How to improve healthcare Workflow with email marketing process checklists?

by Ashyln Thomas MedicoReach

The healthcare industry is connected through various branches. It carries functions from regular human needs to urgent cases. To enhance the workflow, the healthcare sector is on the verge of embracing newness and the latest technological advancements. The healthcare field is focusing majorly on clinical workflow efficiency as it is one of the first requirements. 

 

As a marketer, you become responsible for everything ranging from a creative marketing plan to arranging a smooth workflow with the email marketing process. But the question arises, is this enough? And if the answer has a shaky tone, we have some steps that you must consider while working towards improving the healthcare workflow for your hospital or clinic.

 

#Step 1 – Welcome new workflows

The first step is to seek new options to improve your workflow. At times, your current workflow isn't serving well in response to your efforts. In such an odd hour, you must look for other alternate plans that smoothen your present situation and yield satisfactory results. 

For instance, a professional sports team requires to practice the game until it becomes fit for the win. But due to certain aspects, the training schedule doesn't fit the expected outcome. In such a scenario, they change the plan to suit their expectations. 

 

 Similarly, you must make time to train your staff and healthcare professionals well to do their role individually. This new workflow session will act as a process from beginning to an end to rectify the usual mistakes and work upon improving the workflow for a successful journey. 

 

 As claimed by Elements magazine on twitter handle in the Improved pharmacy workflow in six steps, "When your workflow system becomes second nature to your employees, your workflow will act like a finely tuned engine. Your team members will make lesser errors and enhance productivity".

 

#Step 2 – Identify the Client's Expectations

Our second step is concerned with the industry we work in and the clients we eye upon. It is essential to seek the right audience and understand their expectations. At last, meeting their demands bring us closer to our business objectives. As claimed on twitter @samhsagov, the Workflow designing: A focus on the experience of the recipient of the services, SAMHSA-HRSA Centre for Integrated Healthcare Solutions, "In an integrated medical system, analyzing the patients' initial and ongoing experience moves throughout the procedure of polices, and medical activities are the key to keep in mind while designing the workflow system. It must engage and respond to the needs of the patients in all the manners. The best approach to comprehend the needs is by adhering to the policies and procedures that each client has to go through. By personally going through it, one can identify the needs of a client/patient. 

 Some companies have been following the process and have received an invaluable workflow as a result. A healthcare organization's workflow must be aligned with the PBHCI initiative's objective, which includes a close analysis of the following queries related to the ideal processes and procedures."

#Step 3 – Spike the appointments and reduce the downtime

According to Ideas and examples for improving workflow, the American Academy of Paediatrics' suggests, it is essential to take severe initiatives towards a patient's appointment scheduling. For healthcare professionals, staff, and patients, a clean and well-arranged appointment system is crucial.  

To spike the appointments, you must make the customer feel wanted and special. This can be done by giving some additional offers or providing no-wait services. Nobody likes to wait for hours. Therefore, ensure you provide quick and quality services. It is also suggestive of sending email confirmations and bill details to the patient's email for keeping authentic services uprooted.

 

#Step 4 – Say No to old traditional paperwork processes

 

Another essential step that needs to be improved is the eradication of the old traditional paperwork method of the workflow. Once you align the appointments well, as discussed in the previous step, it is time to seek innovation and newness. In the traditional method of workflow, everything was solely dependent on paperwork. From the details of the patient to the employee information, all were noted on papers. The challenge of interoperability was a constant glitch for medical firms. This implies that the existence of the old method of workflow caused a significant downfall to the productivity and efficiency of the employees.

 

The usage of the fax machine, pagers, paper records, etc. are the old methods for serving organizations in keeping the work records. They need to be discarded, and newer technologies should be adopted. The latest advancements are fast, smooth, and remove the unnecessary workload from the shoulders of healthcare professionals. 

 

A study claims that fax accounts for 75 percent of all medical communication. In today's digitalized era, when medical practices need to comply with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) privacy and security regulations, this is a remarkable statistic. We witness a hesitation to evolve or change.

 

Let us follow an example of a traditional workflow management method from a primary healthcare system, where fax machines are widely used. It must be seen that they are costly, time-taking, reduce productivity, and increase wastage of paper. There's always a risk that pages can be misfiled, leading to confusion in appointments, tests, medical reports, or schedules. 

 

The healthcare system has successfully replaced the traditional fax machine method with the latest and modern alternative, called Cloud Fax. It is more secured and fully HIPAA-compliant. The cloud fax is comparatively cost-effective for healthcare organizations like hospitals and clinics. Henceforth, it is helpful in major and minor medical practices. 

 

The new method of cloud fax comes with a list of advantageous features that efficiently facilitate streamlined workflows, and the faxes are sent and received directly from the official app. This means there's no money wasted in printing, scanning, and shredding of paper. The time is also saved.

 

Advantages of Cloud Fax advancement:

·         It reduces the chances of errors as the papers cannot get mixed up altogether.

·         The administrators and executives can work comfortably by securing work under different document types and locations.

·         With the help of cloud fax, you can share digitally signed files, forward them, and customize all on a single tap.

·         Assigning the received documents to the correct folders, data, and location.

·         Cloud fax accelerates the healthcare workflows by substituting the demand for primary fax machines and fax servers. This will enhance the working of the healthcare organizations and strategize their digital mode of operations.

