Patient-centered care is taking center stage when it comes to high-quality healthcare delivery, particularly in improving patient satisfaction and reducing admissions, readmissions, and the average length of hospital stays.
Why is this approach so valuable? It prioritizes respect, communication, and personalized treatment—ensuring that every patient feels heard and valued. When this happens, patients become actively involved in their health journey, resulting in better outcomes and patient-provider relationships.
As patient expectations grow in a digital-first world, practices must adopt innovative solutions to meet these needs effectively. Updox’s patient engagement tools are designed to empower your practice, enabling you to deliver personalized, efficient care.
In this article, we’ll explore how Updox supports your mission to connect with patients by providing tools that enhance patient communication and improve health outcomes.
Key Takeaways:
- Learn about patient-centered care, its common barriers, and why it matters.
- Discover how Updox’s patient engagement tools deliver real-world improvements.
- Learn how Updox aligns with your practice’s mission and how to get started with our patient engagement solutions.
What Is Patient-centered Care and Why Does it Matter?
Patient-centered care places the patient at the heart of the entire healthcare ecosystem. It emphasizes principles such as:
- Respect for individual preferences
- Open and clear communication
- Engaging patients in their care
- Tailored care plans that meet each patient’s unique needs
But why does this approach matter to you? Studies have shown that engaging patients increases their satisfaction and encourages patients to be more involved in their treatment, improving treatment outcomes, boosting a practice’s reputation, and lowering treatment costs.
Healthcare experts like Tammy Allen, Regional Director of Patient Experience and Relations at Trinity Health, are finding considerable benefits in patient-centered care. She tells the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, “Implementing patient-centered care results in better health outcomes, higher patient satisfaction, safer and more desirable workplaces, and reduced costs.”
This model also fosters a partnership between providers and patients, encouraging shared decision making based on mutual trust and understanding.
Patient-centered care is also directly connected to the rise of digital-first healthcare. With the ease of ordering food, goods, and basically any service from the comfort of smartphones and tablets, patients also expect this type of instant access to their providers and personalized experiences that align with their lifestyles.
Embracing this shift and meeting these rising expectations will result in a more personalized experience for your patients—increasing care quality and your bottom line.
Common Barriers to Patient-centered Care in Today’s Healthcare Environment
Despite its benefits, many practices face obstacles in providing truly patient-centered care. Common barriers include:
- Communication breakdowns: Patients often feel unheard when communication is inconsistent or delayed.
- Disconnected systems: Fragmented electronic health records (EHRs) and siloed workflows hinder cohesive care coordination.
- Time constraints and administrative overload: Heavy workloads take up valuable time, leaving providers and staff with less time for meaningful patient interactions.
- Inequity: Race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and differences in ability are long associated with barriers to quality patient-centered care.
- Lack of digital engagement tools: Without modern technology, practices miss opportunities for proactive, accessible patient engagement.
Overcoming these barriers is essential to delivering the personalized patient experience your practice values.
How Updox’s Patient Engagement Tools Support Patient-Centered Care
Updox, a communications platform that can integrate with EHRs, offers a comprehensive suite of patient engagement tools that break down barriers, bridge gaps, and foster a more connected, patient-centric environment. Learn how below.
Secure Patient Messaging for Better Communication
HIPAA-compliant messaging is at the core of Updox’s patient communication offerings. Features like the HIPAA-compliant Secure Text allow you to conveniently communicate with your patients without compromising their privacy or protected health information.
Patients can ask follow-up questions, receive test results, or confirm appointment details via secure text—all from their mobile devices or computers.
This tool allows you to work smarter by offering time-saving features such as the ability to securely attach forms, photos, or videos, and easily file conversations to the EHR. Automated appointment reminders can also help your practice reduce no-shows and last-minute cancellations.
Consider this scenario: during the pre-visit part of the patient journey, this tool allows your practice to:
- Quickly communicate ahead of a visit
- Easily contact patients with updates
- Ensure timely patient arrivals
This responsiveness improves access, builds trust, and fosters a personalized patient experience.
RELATED CONTENT: How Patient-Centric Care Models are Transforming the Industry
Digital Forms and Virtual Check-Ins
Pre-visit paperwork can be frustrating for both staff and patients. It can also take up valuable time. Streamline data collection and improve efficiency with Updox’s HIPAA-compliant online Forms, enabling secure, paperless patient intake and documentation.
These digital forms and virtual check-ins simplify the administrative process, allowing patients to complete necessary documentation before arriving at the office.
For example, with these features, you can:
- Group multiple forms into a form packet and send via text or email, allowing patients to complete all required forms from a single, mobile-friendly link.
- Track the status of sent forms and remind patients of outstanding assignments in the Forms dashboard.
These tools reduce onsite paperwork stress, shorten wait times, and ensure that your team can focus on what matters: the patients. These solutions also enhance access for patients with mobility issues or busy schedules, removing barriers to quality patient-centered care.
Telehealth Integration for Convenient Access
Virtual visits support continuity of care, especially for underrepresented communities. For example, the Rural Health Information Hub reveals that telehealth in rural areas can help deliver healthcare services, thereby reducing the challenges and burdens patients encounter, such as transportation issues related to traveling for specialty care.
