5 Tools to Increase Patient Retention

Losing a patient’s business can be very costly. As patients demand more from healthcare organizations, it can be a challenge to improve patient retention rates. Implementing state-of-the-art technologies can help you improve your relationship with patients and give them better care.

Tools to Use to Increase Patient Retention

The patient journey begins before a patient visits you and continues after a patient has left a medical facility.

Are you making the most of the resources available to you to retain your patients? Use these five tools to enhance your organization’s patient retention:

Managed Marketing as an Image Consultant 

Do you have an optimized marketing plan in place? Using digital marketing tools can help you build a relationship with your current patients by interacting with them through various channels, such as your website, social media, and emails. Engagement through a proactive online presence will convince patients to continue a mutually beneficial relationship.

When your practice interacts with patients outside of a medical setting, be it with educational posts, videos, or surveys, they will be more likely to remember your brand and recruit its services in the future.  

71% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend it to others.

Digital marketing also works by providing your patients with social proof. Social proof is when people adopt a behavior based on seeing others doing it. 

For example, when your patients see that you receive good ratings and provide engaging content, they are more likely to continue their relationship with you and even recommend your services to potential new patients. 

One way to assess if your marketing efforts are getting the best results is by performing a marketing assessment. It will find any gaps in your strategy and help you develop the best plan for your business. 

A Data System as Health Records Guardian 

Currently, stolen patient data is more valuable online than social security numbers. This means cyberattacks targeting the medical world are rising daily. 

A typical IT team can handle essential data management and reporting but may not be empowered to address increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. Your patients’ health may not be directly affected, yet the care you provide and their perception of you can take a hit when data is leaked. 

Plus, lost or stolen data often happen due to HIPAA violations. A medical practice can incur fines when its data system breaks regulations.

With a HIPAA-compliant cloud-based solution, data will be safely available only to the staff who need it. While many practices are aware of HIPAA regulations, they lack the cybersecurity experience to ensure accessible yet protected records. 

Related: What Is HIPAA Compliance and Why Is It Important? 

AI as a Personalized Care Nurse 

Rushed visits and mistaken decisions that affect a patient’s health are 2 of the top 10 reasons patients will leave a practice. Healthcare providers can make the best use of time by implementing AI to make patient care not only faster but more reliable.  

AI can analyze huge amounts of data, including family history records, to better predict a patient’s health trends and help medical staff make quicker, more informed decisions. 

Easily accessible data systems can bring up a patient’s relevant medical history and present critical data points to expedite care. Your patient will have a better-designed treatment plan and your staff will be relieved of time lost analyzing data.  

Patient Portal as a Smart Assistant 

Without a patient portal, you are reliant on increasingly impractical landlines, easily lost paper mail, or in-person payments. As all industries become more reliant than ever on the web, a patient portal will allow your patients to take charge of scheduling and setting reminders for easier appointment setup. It can also provide access to telehealth visits.  

All these services under one portal would make your current patients hesitate before seeking out a competitor that might not offer this simple but effective tool. With a portal, patients are also able to easily access statements and billing. This doesn’t just make payment easier for patients but also helps you get paid faster in a secure and reliable way. 

Related: 5 Examples of Smart Technology in Healthcare 

Automated Emails as Comprehensive Aftercare 

Should patient service end when a patient leaves a medical facility? A key to patient retention is extending the care you provide past the time of their visit so that they feel confident in you and your services. Automated emails to receive patient feedback can help you assess patient satisfaction and identify any gaps in service you can proactively work to fix. 

Automated emails can collect patient data to facilitate faster and better service during upcoming visits. They can also serve as communication between a healthcare provider and a patient. This will ensure patients understand that their health and input are a priority for your medical practice. 

Bottom Line 

Make the patient journey seamless and worry-free by implementing these five tools. The results will be happier patients and higher patient retention. These tools can help you maintain the relationship you have with your current patients, take on new ones, and avoid the financial and time losses incurred when patients change providers. 

If you’d like to learn how your healthcare organization can benefit from a managed data system and cybersecurity, watch Impact’s on-demand webinar with industry experts, Healthcare Data Management.