting during both day and nighttime hours (consider using lamps instead of overhead lights). This will help ease any potential anxiety about power outages. Use neutral tones and warm colors to help patients feel more at ease in your healthcare waiting room, such as beige or light brown with pops of green color. Keep the temperature comfortable (between 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit). If you do not have air conditioning, consider using a fan during particularly hot days to enhance the waiting room experience. Increase the noise level in your waiting room. If patients are able to concentrate on their music or entertainment, they will be less likely to get frustrated with the wait time. Make sure that information is clear and easy to read for your patients. This includes any signs in your waiting room along with appointment cards/reminders if you have them available. Offer a number system to allow your patients to feel more in control of their wait time. This will also help lessen the likelihood that they will have an outburst due to frustration or anxiety from waiting too long. Consider having magazines available for those who are interested as well as water and other beverages. Make sure that your staff is friendly and approachable. Your patients should not be afraid to ask questions if they have them! Keep the area where patients are waiting discreet so they do not feel too seen. Allow for room between patients. This is especially important since the pandemic began. Make sure your furniture is ergonomic. Ensure you have spaces that are suited to those with mobility aids. Have you already made the effort to enhance your space but still find the patient experience in your waiting room is lacking? Contact Guideway Care. In addition to our various digital healthcare engagement solutions, we can offer some guidance on enhancing your physical spaces.
Google My Business: A Guide for Doctors Written by Jeff Tormey on October 13, 2021. Posted in Connect, Manage. Your practice is just one of hundreds competing for local online visibility. Many doctors are taking advantage of the internet to grow their patient base and generate more revenue, but it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd. This blog post will provide you with a guide on how to use Google My Business as a tool for building your healthcare practice’s reputation and search rankings on Google Search and Maps. What Is Google My Business? Google My Business is a free service offered by Google that allows businesses to manage their online presence through the use of a business profile. This profile can include information about your practice, such as service offerings, hours of operation, location details, and more. For instance: Your office’s website should be optimized for local search engine results. Medical SEO on your website will get you far, but Google My Business takes you even further. Google My Business allows users to manage their business profiles on Google Search and Maps, which are two of the most popular search tools today. As more people use mobile devices for internet searches, being found in local results is increasingly important to drive traffic to your website or physical location. What Can I Do With A Google My Business Profile? Google My Business for doctors provides you with a variety of tools that can be used to manage your online presence. Some of these include: Creating or changing business information on Google Search and Maps. Managing & generating the Google review link of your medical website for your customers. Answering questions from people curious about your practice. Uploading photos related to your practice, such as new or services, patient room renovations, or even updates to your waiting room. How Can I Use Google My Business for Local Medical Practice SEO? Claim Your Listing: You must claim any listings related to your business before being able to manage them. Even if a listing is automatically generated, this isn’t very useful until you have ownership of it. Optimize Your Google My Business Profile: Name, address, and phone number are often the most important details to include. Be sure that all information is fully visible on a desktop computer as well as a mobile device. Remember that you can add links from other websites in your Google My Business description section. Enhance Your Presence: Once you claim your business information on Google My Business, most of the work is done for you. However, if your profile does not show up in local search results or has incomplete data, you may want to work on enhancing your presence. Map Optimization: Location, location, location! The physical address of your business is the most important aspect for search engines and potential customers alike. Make sure you include directions from major roads or landmarks if your address alone isn’t enough to get people there without confusion. For more information about GMB for medical practices and how to make it work for yours, speak with Guideway Care. We are a comprehensive medical digital marketing service. For more information on boosting online visibility, read our ultimate guide to healthcare SEO.
