The Ultimate Guide to Patient Experience Written by Jeff Tormey on June 26, 2021. Posted in Connect, Manage. The patient experience isn’t just about satisfaction; it encompasses all interactions patients have with healthcare as a whole. Unfortunately, patient experience statistics consistently show that that people find these interactions to be lacking. It is essential that all medical practices have a firm grasp on how to improve patient experience and what experiences matter to patients. Key Steps to Improving the Patient Experience If you aren’t sure where to get started, that is understandable. The topic is a complex one, and since people change, it will evolve with time. However, there are a few key steps you can take right now to help enhance the patient experience. Maximize Your Online Presence And by this, we don’t just mean have a website and social media. We mean you should ensure that your online presence offers maximize value. You want to create content that helps and empowers patients. Think about detailed explanations of service, patient guides, and online forms. Digitize Your Scheduling Many patients aren’t interested in talking to medical providers on the phone. They prefer texting, filling out forms, and pretty much any method that allows them to multitask while taking care of business. If your practice doesn’t yet have an online scheduling platform that allows patients to book, cancel, and set reminders, now is the time to make the switch. Train Staff in Customer Service We tend to think of customer service as a retail concept, but in truth, it is part of the patient experience. Your staff needs to be trained in how to make the patients feel comfortable, valued, and like they are empowered participants in their treatment. Improve the Waiting Room There are few places patients dislike being in more than the typical doctor’s office or hospital waiting room. Focus on improving it. Add better furniture, softer lighting, better entertainment options, and outlets for charging. Reduce Wait Times Ultimately, no waiting room will ever be so wonderful that patients are happy to spend all day in there. This means you need to do what you can to reduce wait times. A patient engagement company can help you digitize your paperwork processes to help move patients in and out faster. Follow Up With Patients The best way to know where you need to improve your patient experience is by asking your patients what they enjoyed and what they feel is lacking. You can usually do this through your patient tracking system if you have one. To discover more solutions for enhanced patient experience, contact Guideway Care.
The Benefits of an EHR Built for Innovation Written by Jeff Tormey on June 24, 2021. Posted in Connect, Manage. Electronic health records (EHRs)are at the forefront of digitized healthcare; despite this, many practices are struggling with making the switch. If yours is one such practice, it is essential that you get with the times and embrace EHRs built for innovation. Understanding Electronic Health Records Electronic health records, also known as electronic medical records, are the digital versions of the classic paper medical chart. They are updated and accessible in real time and can be shared with any number of authorized users, including the patients themselves. While they can be limited to just medical and treatment data, true EMR integration goes beyond that to give a holistic view of the patient’s status and care. Benefits of Electronic Health Records EHRs are one of the most essential solutions for healthcare practices to help them meet the evolving needs of digital-age patients. However, EHR integration isn’t just for the patient’s benefits; it has advantages all around. Fast and Reliable Record Checks Being able to quickly check patient records and get accurate information is beneficial to all parties involved. Doctors are able to work faster, make a more accurate diagnosis, and meet with more patients per day. Patients benefit from more targeted care and the ability to review and share their own files when needed. Confidence in Decision Making One of the most difficult aspects of healthcare for both patient and provider is making major medical decisions. It is easy to worry that you might be missing a key detail that could have a major impact on the results. When everything is right there in front of you, you feel more confident in moving forward. Read more: EMR vs. EHR: How Do These Two Terms Differ? Compliant Protection While this depends on the system you use, the correct ones should be compliant with patient privacy laws and other regulations. This allows you to confidently store and share information with the correct parties. Increased Efficiency as an Office Switching to electronic records won’t just speed things up for you as a doctor; it will increase efficiency throughout the practice. Much administrative work is related to filing paperwork, sending communications, and managing requests. With the right EHR platform, you can digitize all of that in a single place. Of course, making the switch is not without its challenges. To make it easier, work with the right healthcare advertising company: Guideway Care. We can connect you with high quality digital solutions that address needs on the patient and provider front—including EHR systems. Contact us today to learn how we can help streamline your healthcare operations.
