What are some of the biggest challenges you face while running a medical practice or healthcare clinic? One of the challenges we hear most often from our clients in the healthcare industry is that effective patient communication can be difficult to maintain, and patient scheduling is not always easy when a patient cancels their appointment at the last minute. Without a medical scheduling platform, things can get hectic very quickly.
Communication is essential when scheduling patients' medical appointments, filling empty appointment slots, following up with patients, educating patients with health tips and more. Studies have found that effective medical communication is one of the most essential parts of a comprehensive medical follow-up plan and can have an impact on medical outcomes.
One of the most effective ways to communicate with your patients is through automated messages, using automated medical scheduling platform. Automated messages allow you to provide the highest quality of care because you can easily communicate with each of your patients, follow up promptly, and gain true feedback from patients.
Automated messages are just one part of your comprehensive medical strategy, yet they can save your medical staff a lot of time and effort while connecting with each one of your many patients.
Easily Resolve Appointment and Patient Scheduling Issues
Patients often forget about their medical appointments or are not able to make it in to the clinic. Reminder messages can automatically be sent to each patient, alerting them of the time and date of their appointment so they don't forget. When you have an empty appointment slot to fill, automation software can help.
Patients can put their name and contact information on a list ahead of time and, when you need to fill a slot, messages can be sent to patients letting them know that there is an available appointment. The first patient who responds can be scheduled in for the slot. This is a quick and convenient way to fill slots, both for your medical practice and for your patients.
Follow Up with Patients at Any Time
In addition to helping you with medical patient scheduling, automation software also makes it easier to follow up with your patients. It can be challenging to follow up with each and every patient after each appointment and throughout the year, to provide personalized care.
With communication software, you can set up patient messages however you want and the software will send them out. Patients can receive a series of messages based on their medical history, medical appointment dates or any other data on file. Messages can be sent by text message, email or voicemail. Let's look at how an individual patient's automated message communication might go with emails.
"Hi Joe, it is time for your annual health check-up. To book your appointment, please click this link."
"Hi Joe, you have signed up to receive medical tips from the Main Street Clinic. To unsubscribe at any time, please click the opt-out link at the bottom of this email. This week's tip: Keep a wallet card listing any allergies or medications in case you are ever in an emergency situation and cannot speak for yourself."
"Hi Joe, the winter is almost here and you have requested to be contacted for a flu shot reminder. We will be providing flu shots this Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m."
Joe stays up to date and your medical clinic does not have to manually contact Joe for each message.
Prevention and Education with Medical Tips
Automated messages can also be a great way to help your patients stay healthy. Some medical clinics and health clubs allow patients to sign up for an ongoing series of tips that promote healthy living, inform patients about seasonal illnesses and treatments and so on. It creates a sense of personalized care year round, also helps patients to remember your clinic.
Use Survey Software to Gain Feedback from Patients
By sending out regular surveys to your patients, you can gain feedback about your medical services. Filling out a survey is an easy way for a patient to provide their honest opinion. It also offers you insight into your group of patients and information about potential changes to services. For example, survey questions might include:
How often have you visited the health clinic in the past year?
Our health clinic is organizing an ongoing women's health day that will take place each month. Which day would be most convenient for you: Saturday or Sunday? Please select one.
Would you recommend our health clinic to friends? Why or why not?
Ready to Use a Medical Scheduling Platform?
Automated message software allows you to provide your patients with a high quality of personalized care based on their individual needs. It allows you to connect with patients throughout the year. It also makes scheduling appointments easier and more efficient. An automated communication solution is the ideal solution for medical clinics and health clubs.
Sign up for a free SimplyCast account and try the SimplyCast medical scheduling platform for your communication needs.