Steps for Creating Your Patient Portal Software Written by Jeff Tormey on September 11, 2021. Posted in Connect. Medical patient portals are quickly becoming the new standard for hospitals and healthcare practices. However, a lot of the solutions advertised online are expensive—and still require you to handle a lot of the setup and maintenance on your own. You may be wondering: Can I create patient portal software on my own? Let’s put it this way: Can you? Yes. Should you? Probably not—but if you are up for the challenge, we’re happy to provide you with a little guidance. Here are the basic steps for developing portal technology in healthcare. Determine the Purpose of Your Patient Portal This might feel like it is obvious, but the truth is that there can be many different reasons for having a patient portal for your practice. Chances are you have several in mind. It is important that you really think about these motivations because they will guide you in how you design your platform. Decide What Information Will Be on the Portal This ties into know the purpose of your patient portal. You need to have an idea of what information is going to be accessible there. Are you just looking for a way to simplify prescription access and billing? Or do you want patients to have access to lab results, appointment summaries, scheduling, and more? Determine Who Will Have Access to the Portal There are two essential parties when it comes to patient portals—you as the doctor and the patient. However, you might want to grant access to other doctors and staff—with permission—in order to facilitate a smoother treatment process. Make Sure Everything Is HIPAA Compliant This is a big one and often the hardest step. While you might be able to build a portal using some drag and drop program you find online, making certain you are HIPAA compliant takes a lot of research and technological savvy. However, if you fail to do this with your medical patient software, it could end your career. Patient portals are designed to make the patient experience better by streamlining your processes and improving communication. However, going DIY can worsen communication and get you in hot water. Our team of experts can help you get started with a portal that will meet all of your needs, or we can even build one for you from scratch if necessary. Let Guideway Care handle all the steps for you, including getting patients to sign up for your medical portal.
Important Tools That Can Help You Improve Patient Engagement Written by Jeff Tormey on August 16, 2021. Posted in Connect. Why is patient engagement important in healthcare? The goal of boosting patient engagement is to improve the effectiveness of the healthcare services you offer. Patient engagement allows you to stay up-to-date on your patient’s changing needs and therefore serve them better. By encouraging patient engagement, you also make patients owners of their healthcare and therefore work better with them. Click the link to continue learning about why patient engagement is important in healthcare. How Do You Improve Patient Engagement? The best way to improve patient engagement is to increase the number of options a patient has to connect with you. These opportunities for your patients to connect with your practice are created by patient engagement tools. With covid-19, the most effective patient engagement tools are now digital and allow the practice to connect with the patient without ever being in the same room. Leaping into the digital may seem intimidating but the truth is that you can contract a patient engagement company to work out the logistics and even assist with ROI tracking. What Are the Top 5 Patient Engagement Tools Your Practice Should Have? 1. Social Media Social media is consists of several interactive platforms your patients are already using. One of the advantages of social media is that the platforms are already developed and ready to use. The other advantage is that most people already know how to use them and are highly engaged. Social media can be used to receive feedback from patients, post announcements, and even educate your patients. Read more: Call Center & Patient Feedback: What You Need To Know 2. Virtual Medicine Virtual medicine or telemedicine allows the medical professional to connect directly with the patient without the need to be at the same location. This type of patient engagement tool is great for connecting with patients who experience mobility issues, are out of town, or have a highly contagious condition such as Covid-19. 3. Appointment Management Software This type of software allows your practice to keep better track of daily appointments, patient records, sends friendly alerts to remind patients of appointments, and helps track missed appointment trends. These actions will improve patient engagement by lowering the number of patients who miss their appointments. 4. Electronic Prescription Management This tool allows patients to have easier access to prescription refills or reauthorization by allowing them to request either action through an electronic portal. The doctor can issue the approval virtually and dispatch the electronic prescription directly to the pharmacy. This tool allows the patient to receive a quick answer from their provider and allows the provider to free up time. 5. Patient Website A patient website allows your patients to book appointments online, fill out patient information and history records online, and even pay their fees. This system allows the patient to stay engaged without having to interact with the practice in the office. It also cuts down on the duties of the receptionist and bookkeeper. In Summary Enhancing healthcare patient engagement is essential for improving the effectiveness of healthcare services and ensuring that patients actively participate in their care. Engaged patients are more informed, leading to better health outcomes and stronger provider-patient relationships. For assistance with patient engagement, contact Guideway Care.
