March 27, 2018

Best-in-Class Patient Engagement: Beyond Appointment Reminders

Go beyond single-point patient reminders by launching a digital communication “zone defense” to close appointment gaps.

Intelligently timed digital reminders are essential to protecting healthcare revenue from the black hole of missed patient appointments. Surprise scheduling gaps disrupt workflows, strain resources and drain your organization’s wallet! Digital reminders are the fastest way to reduce no-shows and connect with patients — but should providers do more?

The answer is yes.

Deliver Multi-Pronged Pre-Visit Touch Points to Increase Appointment Conversions

According to MGMA research, blending multiple contact strategies results in greater patient schedule-to-arrival conversion rates. Tailored touch points also ensure patients prepare for their appointments, have the necessary documentation and remember to follow pre-visit guidelines. Converting more scheduled appointments to delivered services is key to reaching your revenue goals.

Take Pre-Visit Communication to the Next Level

If you’ve launched appointment reminders and want to take pre-visit patient engagement to the next level, it’s time to move from a single-touch outreach program to a multi-pronged communication strategy. A strategy that employs a hierarchy of communication options designed to encourage interaction and intelligently react to responses will keep patients engaged in their care decisions and inspired to follow through with scheduled (and confirmed) appointments.

Four Pillars of Pre-Service Engagement: Phone, App, Text, and Email

Best-in-class patient engagement combines the four pillars of outreach to deliver a tailored digital conversation about the service appointment. Statistically speaking, most patients who don’t show up for appointments have either forgotten their service, feel they can’t pay for services or are concerned about the medical procedure.

Smart, tech-enabled communication improves service conversion rates by leveraging predictive analytics and patient data to identify possible roadblocks and take corrective action — before the patient misses a scheduled appointment.

Four Pillars of Pre-Visit Engagement

1. Phone Calls: Automated phone outreach is the preferred mode of communication, especially for specialties. From outbound IVR and broadcast messages to reminder and recall features, tailored phone outreach is an effective component of a multi-channel patient pre-visit strategy.
2. Mobile App: Free mobile apps offer providers and patients direct-to-pocket communication and visibility to healthcare data, including the EMR portal or billing system.
3. Texts: Deliver reminders, provide confirmation/reschedule options and offer click-to-call, GPS directions and rapid responses to questions — all with the power of “now.”
4. Emails: Tailor long- or short-form directions and information that inspire action from mobile and desktop platforms.

Leverage Multiple Modes of Communication to Keep Appointments on Track

Practice inefficiency often begins before the patient arrives on your doorstep. Filling patient appointment gaps is critical to achieving revenue and patient satisfaction goals. Studies show gaps in daily appointments (due to no-shows and a failure to fill schedules) contribute to longer wait times, negative relationships between patients and staff, and longer, costlier hospital admissions. A patient with an urgent or unmanaged chronic condition could decline while waiting for an appointment, increasing the possibility of an acute care visit.

A multi-touch, automated medical appointment outreach strategy tailored to a patient’s preferred communication channel decreases no-show rates by 80 to 100 percent. Intelligent communication solutions like RevSpring’s Front Office Engagement suite provide the critical appointment reminders, broadcast messages, clinical outreach and satisfaction surveys that engage patients.

Take patient outreach to the next level. Close communication gaps and inspire patients to make and keep their appointments by leveraging a hierarchy of communication options.

RevSpring Can Help

Integrated payment communication is part of RevSpring’s DNA. We tailor the payment conversation to influence behavior and inspire action. Our segmentation rules and workflows help you become hyper-focused on the patient, optimizing communication pathways that inspire action.

If you’d like to learn more about our comprehensive patient engagement and billing solutions, we’d love to help you. Request a demo to see how we can help your organization meet your goals