How Video Marketing Can Influence The Future Of Healthcare Written by Jeff Tormey on June 21, 2021. Posted in Connect, Manage. Video has long been used in healthcare; anyone who has sat through a training video in a back room knows that. However, medical video production has come a long way from those grainy VHS tapes. Modern approaches can help you reach patients, empower staff, and serve as healthcare engagement solutions. If the idea of engaging in video production is new to you, don’t feel overwhelmed. We are going to cover the basics so you can better understand how healthcare video marketing can help you. Video Is an Appealing Medium This is especially true when compared to long pieces of text. There is a misconception that people today read less than those in the past. In truth, they read more, but in different ways. Given how much we rely on text to communicate, many people constantly consume small snippets—not long-form educational pieces. Medical video production allows you to take pages of text and condense them into easy-to-consume videos that combine fun narration with engaging visuals. While they might take a little longer to produce than an essay, they will deliver the results you seek. Patients Want to Learn Modern patients aren’t interested in the outdated dynamic of an all-knowing doctor and an obedient client. They want to be informed and empowered when it comes to their healthcare. Videos are wonderful for this. You still get to control the narrative to a degree, helping patients get on board with the philosophy of medicine you follow, but they don’t feel as in the dark. You Can Prep for Procedures If you are a specialist, you likely have a limited number of procedures you perform, and before each of these, you need you patients and their support people to be informed on what to expect. Rather than spending a lot of time giving the same speeches over and over, you can create customized video guides for each procedure, communicating the information they need in a fun and friendly way. It is an amazing healthcare engagement solution. Be the Influencer You Wish Existed The idea of being both a medical provider and an influencer might seem a little strange, but there are quite a few who are not only making it work, but genuinely changing the face of healthcare while they do it. These doctors are getting patients excited about their own health and helping them come into the office feeling informed and ready to get to work. You can really put your practice on the map with the right content. The future of video marketing is bright. You just need the right approach. Guideway Care guides providers in their medical marketing strategies, including video-based and interactive content.
5 Ideas to Drive More Patients for Bariatric Surgeons Written by Jeff Tormey on June 10, 2021. Posted in Bariatric Surgery, Connect. Bariatric surgery isn’t new, but interest in these procedures is skyrocketing. This means that many new surgeons are entering the field, making it more competitive than ever before. So, how can you drive more bariatric patients to your practice and get a bigger slice of the pie?We suggest bariatric marketing. What Is Bariatric Marketing? In essence, it is a subset of healthcare internet marketing that specifically targets those who are or might be interested in getting weight loss surgery. Through links and keywords, patients reach your website, then the content helps them see how your practice can assist them in reaching their goals. Most people considering surgery will spend a lot of time online doing their research, learning about procedures, lifestyle changes, and surgeons before they decide on surgery. You want to be one of the sites they land on during this stage. How Can You Enhance Your Bariatric Marketing? Our top suggestion is to work with a patient engagement company that has bast experience within the field of bariatrics. They will best understand the ins and outs of SEO and specifically what people interested in bariatric surgery are looking for. Their weight loss marketing strategies will likely focus on the following 5 ideas: 1. Build Your Online Footprint: Having a website isn’t enough. You also need to be active on various social media platforms and have your Google My Business place always up to date. Additionally, you’ll need to respond to patient reviews, both positive and negative. 2. Create Quality Content: Search engines aren’t interested in content that is too short, pure fluff, or otherwise not informative. Make sure your content on every platform helps patients feel more knowledgeable and answers important questions they might have. 3. Incorporate Keywords: And typically, this means incorporating global keywords and local keywords. Global keywords are those that anyone might search, while local keywords are specific to your geographic region. 4. Make Contact Simple: People considering bariatric surgery are often on the fence about making the jump. You don’t want to force them to make a call or go through a drawn-out process just to get in touch. 5. Embrace Visual Media: In the digital age, text alone is not enough. Look into medical video production so you can incorporate video content on your site and across your social media platforms. Of course, when you partner with the experts, it does get a little more complicated than that. To learn more about comprehensive bariatric marketing strategies, contact Guideway Care.