With Updox’s Telehealth platform, your practice can meet patients wherever they are. The virtual waiting room allows for triage workflows that mimic an in-person visit. During a patient’s care journey, the platform will enable you to:
- Speak with patients in video chat or by phone
- Easily add participants to calls
- Easily check in on patient progress
- Help patients stick to care plans
RELATED CONTENT: How Telehealth Is Transforming Rural Healthcare Delivery
Broadcast Messaging and Appointment Reminders
Proactive engagement through features such as Updox’s Broadcast Messaging and Automated Appointment Reminders helps boost patient adherence and reduce no shows.
These tools foster ongoing communication, ensuring that patients stay informed about upcoming visits, health tips, time-sensitive information such as vaccinations, and essential updates—further supporting coordinated, personalized care.
These tools also sustain your practice’s mission by streamlining workflows. For example, the Broadcast Messaging tool allows your staff to send messages to all your patients at once, or segment groups based on demographics or diagnoses. You can also save staff time with one-way messaging and automatic recurring messages features.
Real-world Impact: Improving Patient Satisfaction and Outcomes
Patient engagement tools are making real-world impacts. The following case study demonstrates how one practice uses Updox for added efficiency and patient satisfaction.
The Challenge:
Las Vegas Pediatric Urology sought a secure, HIPAA-compliant tool for messaging patients’ families, but its existing software could not automatically link patient contact information with outgoing text messages.
They wanted an easy-to-use solution that linked directly with their EHR. They also needed to reduce paperwork and the storage space necessary to house it.
The Solution:
Updox’s Secure Text and Forms features fit their needs and produced measurable results. And both optional features were already integrated with their EHR.
The Text feature made non-emergency communication easier by allowing patients to send text messages to the practice at their convenience. Now, the contact information for established patients automatically appears along with text messages, so manually uploading contact information is unnecessary.
Meanwhile, the Forms tool streamlined the intake process, enabling patients or caregivers to fill out medical forms on their phones or computers. This feature also minimized unnecessary paperwork for the staff.
The Results:
The Las Vegas Pediatric Urology team reports that communication with patients is much easier and that the practice can quickly identify the person messaging them. Parents of their patients were especially grateful for the ability to send non-emergency text messages to the office at any time.
The staff can respond to these messages throughout the day or after the office has closed, giving them maximum flexibility, improving efficiency, and increasing patient satisfaction.
These solutions and outcomes demonstrate the critical role of the digital front door in healthcare and how virtual patient engagement tools can transform your practice’s operations.
How Updox Aligns with Your Practice’s Mission
Updox is committed to helping you focus on and improve care quality, connection, and engagement, reinforcing your dedication to creating a personalized, patient-first environment.
With this in mind, our patient engagement solutions support core values in healthcare like empathy, accessibility, and trust. Whether it’s through secure patient communication, virtual check-ins, or transparent appointment management, Updox’s tools help practices deliver high-quality, compassionate care at every stage of the patient journey.
And as your practice grows, Updox grows with you. We understand that your practice is a business, and scaling operations can help you increase your market share and grow your revenue.
Our solutions are flexible and can adapt to your specific needs, expanding your ability to take on more patients and staff. Here’s how Updox can help you scale operations:
- Day-to-day operations are streamlined to help you scale up effectively.
- Easily communicate between multiple offices and providers to reduce stress and boost profits.
- Telehealth options help reduce the number of in-person visits on your schedule.
- Unlimited cloud storage, flexible functionality, and world-class support help expand operations.
Getting Started with Updox Patient Engagement Tools
Ready to advance your practice’s patient-centered approach? Discover how Updox’s patient engagement tools can transform your workflow and elevate patient care.
Request a demo, explore our comprehensive product offerings, or contact us to learn more about integrating our connected care solutions into your practice!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is patient-centered care in healthcare?
Patient-centered care is a healthcare approach that emphasizes respect, effective communication, and personalized treatment. It involves understanding each patient’s unique needs, involving them in decisions about their care, and fostering a partnership built on trust and empathy.
How can technology improve patient engagement?
Technology enhances patient engagement by providing secure, real-time communication channels, streamlining administrative processes with digital forms and virtual check-ins, expanding access through telehealth, and supporting proactive outreach with appointment reminders and broadcast messaging.
Are Updox’s communication tools HIPAA-compliant?
Yes! Updox’s patient engagement solutions, such as Secure Text messaging, are HIPAA-compliant, ensuring that patient information remains protected and secure during every interaction.
What types of practices benefit from patient engagement solutions?
Practices of all sizes and specialties benefit from patient engagement solutions. Whether primary care, specialty clinics, or rural health providers, these tools help improve communication, increase efficiency, and deliver personalized care that aligns with the practice’s mission.
How does digital communication improve patient satisfaction?
Digital communication makes it easier for patients to connect with their providers, ask questions, confirm appointments, and access care from anywhere. This convenience, responsiveness, and personalized interaction fosters trust, reduces frustration, and leads to higher patient satisfaction and better overall health outcomes.