How to Measure Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare Written by Jeff Tormey on August 9, 2021. Posted in Connect, Manage. Why is patient satisfaction important? In healthcare, competition for the share of the wallet of patients is increasing, making it even more important to keep patients satisfied with the care they receive. If patients are happy with their experience, they are less likely to switch providers. It is also important to note that patient satisfaction does not equate to the quality of healthcare. While the quality of healthcare your practice provides may be impeccable, patients may not perceive that if the receptionist was rude or they waited a few minutes past their appointment time to be seen and that is the patient satisfaction aspect. Why Is Measuring Patient Satisfaction Important? Knowledge is power and in the case of patient satisfaction in healthcare, the knowledge comes from data. By tracking a set of important metrics, you can formulate a plan to improve or maintain patient satisfaction and continue to keep your patients loyal and happy. Click here to learn more about how to improve the patient experience. What Are the Main Ways to Measure Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare? Request and Monitor Feedback A great way to measure patient satisfaction is simply by asking the patients directly about how they view their interaction with your practice. This can be done in the form of a written survey, a follow-up call, a Facebook post, or even a text. Receiving feedback from patients allows your healthcare practice to be held accountable for the patient’s experience while interacting with your organization. Patients who are not happy with their experience, will not necessarily point it out unless they are asked. For best results, allow the patient the option to remain anonymous, this can be achieved by providing a “patient feedback” box in the reception or by sending out an online survey that does not require a name. The results from the survey, follow-up calls, and other forms of feedback should be tracked and monitored for trends. Turn the results into patient experience statistics that can be analyzed. Once analyzed, develop a plan to maintain or improve the metrics. Follow Your Online Ratings Our world becomes more and more digitalized every day and more people than ever rely on internet research to make healthcare decisions. Google and yelp reviews are two important places to start following to learn about how your patients view their interaction with your practice. You can also use google to find third-party review sites that may name your practice. Many of these third-party websites calculate patient satisfaction statistics in the form of a score assigned to your practice. These scores can be very helpful but it is important to understand how they are calculated to determine how well they align with your goals. For more nuanced guidance, contact Guideway Care.
Essential Call Center Metrics and KPIs to Track for Success Written by Jeff Tormey on August 2, 2021. Posted in Connect. KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator and it is a metric that you establish to measure a certain aspect of success. In this case, the KPIs will describe call center performance metrics. Why are KPIs and metrics important? KPIs are important because they assign a numerical value to objectively measure performance. Management and other stakeholders can use the call center metrics to objectively measure performance. Based on current and past performance, goals can be assigned. Managers can make important decisions to design plans to improve or maintain performance. The plans can then be evaluated after their implementation using the same KPIs and metrics. What Are the Top Healthcare Call Center Metrics and KPIs to Track? 1. Agent Turnover Rate Recruitment and training of agents are generally more expensive than retaining experienced agents. The agent turnover rate is a call center metric that measures the percentage of agents who abandon their position. If this metric is high, it will negatively impact customer satisfaction and overall team morale. 2. Percentage of Calls Blocked If a patient calls a healthcare call center and receives a busy tone, this is considered a blocked call. This KPI measures the percentage of calls that are blocked. A call is typically blocked when there are no agents available to answer and all of the virtual waiting rooms are filled. Learning how to track a call to return a previously blocked call can help turn this metric around. 3. Average Waiting Time This is a KPI that should be kept as small as possible, it measures the average wait time a patient spends on the phone before speaking to an agent. This indicator will help management determine how to schedule agents and the optimal number of agents to maintain on staff. If patients are kept waiting for too long, customer satisfaction will be negatively impacted. 4. Average Handle Time This KPI measures the average amount of time an agent spends on the call helping the patient. This KPI does not necessarily have to be as short as possible as it will depend on the objective of the call. This KPI is related to caller satisfaction but is also used to determine staff performance and the number of callers needed to fulfill the call center’s demand. 5. Occupancy Rate This rate measures the workload vs. capability of the agents. For example, if an agent spends an average of 20 hours per 40-hour workweek on live calls or completing the work derived from the calls, the occupancy rate would be 50%. Call center managers should generally aim for an occupancy rate that is as close to 100% as possible without overwhelming the agents. 6. Customer Satisfaction All KPIs ultimately lead to this global KPI which measures the ultimate goal of making customers happy with the work of the call center. This metric is typically determined by surveying a sample of customers to determine how satisfied or unsatisfied they were by the work of the call center in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. For more information on improving your healthcare call center metrics, read the following: What Can Hospital Call Center Best Practices Tell You About Its Quality?
