While your medical practice’s top priority is to provide the best care for your patients, you may not have any patients left if you don’t prioritize retention. The patient experience and overall satisfaction both play a significant role in whether you retain loyal patients or not. Check out these five ways to improve patient satisfaction in your medical practice.
Be Present Online
If the only way your patients can get in touch with you is through a phone call or an in-person visit, you’re doing something wrong. Your medical practice should have a robust website that always makes you easily accessible. Include plenty of information on your website, including reviews, contact information, and photos of your office to make your practice look trustworthy.
It’s also a good idea to include online appointment scheduling to your website. Not only will this free up time for front desk workers to tend to in-person patients, but it also makes visiting your office easier for those looking to get in for a check-up.
Send Confirmations and Reminders
People are busy, and keeping track of various appointments between work and personal life events is hard. Your patients will thank you for sending reminder e-mails or phone calls so they don’t miss their appointment. Doing so also shows patients you value their time and reduces the costs of dealing with no-shows on your end.
Make Paperwork Available Online
Filling out paperwork in the waiting room is a tedious task. It can also delay patients if they’re running late to their appointment but have to stop to fill out the necessary paperwork before seeing a physician. Instead, share paperwork with patients via an online portal so they can fill the paperwork out when it’s convenient for them.
Go Digital
Aside from online paperwork, going digital within your practice is a great way to improve patient satisfaction. Digital processes show your patients you are staying up-to-date and help improve efficiency. Using technology like digital document scanning can also eliminate the problems associated with keeping paper medical records, like putting patients’ private data at risk and slowing down your procedures.
Be Friendly and Welcoming
We get it; you see hundreds of patients every week. Sometimes you might forget to be as bright and cheery as usual. However, this can leave patients feeling uncomfortable at your practice. Trusting a stranger with their health is a big deal to many patients, even if you’re qualified to do so. The more friendly, caring, and communicative you are with patients, the more at ease they’ll feel during visits.
If you’re looking to improve patient retention and build a more substantial base of loyal patients, start with these five ways to improve patient satisfaction.