 

#Step 5 – Build EHRs practices

 

What is EHR? It is a system that helps in creating a seamless experience for patients and service providers. It is also known as Electronic Health Records. As the word suggests so, it is a rational mode of aligning work systematically to increase productivity. Although we still see many healthcare organizations still not accepting the use of EHRs and instead adopt the traditional methods. However, in the U.S.A., it is gaining continuous adoption. Many organizations find it expensive and of low utility. However, the fact lies straight that EHRs are one permanent solution to workflow efficiency of the healthcare sector and hold a sturdy foundation to stand for the future years. 

 

The traditional methods will take time to fade off. Healthcare firms need to understand that poorly operating solutions are not an advantage to their system. Instead, it stops the clinical workflow efficiency. Thus, a marketer must first evaluate the real potential of a workflow before bringing it to the table and considering it a prime choice for new technological solutions.

Usually, the big healthcare systems contain complex workflow variations such as appointment scheduling, storing patient records, etc. There are ample of requirements in the workflow chart. 

 

In a highly-loaded work atmosphere where plenty of fields need to be taken care of, a poorly-designed piece of technology can sabotage documentation, communications, and other day-to-day chores. From patients to employees, every aspect of the healthcare sphere needs to well-organized and managed. Mismatched coordination is one of the prime causes of low-quality patient outcomes and fewer appointments. A smooth execution enables the workplace to have better services and patient treatment. Therefore, it enhances clinical care too.

 

#Step 6 – Adoption of Machinery (AI and AR)

                                                       

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) are the ongoing trending topics in the healthcare sphere for quite some time now. 

Considering the benefits and its outcome that are recognized by the industry, many companies are likely to adopt an AI-built system for the efficient workflow to improve medical practices. 

 

A recent popular article on AMA has pointed out three ways medical AI can benefit in improving the workflow for physicians:

Point 1: Personalized Services – Artificial Intelligence can personalize content delivery to physicians based on frequent clinical questions. To decrease the time spent seeking relevant information online, AI brings quick solutions.

Point 2: Medical Documentation – AI can record complete documentation tasks at a much lesser time. It can extract vital information from a physician's narrative and insert it into correct data fields.

Point 3: Quality Reporting – Artificial Intelligence can substitute manual data collection method by extracting details and creating quality reports to fill up the missing data fields. This will save extra hours spent every day by the physician in collecting the reports on a paper-based document.

 

Survey Report: Around 37 percent of pharmaceutical companies have already adopted artificial intelligence in one way or another. It is estimated that in the next 5 years, about 54 percent of healthcare companies will be welcoming AI at large. We can say that AI has made the workflow efficiency for all prevailing industries and create a buzz too. It is no less than an asset to companies in improving their work operations.

 

 

#Step 7 – Adoption of email marketing

 

As per industry experts, about 70 percent of healthcare professionals work on email marketing communication around 2 to 5 times before making a decision. 

This implies that as a healthcare marketer, you must adopt an email mode of communication. You need to send customized emails at regular intervals to stay at the top of your patient's mind as well as your clients. Adopting email automation tools is a great way to organize and schedule emails that can be sent based on recipients' actions and history. This will aid in increasing productivity and improving workflow.

In times of today, healthcare professionals use different modes to communicate. Apart from email marketing, you need to use multi-channel marketing and collaborate with other social media channels as well. By adopting various channels to engage and interact with healthcare professionals, you can increase engagement, response rates, conversion rates, and higher ROI than you would have had you used just one channel.

As the world of healthcare professionals keep changing, marketing strategies to connect with them has to evolve too. Email is one of the trusted ways to reach healthcare professionals. It is a cost-effective and result-oriented channel to share critical information, engage, and create a connection with your target audience. 

 

#Step 8 – Look for the Right Technology Partners

 

"Look out for service providers who have expertise in IT and also nurses and physicians on staff who can reflect their real-world knowledge. They can help your hospital's professionals too. Before deciding on the technology, inquire your vendors to conduct a healthcare workflow assessment to showcase their solutions on various platforms. 

By identifying the gaps in the process, you can understand how technology will be executed at critical points in the patient care aspect. The healthcare technology service providers must acknowledge the importance of security and have insights about the latest regulations and privacy protocols that persist. Ensure to check the past working experience of the vendor with other hospitals and healthcare systems. Also, ask for the list of security credentials as they must have earned by previous work." – Four tips for improving healthcare technology, twitter: @BeckersHR

 

Concluding Note: Successful management requires a consolidated plan and accurate information from various sources and platforms. These include EHRs, clinical claims, authorization, technology advancements, service provider's list, and a potential strategy development team. It is vital to support the healthcare goals for improving the workflow, enhancing patient experience, generating better revenue, providing quality services, expanding service growth, and decreasing the cost and error rates at a gradual span. 

 

Designing a workflow is a tricky endeavor as the complexity of healthcare organization are vast. The healthcare industry is a service-based field that is flexible and dependent on the patient's needs. To establish a fluent and effortless workflow over time, it is essential to respond to the demands, tasks, and resources available at your end. The latest technological adoptions in the organizational workflow should not be treated as a hindrance but an opportunity to elevate the quality of services and provide proper care to patients under any existing circumstances.

 

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Created on Aug 24th 2020 04:24. Viewed 441 times.

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