5 Important Healthcare Call Center Metrics Written by Jeff Tormey on July 1, 2021. Posted in Connect. When you invest in patient engagement solutions, you want to know that they are doing more than just taking tasks off your hands; you want to feel confident that they work. To evaluate this, you need to know what metrics to look at. Every industry has different metrics to look at. This means that when evaluating healthcare call center metrics, you won’t be looking at the same things as for an online retailer. So, what should you be keeping an eye on? 5 Essential Call Center Metrics in Healthcare 1. First-Call Resolution: In any industry, customers get frustrated when they have to call multiple times to resolve an issue. But in the healthcare industry, getting the runaround isn’t just frustrating; it is downright dangerous. Before outsourcing your phone service, make sure the company’s healthcare call center metrics reflect a very high resolution of concerns with the first call. 2. Agent Efficiency: This metric of healthcare call centers measures how quickly agents are able to resolve questions and concerns. Patients don’t want to spend an hour getting an issue taken care of, and depending on the situation, they flat out can’t wait that long. Look for a good average time from answering the phone to call completion. 3. Response Time: We’ve all been there: stuck on hold, waiting for an agent to get on the line. Most of us have a few horror stories about 30-45 minute waits. Once again, this is unacceptable and risky in the medical field. Ensure the companies you consider have solid healthcare call center metrics for response time. 4. Customer Satisfaction: How happy are customers when they get off the phone with a given call center’s agents? Any quality call center should be able to provide data from surveys completed at the end of each call. You want to get as close as you can to every patient being happy with their experience. 5. Customer Retention: This one is harder to measure, but call centers should start their contract by evaluating how well a practice is retaining patients, then reassess this on a regular basis to determine how their work has impacted retention. Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed at the idea of getting and assessing metrics for multiple call center companies? Turn to Guideway Care. We offer a full slate of solutions related to patient engagement and experience that will help you better meet the needs of your clients.
Why Customer Complaints Are Good For Your Business Written by Jeff Tormey on June 30, 2021. Posted in Connect. Patients have always shared their medical practice experiences with friends and family. Now, they share them with the entire world. Patient and customer complaints can easily reach an audience of thousands through your Google My Business page and other sites, such as Yelp. This can be pretty bad for your practice. However, we also think that—with the right approach—getting and handling customer complaints can ultimately enhance your practice. There Will Always Be Complaints First, let’s get this fact out of the way: there is nothing you can do, no approach you can take, that will prevent 100% of patient complaints. There will always be someone who comes in with unrealistic expectations, or who is just having a bad day and decides that Yelp is the place to let off some steam. And, if we are being honest, you too will have bad days where your service just isn’t what you want it to be, and patients will rightly complain about that. But it is important to remember that complaints aren’t just negatives; they are also tools for improving your practice. Complaints Highlight Problems To be fair, not always. Sometimes, patients are upset about things outside your control. But in many cases, they highlight problems you do have control over. When you listen to feedback, it helps you see things you might otherwise be blind to. They say knowledge is power, and they’re right. The better you understand where your practice is failing, the better you will be at making targeted changes. And in many cases, making these changes and validating the patient can turn them into a dedicated part of your practice. Not quite convinced that complaints are good for growth? Here are a few things to consider. • Complaints Are a Reality Check: It is easy to believe all is well and good if no one is telling you anything different. • Healthcare Call Centers Can Help Manage Them: If you don’t have the bandwidth to process negative feedback directly, you can outsource complaints to a specialized call center. • You Learn About Your Patients: It is easy to assume that since you know your field, you know what patients want and need, but we promise, there are some gaps in your knowledge. • They Open Other Lines of Conversation: Patient engagement solutions can cover a lot, but listening to and validating a complaint will do far more in getting a patient to open up. Ready to make more out of your customer feedback, both positive and negative? Our healthcare internet marketing can help. Contact us to learn more.