I purposefully wrote the title of this blog to get you thinking. Do your patients really need to talk to your staff about everything? The answer is no. How much time does your office spend on the phone trying to reach your patients only to leave a voice mail, or playing “phone tag”? I’m sure the answer is more than you would like. Yes, of course, there are some calls you have to make, like post-op courtesy calls or even appointment confirmations where you will give the patient pre-op or pre-med instructions. Those types of calls are very necessary and can help you provide optimal patient care. However, when you are on the phone leaving nothing but voicemails or playing the infamous game of “phone tag” this can actually hinder the quality of service that you provide to your patients. The first stage of quality patient care that will result in referrals from existing patients is quality office-patient communication. You are probably wondering, “How do I communicate with my patients if I don’t call them?” The answer to this is email and text message.
Practice-Web has email and text message capabilities you can do everything from confirming appointments to emailing pre-op instructions and even sending birthday e-cards all from inside your software. If your patient has a full-time job then if your staff member calls their home number the chances that your staff will reach them are slim to none. This is such a waste of time if the call is not for pre-med instruction or post-op follow-up. However, the chances of your patient having a smartphone are extremely high.
It doesn’t matter who you are today or what income level, everyone has a cell phone. Here are some interesting statistics. As of December 2013, 97% of American adults owned a cell phone. 56% of those cell phone owners had what is considered a “smartphone”, which means they could access the internet with their device. 50% of all smartphone owners used their devices as their primary source of internet access. Those smartphone owners are using their phones to check their emails and communicate via text message. Here’s another interesting fact, out of the trillions of emails sent in 2013, 29% of those emails were opened on a mobile device either smartphone or tablet. Pretty interesting. Although these numbers may not mean much to some people, as an office manager these numbers tell me that I have the ability to reach my patient anytime, anywhere using the email capabilities of my Practice-Web software.
Practice-Web is capable of emailing almost everything. You can email patient registration forms, appointment and recall reminders, treatment plans, billing statements and so much more. It just takes a little setup and you’re ready to give your patients the best care possible by communicating with them more effectively.
If you use the email templates correctly you could very easily, with just three mouse clicks, email your patients their registration forms and have them fill out their forms online. The data that they enter will import directly into your Practice-Web database. You could even use automated email and text reminders to send your appointment confirmations and when the patient clicks on “confirm” in the email or in the text message, the confirmation status will automatically update your Practice-Web appointment schedule. You can also include the links for your forms in a text message to your patients. No more missed phone calls our reminder voice mails. You can reach your patients where ever they are. Oh, the possibilities!
Some of you are probably screaming, “What about HIPAA compliance and encryption?” My answer to your questions is this, Practice-Web is fully HIPAA compliant in protecting your patient data and keeping it private. Once you send any information out into the World Wide Web, there is the potential for anyone anywhere to see it no matter which internet or email service provider you are using. It is the responsibility of your email service provider to encrypt your emails and the good news is a lot of them do or at least have that ability. To help filter through the black, white and gray areas of HIPAA compliant emails I found this great article that you may want to read 5 big myths surrounding computer security and HIPAA compliance
Now that you know just how efficiently and effectively you can communicate with your patients. I know that if you implement what you have learned today not only will you be able to be more productive in your office but ultimately you will be able to provide better patient care. If you have any questions about anything in this article please call support at 800-845-9379 opt. 2
See you next time 😉