Communication plays a critical role in successful healthcare outcomes. In increasingly busy healthcare settings, poor communication can literally mean the difference between life and death.
Unfortunately, inefficient communication is a hallmark of far too many healthcare practices. Over the years, studies have found that U.S. hospitals collectively waste billions of dollars each year on suboptimal communication.
In large part, this is due to many medical practices continuing to rely on old-school communication infrastructures. These can cause medical staffers to spend huge chunks of their day communicating with patients and colleagues, searching for information, and maintaining documentation.
The good news is that there’s an easy fix: By investing in modern healthcare technology, practices can rapidly achieve time-saving benefits improving practice efficiency while also enhancing the patient experience and boosting your bottom line.
How Investing in Communication Benefits Your Patients
In recent years, one of the most exciting emerging technologies in healthcare has been the rise of purpose-built communication solutions designed specifically with the medical practice in mind.
In an age where the patient experience and patient engagement is becoming more and more important, communication technology can go a long way toward setting your practice apart.
For example, when you’re able to provide telehealth services to your patients, you give them a safe and convenient option for care that’s accessible from any device. Not only is this a great option for pandemics and flu season, but it’s also appealing for busier patients who aren’t keen on the idea of driving to the doctor’s office for a routine appointment.
What’s more, the right communication solutions will also enable your staff to keep in touch with your patients by creating a direct connection between them and your practice. Not only will you be able to keep patients in-the-know about upcoming appointments and opportunities when a slot opens up at the last minute, but you can also give them access to patient portals that they can use to track forms and stay on top of their medical histories.
On top of this, the patient experience improves due to what’s taking place behind the scenes, and how your team is using communications technology to work more efficiently.
How Investing in Communication Benefits Your Practice
By giving your staff communications tools designed specifically for people in their roles, work becomes considerably easier. All of a sudden, nurses and doctors don’t have to spend hours every day tracking down information or individuals. Communication can take place over a digital platform that the team’s always plugged into, and sending messages is as simple as text messaging.
Leading healthcare communications platforms are highly secure and HIPAA-compliant, and they’re also flexible by design. To this end, they integrate with leading electronic health record (EHR) solutions to give your team access to all the information they need in one place.
Additionally, the right communication platform will also make it much easier to manage documents. All important forms and files are securely stored in one place, and staff no longer has to dig through an overfilled filing cabinet to find documents.
Add it all up, and by investing in modern tools, you make your employees’ jobs easier which translates into increased staff satisfaction. Since employees are able to reclaim the time they previously spent searching for documents or wandering the halls trying to find a specific doctor or nurse, they have more time leftover to devote to delighting their patients.
Transform Your Medical Practice with Healthcare Communications Technology Today
If your medical practice has been using the same communications tools for a long time, you’re long overdue for an upgrade.
By investing in Updox, your team will be able to offer seamless patient experiences across virtual and in-person visits while eliminating phone tag, automating repetitive manual tasks, and consolidating all information in one centralized system. It’s an easy way to differentiate your practice from the rest and drive profitability, strengthening your bottom line.
For more information on how you can transform your practice with Updox, schedule a demo today.
