Monday, August 7, 2023

4 Insights into revving up rural patient financial engagement—digitally

As inflation reaches its fastest pace in 40 years, rural populations are feeling the pinch of higher prices for essentials like food, rent and gasoline acutely. Consequently, there is greater competition for limited dollars, which results in payment delays or defaults on monies owed.

Growing economic challenges are putting pressure on rural healthcare revenue cycle departments to engage patients early and give them confidence that they can manage the cost of their care. In addition, tighter operational margins are driving the need for systems and infrastructures that drive efficiency in self-pay collections while reducing the cost of financial engagement.

Digital financial engagement offers significant opportunities to reach patients early in the financial stage of their encounter, when fears about the “sticker shock” of care are highest, while lowering administrative costs like paper statements and postage.

For MainStreet Family Care, a leading provider of urgent care to rural residents in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, the move to digital-first notification of payment in 2019 resulted in an 11% decrease in paper statements—eliminating $6 per statement cycle to send. It also improved revenue capture, growing digital payment collections to 7% of all patient payments.

Notably, most digital payments are now sent within seven days of a text notification that payment is due, with 62% of these payments made the day of text notification and 84% sent within three days.

But there is more to engaging rural patients in digital payment than simply sending an electronic notification via patients’ smartphones. MainStreet Family Care’s experience points to nuances in digitally activating patient financial behavior in rural populations.

These four lessons learned stand out:
  1. Take time to craft the right text messaging for your population. The immediate response to digital payment notification by MainStreet Family Care was strong, but when the organization reached out to patients for feedback, leaders discovered that some felt the language used in the texts was a little too aggressive. In other instances, patients thought the messages were spam. With this feedback in hand, MainStreet took a second look at the messaging—which was limited by character count, much like a Twitter post—to soften the communications. Today, the initial message reads, “Thank you for your recent visit to MainStreet Family Care. You’ll now receive statements via text.” Refining the message enabled MainStreet to deliver a better digital experience. It’s a process the organization will undertake again to ensure the messaging still resonates with consumers in a high-inflation environment.
  2. Make patient financial services staff “digital ambassadors.” At MainStreet Family Care, staff in scheduling, registration, and financial services play an important role in preparing patients for text notifications, letting them know that a text will be sent to their phone when their statement is ready. This removes the element of surprise from digital communications around payment. It also helps increase the likelihood that individuals will open the text and engage with this payment vehicle. One tip: Create scripting for staff that helps introduce the concept of the organization’s text-to-payment feature. This helps staff feel more comfortable initiating these conversations and keeps messaging crisp and clear. This also provides an opportunity for front desk staff to double-check that smartphone notifications are sent to the patient’s preferred number.
  3. Give digital communications time to breathe. Allow a week for consumers to engage with the digital communications that are sent before mailing a print statement. At MainStreet Family Care, this approach has led to substantial cost savings since launching text-to-payment notifications in 2019. It also saves office staff time processing these manual statements and payments, enabling staff to spend time on more value-added work.
  4. Make the digital payment process as smooth as possible for consumers. It’s easy to assume that rural patients—who are not always a tech-forward population—will not be receptive to digital healthcare payment. At MainStreet Family Care, leaders sought a solution that would remove friction from the digital payment process by ensuring texts would link directly to the person’s bill and payment options, rather than requiring consumers to log onto a patient portal or set up an account. This creates a seamless experience that increases receptiveness to digital payment and paves the way for continued adoption—speeding up cash collections and protecting the rural organization’s bottom line. MainStreet also worked with its digital payment vendor to create a branded look for the payment site, providing consumers with a feeling of reassurance that the site is a trusted resource.

Key to relieving consumers’ anxiety around the cost of their care: Make sure payment options—including the ability to self-enroll in a payment plan or apply for charity care—are clearly visible and easy to navigate. This helps boost consumers’ confidence that they can manage the cost of their care on their own terms from the comfort of home. In addition, use vendor solutions that accommodate a five-digit short code as opposed to a full phone number. This differentiator is critical to signaling that the text is coming from reputable source and is not spam.


A more modern approach to rural healthcare payment


Early this year, there were signs that consumers were tapping into savings to pay for basic necessities. It’s a scenario that is likely to hit rural consumers harder than those in urban settings—and it could increase apprehension regarding whether to seek care and how to pay for it. The right digital approach to payment can help ease financial concerns by providing the information people need as soon as it is available and giving them the tools to manage the cost of their care. By taking a careful approach to messaging and providing seamless avenues for bill management and payment, rural healthcare organizations can more quickly activate patient financial engagement, providing positive experiences that strengthen cash flow.


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Friday, August 4, 2023

5 Ways to successfully gather online reviews for your healthcare practice

Patients often rely on Google searches to find a healthcare provider, and the number of positive reviews your practice has determines how well you’ll rank when searched. The more reviews you get, the more likely you are to bring in new patients.

Whether you’re a small practice trying to boost your online presence or a large healthcare provider aiming to expand your customer base, here are five ways to win more reviews for your practice and attract more patients over time.


