Doctors- Don't Be Patient Engagement Experts
2015 has been very challenging for you. You are trying to:
comply with every new regulation and industry trend
stay up on advances in technology and new care techniques
understand government and health insurer changes
keep the same high level of care that your patients expect
While you are seeing:
practice income decrease on a per patient basis
patient loads increase
free time disappear
Something has to give. When it comes to Patient Engagement, you should look to outsource. Patient Engagement is a fancy term used to describe marketing strategies. Marketing is the communication of ideas to achieve a desired outcome. Whether you are trying to have patient comply with treatment plans or change lifestyle behaviors, you need to use marketing strategies and tactics to achieve this.
To create a perfect patient engagement plan, you need to call on a bunch of marketing strategies like:
Incentives: reward the patient for following the treatment plan, following a diet, exercising…
Communications: explain each step in the treatment plan and explain why it is best for the patient in words that they understand and can relate. Pre and post-care follow up is a must.
Research: understand what the goals of the patient really are
Customer Satisfaction: exceed above goals if possible or explain why it is not possible to achieve those goals.
To maximize your time and the program's impact, you need to work with companies that can do the heavy lifting for you. You want to find a company like Halo Health that are experts in communicating the “why” as in “Why is it important to follow your treatment plans?” and “Why is it important to implement those lifestyle changes?” to your patients when they want to receive those messages. Halo also works with companies like Wellworks for You (www.wellworksforyou.com) that are experts in the incentive side of engagement. They know how to keep a patient engaged in following your treatment plan.
Work smarter, not harder. Contact Halo to make your practice perform better both in outcomes and patient satisfaction scores. You do not have time to be a marketing expert, but working with these companies will make you feel like one. To learn more, contact me at jim@haloheals.com or via phone at 856-520-8655.
