How to improve healthcare Workflow with email marketing process checklists?
by Ashyln Thomas MedicoReachThe 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 443 times.