1. Request feedback from satisfied patients.


Once you’ve established a relationship with your patient, one of the best ways to get a review is to ask for one in person. After their appointment, ask how everything was while they’re checking out and filling out final paperwork. If their response is positive, then ask if they can leave you a review.

When you’re asking them in person, have something for them to scan like a card with a QR code that directs them to your Google review page. Or tell them you’ll be sending an email and/or text asking for their feedback.

It’s important to make getting to your review page as straightforward and accessible as possible, since most people don’t want to take the time figuring out how to navigate the review process. Asking in person increases the overall chances of the patient opening your review request later.


2. Send review request emails to previous patients.


Requesting reviews over email is a tried and tested method. It’s important to keep your message short and sweet, especially if you’re wanting valuable Google reviews that prospective patients will be reading.

The timing is vital, and you should send out a review request when the experience is still fresh in their minds. Use the short window after an appointment to send your email, something simple like:

"[First Name],

Thanks for trusting us to take care of you! Please leave us a review on Google to tell us how we did: [URL]. If you have any additional questions or needs, let us know!

Thanks again,

[Provider Name]"

Experiment with different subject lines to see what works best for you. Sometimes it helps to address the patient by name in the subject line, but you can also write things like “How did we do?” or “Got a minute to share your experience with [Provider Name]?”


3. Use texting to request reviews.


70% of people say texting is the fastest way to reach them, making it an effective channel for your practice to request and receive reviews.

Before you start texting patients, be sure that you’re registered with a HIPAA-compliant text messaging platform, and that you’ve received expressed consent to text them. Patients can agree to receive texts from you by signing a physical or digital form, or by texting your practice themselves.

Once that’s taken care of, you can start texting patients for reviews. Draft a brief text under 160 characters, such as:

"[First Name], thanks for visiting us today. Reviews help us and help people find the best care. Mind leaving us one? [URL]"

Keep pre-made text templates at hand to help you save time when reaching out to multiple patients. This is also important for keeping communications consistent across employees—that’s a big deal in healthcare.

An efficient HIPAA-compliant texting software enables you to reach out to patients for one-to-one communications, and some of them even offer review management capabilities. That way, you can earn, track, and respond to online reviews all in one place.


4. Leverage social media to encourage reviews.


Drum up reviews by maintaining an active presence on your social media platforms. Facebook is a popular place for people to ask their friends and family for recommendations, and you want to engage with everyone who tags your practice in their posts or comments, or on your own posts. You can also prompt patients to share their good experiences with you on social media, depending on what they feel comfortable with sharing.

If customers are praising and referencing you as a recommendation, you have an opportunity to transform that into a review. From there, it’s as easy as asking:

“We’re so glad you enjoyed your experience with us! Would you mind sharing your kind words on our review page? [URL] It’ll help us and others out. Thank you!”

You can direct people to your Facebook Reviews page, which is easiest since it’s already within the platform, or you can direct them to another reviews page.

An active social media presence gives you a higher chance of reaching a bigger audience, including potential patients who might be searching for a local practice. Word of mouth is powerful, and when potential customers see your business page brimming with positive reviews and social proof, they’ll be more likely to choose you.


5. Respond to every review–both positive and negative.


Successfully gathering reviews includes responding to patients to thank them or take negative feedback constructively. Replying to reviews gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your patient-first approach—especially since most people expect healthcare practices to acknowledge feedback.

With positive feedback, be sure to thank the patient, use personalized language, and recognize what you’re doing to make them happy.

With negative feedback, you should maintain the same positive decorum while empathizing with their frustration. Demonstrate that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to resolve their issue. The quicker you are to resolve a problem, the more you stand a chance at gaining repeat visits from them.

By showing patients that you care about what they have to say, it can encourage additional reviews, enhance ratings, and establish your practice as a reliable choice. In turn, this has the power to strengthen relationships with existing patients, and even attract prospective patients.


The key to reviews: Ask!


Don’t feel like you’ve got to start all the above items at once. Try one or two that you feel the most comfortable with, and as you master each one, layer on the rest. No matter what, though, the first step to getting positive online reviews is to ask!


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Thursday, August 3, 2023

Addressing the ‘great patient disconnect’ in patient-provider digital communication

Staffing shortages. For the last few years, this dreaded phrase has become an all-too-familiar reality. The health care staff shortage is projected to continue, and even worsen, until 2025. Meanwhile, a recent Guidehouse Center for Health Insights report states that 95% of health system executives are expecting outpatient volumes to increase this year.

To weather these contrasting trends, establishing omnichannel digital entry points for patients is more crucial than ever to save your team time, resources and energy — as well as to create a coordinated continuum across the patient journey.

But difficult-to-navigate digital tools and the lack of capabilities that patients really need can create a conundrum where both patients and providers want to connect but struggle to do so despite existing patient engagement tools.


