How to Enhance Patient Experience

Health care has evolved considerably, but the change it has witnessed over the past decade has been especially pronounced, with hospitals and other medical facilities adopting newer forms of technology at a rapid pace. That is, without doubt, one of the most significant changes the healthcare industry has seen in the recent past. But is that all there is to its evolution? The sector has observed substantial changes in a variety of other aspects, most noticeably in customer care, i.e., patient care in health care industry terms. You see, today, it is not enough to merely deliver the top-notch quality of care. Nope, today, besides the ace quality of care, customers also expect their health care providers to offer and provide innovative services — at least if they want to retain customers.

Unfortunately, this endeavor to offer A-grade patient experiences is not as easy as it seems. While quality care is, of course, the starting point, companies in this industry must, now, also focus on efforts to enhance patients’ experience and satisfaction with the care delivered to them. However, in this increasingly digital existence, achieving that is an endeavor brimming with complexities and challenges. Nonetheless, considering that patient experience remains an essential part of the standards set for this industry. So, here are some tips to help you do just that. 

    1. Enable online scheduling of appointments: One of the critical elements of delivering a superior patient experience is absolute and unfettered convenience. Now, there are, of course, several ways to achieve that in health care, such as by providing the means to schedule appointments online. Research shows that people are more inclined to choose doctors and other health care providers that offer the ability to not only schedule appointments online but also cancel or reschedule them online.
    2. Facilitate paperwork online: A visit to the doctor or hospital isn’t directly just go in, meet doctor, go home. It typically involves paperwork, sometimes even quite a bit of it. While we understand the paperwork can’t be eliminated, health care organizations can help ease the process by, say, giving patients the ability to fill in the requisite forms beforehand. It can be enabled via either websites or perhaps even apps. And it allows the patients with the ability to do the formalities at their pace instead of rushing through it right before they head into the doctor’s office.
    3. Use surveys after appointments: Yet another sure-shot way of ensuring an ace patient experience is engaging with patients after an interview. It serves as an excellent opportunity to not only gauge their expertise but also let them know that they are valued and that their experience and feedback is of utmost importance to you. Now, be warned that just about any type or format won’t yield results; experts recommend that you send out an automated patient satisfaction survey via email or text, but not as soon as they come out of the doctor’s cabin. We suggest you wait a short while before sending out the survey. 
    4. Leverage healthcare analytics: Systems across any health care business generate an extensive amount of data, and it only makes sense to leverage it to deliver better patient experiences. And to do that, one must turn to health care analytics, in combination with other relevant tools, to glean meaningful insights from data, determine patterns, and utilize such ideas to achieve better patient experiences increasingly across the board.

The health care industry’s take on patient experience may evolve further. But no matter how the industry views it, the fact remains that patient experience has and will continue to be a critical yardstick for the business’ performance. And as companies in this sphere continue to strive to deliver better patient experiences, it is not only essential to implement the aforementioned recommendations but also undertake the development of survey tools as well as other technology-driven solutions that are primed to assist such endeavors.

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Created on Apr 3rd 2020 02:00. Viewed 653 times.

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