If I asked you to think back to 2007, there may be few things that can jog your memory of what exactly happened that year. Taylor Swift’s debut album kick-started her rise to fame (back when she was a country artist), the final Harry Potter book was published, and Sheldon Cooper was gracing our tv screens for the first time in the premiere of The Big Bang Theory. While all major moments in pop culture, there was one event that was going to leave all of these moments in the dust. 

The release of the first iPhone. 

Priced at $599 for 8 GB of storage, we were simultaneously so aware and completely oblivious of how this phone was going to change the face of culture and innovation.

With suddenly having a fully functioning computer in your pocket, the world was quite literally at your fingertips and it inspired action. Not only could you find directions to the nearest coffee shop, but you also had access to the opinions and ideas of pioneers from all around the world. 

Naturally, as we became more accustomed to this accessibility and convenience, we started expecting it throughout all aspects of our lives, especially when it came to booking appointments. Patients no longer want to be burdened with having to call in during office hours, but rather make appointments on their own time and it shows. Of 1.5 million appointment bookings studied by BookedIn, only 54% of appointments were booked by staff, meaning a whopping 46% of appointments were booked by patients online. And not only that, 82% of those appointments were booked by patients on their phones.

So what does that mean for you? Simply put, it’s time to make sure your practice is keeping up with our ever-changing world to retain patients, rather than being left in the dust. The best place to start is looking at your patient communication software and what it can do for you. At Hi5 Practice, we recommend looking for these 3 attributes when choosing your perfect software:

1.) Customizable Patient Communications

This is the bread and butter of what makes Hi5 Practice’s strategy so unique AND successful. When looking to building out campaigns in patient communication softwares, our #1 priority is making sure we can customize all aspects of a campaign -- all the way from the design elements to filtering the patient list down to different treatment proposals and unscheduled appointments. This allows for us to personalize each message sent to patients so they are receiving accurate and relatable information that encourages them to get back into the office. 

One of the most successful patient communications functions to have is automated messaging. While it may seem scary to some to have messages sent out while you aren’t looking, it can actually be one of the most effective parts of your patient retention, if you put a little strategy into it. (You can check out some of Hi5’s recommendations HERE). By letting your system send out all of these important messages for you, it frees up time for you to be fully present with the patients who are already in your office!

2.) Make Scheduling Easy and Accessible

With our culture moving towards accessibility and convenience, shouldn’t getting patients in the door be as easy as ordering food to-go at a restaurant? And even moreso, shouldn't practices be making it easier on themselves to schedule appointments and send out accompanying reminders for them? Well, that’s where your communication system can come in handy!

One of the newest and fastest growing capabilities in communication systems is bridging the gap between practice management and patient communication. By integrating online scheduling into a patient communication system, it allows for these two systems to “talk” to one another and send out automated messaging according to a patient’s history and specific needs. In a case study from NexHealth, a dental practice out of New York found offering online booking to be an immaculate success with a 157% increase of bookings, a 120% increase in appointment reminders sent, and a 22% increase in overall patient volume. While these numbers may feel overwhelming, the practice had full control over their scheduling to keep their operatories full and streamline office tasks.

3.) Online Capabilities

If you’ve made the headway to create enticing messaging for your patients and created an easy way for them to book appointments, why should that stop at filling out paperwork and paying for treatment? It’d be the medical equivalent of having a clear lead for the first 3 quarters of the superbowl and phoning it in at the end. What a disappointment, right?

It’s time to say goodbye to the days of paper charts and hello to digital charting! In accordance with having a patient communication system be able to digitally book appointments for you, your system should be able to manage the forms your patients need to fill out online to completely eliminate the need for physical paperwork. Not only does this reduce the amount of time patients are sitting in waiting rooms, but also streamlines the process of your front desk needing to transcribe all of this information into your patient management system. This helps clear up valuable minutes of their day to be focused on what’s going on within the office, versus what’s being typed on their screens. 

So… doesn’t this sound like a dream? What if I told you there was a patient communication system out there with all of these attributes and more?

Cue: NexHealth

One of our favorite systems to work with at Hi5 Practice is NexHealth because we are continually amazed by everything it can do for your practice! We came to love the platform for it’s incredible campaign capabilities -- from its easy-to-use design customizations, to their innovative patient recall messaging with real-time availability embedded into the email itself. Beyond that, the platform is at the forefront of making it easy for patients to book appointments and, with the right internal marketing strategy, easier to retain them. We are thrilled to be partners with NextHealth and combine their platform with our data-driven marketing strategies to maximize patient communication and retention for practices across the country.

Published June 14, 2021 12:00 pm CST