July 17, 2024
Harnessing the Power of Less for More Patient Satisfaction
The concept of “less is more” has been around since the time of the ancient Greeks and influenced everything from modern design to how business decisions get made. Harnessing the power of less also delivers more for modern patients, busy staff and your entire healthcare organization. That might sound counter intuitive, particularly given the complexity inherent in healthcare today. Yet, the paradox is where the power can be found, such as:
Less administrative headaches = More employee efficiency and job satisfaction
Less hassle with setting appointments and registration = More patient convenience and loyalty
Less friction around meeting financial obligations = More timely payments and higher yield
Harnessing the power of less in healthcare
Healthcare is complicated, but patient engagement and payments doesn’t need to be. Offering convenient self-service options for patients—comparing prices, making, changing and remembering appointments, registering, and paying for care—are excellent places to begin. Sophisticated technology makes these types of patient self-service solutions easy to integrate and simple to use. And it eliminates administrative burdens for staff, freeing them to focus on more important issues.
The technology, which employs data analytics, intelligence and automation, does the “heavy lifting” by eliminating data silos and connecting every aspect of the patient journey. It eliminates redundancies, factual errors and confusion, and creates ease and convenience for patients juggling their own busy schedules and competing obligations. Here are three examples of what this looks like in action:
Registration/Check-in: RevSpring’s recent national survey found that patients were least satisfied with completing paperwork and forms (73%) and the check-in process (57%). Healthcare organizations can make registration and check-in less time-consuming with new solutions that enable digital completion of forms well before appointments occur. Including optical character recognition (OCR) technology means sharing information from a personal ID or insurance card is as simple as taking a photo of their cards and uploading them for automatic processing in your system. Patient check-in is also faster for staff with the help of texting and patient wait times electronically displayed.
Appointment reminders: Precious staff time no longer must be consumed with tedious phone calling to remind patients of upcoming appointments. Instead, automated messages can be sent via text, email or phone—depending on what works best with each individual patient. Digital reminders can include links to your online payment portal so patients can conveniently take care of their co-pay responsibility before the appointment.
Self-pay their way: More than 70% of respondents in RevSpring’s national patient survey agreed that they would pay sooner when presented with the option that best fit their ability to pay. It’s easy to know what works best with analysis of existing patient data. Not only can you see the amount each patient can afford to pay, you can offer a payment plan through the privacy of the patient payment portal to avoid embarrassing financial discussions. Less financial stress can yield more payments.
When the benefits are weighed, it’s easy to see why taking a less is more approach makes sense in healthcare today. Resistance to change and complacency must not win out when healthcare organizations consider this new and better way of engaging with patients.
While a learning curve is to be expected with any change, staff will appreciate the ability to focus on more important tasks while automation and patient self-service handles the routine details. Patients, meanwhile, will respond positively to less complicated engagement that gives them more convenience, flexibility and control. All of this adds up to greater patient loyalty, increased efficiency and, in many cases, faster payments too.