The Great Patient Disconnect


It’s more important than ever for practices to be able to effectively leverage their digital patient engagement and communication tools to lessen the burden on staff. Many are still recovering financially from the COVID-19 pandemic on top of current budget constraints and expiring pandemic-era funding, and are struggling to staff enough people to reach patients by phone.

Meanwhile, with limited staff, practices are following up on care missed during the pandemic, competing in a crowded health care market, caring for large numbers of attributed patients and more.

I’ve spoken to representatives of many health systems who are dissatisfied with their digital strategy. They’ve invested in platforms or solutions to make engagement easier for patients but still deal with high call rates, no-shows and low portal adoption. This is the “great patient disconnect,” where both patients and providers are engaged in the health care journey and have digital tools available, but still struggle to connect.

Despite 71% of providers reporting that patient engagement is a high priority at their practice, data from CDW Healthcare notes that just 29% of patients said they would give their providers an A in patient engagement. And while 90% of organizations offer a patient portal, overall the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates that only about a third of patients use them.

This disconnect can impact both patients’ care journeys and the effectiveness of the practice. For example, if pre-visit instructions or other important information are primarily accessible in the patient portal, patients without the portal may not be prepared for their appointments or recognize that it’s time for a follow-up visit. Meanwhile, if patients struggle to access the digital tools you provide, more pressure is placed on overburdened staff to reach them via outbound phone calls.
Addressing the disconnect and improving patient-provider communication

The good news is that patients want to engage with their providers using digital tools. The ubiquity of consumer-focused apps for delivery, transportation, shopping and much more shows that consumers will consistently use a simple and intuitive digital experience. In health care, many of the hurdles that create a patient-provider disconnect are caused not by a lack of engaged patients, but by patients not having access to the tools they need.

Recent KLAS Research data, for example, show that patients often want different tools to connect with their providers, such as self-scheduling and online bill pay, from what their providers are currently offering. Even if a patient accesses your website or patient portal, if they can’t get to an actionable next step, they are likely to call in instead, contributing to the burden on staff. But these patients should not be considered disengaged from their care; in fact, they are very much engaged.

Medical Group Management Association data show that about half of surveyed providers reported an increase in no-show rates between 2021 and 2022, attributed in part to long wait times for an appointment and the cost of appointments. But the 12% of providers who reported their no-show rates were going down cited digital reminders and digital check-in options as some of the reasons for the decline. These responses indicate that accessible digital options can help patients get to your organization and get the care they need.

I believe three factors are key to helping patients better connect with you using digital tools:
  • Equitable access. Consider whether your organization has a simple path to care for patients who prefer different ways of communicating with you: web, phone call or digital tools like SMS and the patient portal. Are there areas where a patient might reach a dead end unless they resort to a phone call, for example?
  • Easy communication across the digital continuum. Evaluate whether it’s easy for your patients to get the information they need — and to ask a question if needed. Especially for common needs like requesting a prescription refill, rescheduling an appointment or getting directions to the clinic, are information and additional help easily accessible?
  • Empowerment for patients. Review areas where patients might self-service or own a part of the health care journey but don’t have the ability to do so today. Ideally, patients can complete all the necessary steps from their chosen channel. For example, can patients take action from the messages they’re currently receiving, in the portal or elsewhere? If a change occurs — such as a patient canceling their appointment via SMS — can they take the next step from that channel, such as rescheduling the appointment for another time?

Considering these factors can help you identify inefficiencies or pain points that might be quietly contributing to the great patient disconnect and increasing the burden on your staff to bridge that gap manually.


Examples of effective digital strategies that bridge the disconnect


With a focus on solving potential points of disconnection, it’s possible to create patient journeys that are smoother and more streamlined and help you and your patients get more out of digital tools, creating a digital continuum of care.

To improve access to care for all your patients, ask patients whether they’re aware of the digital solutions you’re offering today and whether they meet patients’ needs. If you offer self-scheduling in the patient portal for certain types of appointments, for example, you might advertise the capability front and center on your website or let patients with that visit type know about the capability for scheduling their follow-ups during the visit.


To simplify communication before and after care, ensure that answers to common questions are accessible from all of your patient-facing channels —such as your website, the entry to the patient portal and the phone tree when patients call in. Evaluate whether the information is available in simple terms and in multiple languages to avoid access barriers or confusion for patients.

To empower patients, leverage your digital tools to meet patients where they are and with the channels they prefer. For example, you might echo the strategy of one Houston-area specialty clinic that uses its existing patient communication channels to send each new patient an educational video before their visit based on their specific health and appointment needs. Doing so helps meet patients where they are, address patient questions ahead of time and empower them to ask more targeted questions when face to face with the provider.

In a challenging health care environment, it’s critical that we go beyond simply staffing more people to call centers or lamenting low engagement rates or high no-shows. Digital solutions can mitigate these challenges, address barriers to care and streamline staff capacity. To do so effectively, they must be driven by a patient-centered approach that identifies digital dead ends and points of disconnection and creates a unified digital continuum so patients and providers can get to the moment of care more quickly and easily.


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