Why Is Telehealth Important for Rural Providers? Written by Jeff Tormey on June 3, 2021. Posted in Connect. Time has not been kind to rural healthcare providers and their communities. Over the last decade, numerous rural hospitals have shuttered, and medical practices have been unable to sustain the cost of running a practice in P.O. box counties. The result is a medical desert encompassing large swaths of the United States, leaving millions underserved. What happens when you need a doctor or hospital, but the closest one is over an hour’s drive away? And what about those who cannot spare three to four hours in their day to make the trip there, their appointment, and the trip back? Or those who lack transportation and rely on the kindness of neighbors to get around? In the past, these individuals simply suffered or even lost their lives. Now, telemedicine in rural areas is filling in the gap. Understanding Telemedicine When we picture telemedicine, there are two things that come to mind: the old school phone conferencing system and the more modern video conferencing that took hold during the pandemic. However, telemedicine is a bit more complex than that. It can be offered directly by a medical practice or outsourced to healthcare call centers. It might rely on phone calls or video conferencing, but it could also include remote monitoring apps, cloud storage for imaging, and patients education resources. It can even include group therapies and other non-one-on-one treatments. The Importance of Telehealth in Rural Areas Patients Can Access Specialized Services In many rural communities, the only doctor is a general practitioner who treats the whole family, offering everything from childhood vaccines to obstetrics care. But sometimes, you need a specialist. When this is the case, patients often have to commute to cities hours away, staying overnight to make their appointment. Telemedicine allows those in rural areas to speak with specialists and get their assessment and guidance without having to travel, book hotel rooms, and incur significant costs that insurance won’t cover. Rural Hospitals Can Increase Their Staff One of the reasons rural hospitals are closing is that they don’t have the staff to sustain them. In addition to paying less than hospitals in cities, many doctors just aren’t interested in relocating to work at them. However, telemedicine in rural communities allows doctors to work remotely. They can attend consultations virtually, with the in-person session being led by a registered nurse or other healthcare professional. The doctor can deliver instructions while the nurse carries out the exam and relays what they observe. Together, they can come to a diagnosis and formulate a treatment plan. It Serves the Underserved Ultimately, the biggest benefit of telehealth in rural communities is its ability to reach the underserved. While there is a lot of focus on poverty in urban areas, there is also plenty in rural areas as well. And unlike in cities, these individuals cannot just hop on the bus or metro to get to a doctor, and there are far fewer free clinics available to them. For them, telemedicine is often the only medicine that is accessible, and is essential to their wellbeing. To better serve your rural clients, look into virtual patient engagement solutions, including those related to telemedicine. For assistance in reaching these patients, speak with Guideway Care. We offer healthcare internet marketing solutions that work for providers of all sizes.
6 Signs for Outsourcing Your Medical Call Center Written by Jeff Tormey on April 30, 2021. 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.
Proven Patient Retention Strategies That Work Written by Jeff Tormey on April 28, 2021. 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 Strategies to Attract New Patients Written by Jeff Tormey on April 26, 2021. 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.
Guide to a Successful EMR Integration Written by Jeff Tormey on April 22, 2021. 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.
Creating the PPC Campaign for Your Medical Practice Written by Jeff Tormey on April 20, 2021. Posted in Connect, Other. Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns in healthcare internet marketing yield immediate results in the form of website traffic, interested clients, and patient appointments. Organic SEO strategies are important in building the ranking of your website. But healthcare SEO needs time, patience, and lots of adjustments to succeed. In the meantime, PPC can jumpstart the traffic to your website and place your content and medical practice in front of interested patients. In fact, paid search listings outperform organic search results by double the number of clicks. Here’s how to create a PPC campaign for your medical practice. Customer Research This investigative stage aims to find out the search queries or terms your patients are likely to use or have used to find your services. You may already have a few buyer personas in your marketing plan which can guide you in finding these terms. These initial seed keywords will be used to target the right audience and save you from wasting money on too wide a net. Keep all the relevant keywords. Culling comes later. Check Keyword Demand Here the go-to tool is Google AdWords Keyword Planner. It will help you narrow down your list to the keywords that have the most weight. On the Keyword Planner, click the option that says “Get search volume data and trends.” Enter all the Keywords you had come up with and Google will supply these metrics 1 Average monthly searches 2 Competition level 3 Suggested bid cost for the keyword Keyword planner is a completely free tool provided you have a Google account. There are many in-depth tutorials on how you can research your keywords on the planner. Organize Your Keywords The next step is to group all your keywords according to related subjects. Some examples of these targeted keyword groups are: 1 Brand terms that encompass the practice name and recognizable taglines 2 Competitor terms are specific to your competitor 3 Generic terms which are names of services and procedures 4 Related terms refer to any phrases your patients might use while searching for your services. Identify Negative Keywords One of the keys to a successful PPC campaign for healthcare practices is targeting. So far you have found the right phrases and search queries to target. The other side of the coin is negative keywords. Negative keywords flag certain terms or phrases and prevent your ad from showing up for these search phrases. The idea is to consider the user’s search intent and how it relates to your ad. What answer are they looking for? Without negative keywords, your ad might show up for a search query that has the same generic terms as you but is not what you offer. You end up paying for clicks that were not interested in your product. Using negative keywords will improve your click-through and conversion rates as well as saving you money. Good Ad Copy and Your Call to Action In a nutshell, the recipe for creating effective ad copy is: 1 Personalization 2 Presenting the unique selling proposition of your business 3 Outlining what you customer can expect to find once they click the ad Your call-to-action (CTA) gets your customer moving. For example, “Schedule a Free Consult Today! Your CTA should be interesting and deliver a clear message about what to do. PPC campaigns are excellent ways to reach out to your patients and convert their interest into appointments. The learning curve may seem a little convoluted and that’s where Guideway Care comes in. Contact us today to discover our patient engagement solutions and how we can help you create PPC campaigns for your practice.