How automated communications provide a better patient experience

If you’re the owner of a small business or healthcare practice, you are probably no stranger to appointment reminders. Studies have shown that appointment and reservation reminders of any type—voice, email, text, or postcard—can have an immediate and positive impact on the number of confirmed appointments and completed bookings.

Yet despite the benefits of appointment reminders and personalized communications with customers and patients, many small businesses and practices have not optimized this process, and staff can find themselves frustrated or overwhelmed by the time it takes to track down unconfirmed patients or organize a system of sending and following up on booked appointments.

When managed or set manually, appointment reminders and other customer communications can become unwieldy and stressful, especially for a small staff that already has a long list of day-to-day tasks they need to complete. Even with the best of intentions, small details can slip through the cracks, and the overall patient experience can suffer.

The solution: automated communications

The solution to this dilemma facing small businesses and practices is simple: automate as many communications as you can for your patients. This is a win-win solution, as it not only makes life easier for your staff, but it increases the entire experience for your patients.

What can you automate?

  • Appointment reminders & confirmations
  • Requests for online reviews
  • Patient feedback via surveys
  • Email campaigns and recall reminders

Automating communications doesn’t need to be expensive or complicated either. Demandforce offers a complete patient communications solution by providing automation assistance for all of the above and more. For example, Demandforce offers an online scheduling system that automates the booking process and the reminder process, making tedious tasks an afterthought. Email and text reminders can be sent through the system automatically without any additional actions required by your staff.

A better patient experience

By automating your patient communications, you are making sure that your patients and customers connect with you in a seamless, consistent manner. This removes gaps in the communication timeline, and also eliminates instances where you contact a patient only to learn that they have already been contacted previously. A platform like Demandforce also integrates with your current practice management system, and leverages the information you have there to make sure that all your communications with patients are relevant and timely to that specific patient.

In today’s modern world, patients expect more than just a one-off positive experience – they want to establish a long-term relationship with their healthcare providers, and one way you can make your patients and customers feel special is by sending them customized messaging that syncs with their previous visit history and other preferences.

It’s becoming easier for patients to widen their search for healthcare providers, and so offering a better patient experience through automated communications solutions will help you stand out from among the crowd.

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