In the ever-evolving world of healthcare, telehealth has become an increasingly popular option for medical practices seeking to improve patient engagement. In fact, 91% of healthcare leaders now report having a telehealth program in place.
However, simply offering telehealth services is not enough – it is crucial for medical practice owners to optimize this platform in order to truly enhance patient engagement.
In this blog post, we will delve into how you can effectively utilize telehealth to strengthen your relationship with patients while providing them with top-notch care from the comfort of their homes.
Grow Your Telehealth Patient Population
Despite its popularity, many patients are still hesitant to adopt telehealth. Here are two ways that can help increase the number of patients using telehealth:
What Are Consumers Saying About Virtual Care?
Though 65 percent of U.S. healthcare consumers were hesitant or doubtful about the quality of telehealth services before the pandemic, that perception has largely changed. To illustrate, one study found that 88 percent of healthcare patients plan on using telehealth services for nonurgent appointments moving forward.
Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of virtual care to give you a better idea of what consumers are saying about it.
Explain the Benefits
Educate your patients about the benefits of telehealth, such as reduced wait times, easy access to specialists, and the ability to receive care from anywhere. This can help encourage them to adopt this new way of accessing healthcare.
Providing informational materials such as brochures or videos can also help in explaining the benefits of telehealth to patients, and address any concerns or doubts they may have.
Simplify the Process
Patients are often hesitant to try something new when they perceive it as complicated or time-consuming. By simplifying the process of accessing telehealth services, you can help increase patient engagement.
This can be achieved by providing step-by-step instructions on how to access telehealth services, using user-friendly technology, and ensuring that patients have access to technical support if needed.
Offer Flexible Office Hours
Additionally, offering telehealth appointments during flexible hours, especially after regular office hours, can also help increase patient engagement by accommodating busy schedules.
What Are Consumers Saying About Virtual Care?
Though 65 percent of U.S. healthcare consumers were hesitant or doubtful about the quality of telehealth services before the pandemic, that perception has largely changed.
To illustrate, one study found that 88 percent of healthcare patients plan on using telehealth services for nonurgent appointments moving forward.
Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of virtual care to give you a better idea of what consumers are saying about it.
Pros of virtual care for consumers:
- Maintain social distancing
- Improved health outcomes with more frequent visits
- Increased inclusivity, making healthcare more accessible (e.g., to disabled individuals and dialysis patients)
- Save time otherwise spent driving to and from the office
- Incredibly convenient for routine check-ins
Cons of virtual care for consumers:
- Requires a mind shift in how excellent care is delivered
- Doesn’t support every type of visit
- Lack of human connection, potentially making it harder to develop strong relationships with providers
- Concerns around the privacy of patient data (according to a recent report, 73 percent of patients are concerned about digital security)
- Insurance companies might not cover every type of visit
Why You Need to Deliver on Your Telehealth Experiences
The machines in our hands make it easy for consumers, who are your patients, to find a substitute for anything if their needs aren’t satisfied with a simple, “Hey Siri”.
In fact, one out of three customers will stop doing business with a company they love following a single bad experience. In fact, they’re likely to tell between nine and 15 people about a bad experience.
Since experiences are rapidly becoming the key differentiator in the digital age, you need to ensure you are delivering the best experience possible in-person or during virtual visits.
How to Create a Better Experience for Telehealth
Here are three specific tactics you can employ to bolster the virtual care patient experience you offer and improve patient engagement.
1. Make a great first impression with technology
No matter what we might like to think, first impressions matter.
That being the case, it is critical to invest in telehealth solutions that are robust, easy to use, and highly reliable.
2. Adjust your approach
In order to effectively deliver virtual care, you may need to take a different approach.
What worked at the start of the pandemic, may not be your best solution now. Competition has gotten savvier and telehealth options have improved. It is definitely worth your time to study up on virtual communication techniques to develop “webside manner”.
If you’re looking for some tips and tricks you can use to make sure your next virtual visit is effective, check this out.
3. Streamline communications
At most practices, virtual care was “thrust upon” providers and patients alike. You had to keep your patients safe and healthy and telehealth provided that option.
To increase the chances your virtual care investments continue to deliver returns, you need to research and invest in technologies that streamline communications across all operations.
With the right telehealth communication platform in place, you can increase practice productivity, increase patient engagement and continue to grow your business.
Increase Patient Engagement with Updox Telehealth
Enhance patient engagement by reducing wait times and increasing access to quality care. With Updox Telehealth, you can securely connect with your patients for face-to-face interactions, regardless of their location.
Our HIPAA-compliant video and audio calls allow you to provide the patient with an experience that replicates an in-person visit. And Updox seamlessly integrates with most EHR systems.
Updox not only improves patient satisfaction, it also increases revenue by enabling providers to conduct more visits.
Ready to learn more about how to increase patient satisfaction, revenue, and security with Updox Telehealth? Schedule a demo today!
