How Text Messaging Improves Patient Satisfaction And Practice Revenue

Improving patient satisfaction and practice revenue are complicated tasks to accomplish. There is no single solution, but having poor communication between your practice and your patients comes with consequences that affect patient satisfaction, evidently hurting your practice’s revenue.

Longer wait times to receive care happen to many patients when there’s poor communication. A survey by Merritt Hawkins indicates that in 15 of the largest cities in the United States, scheduling a new patient appointment takes an average of 24 days — communication issues can make it worse.

Insufficient communication can also lead to missed appointments, worse health outcomes, and, potentially, declining health. For instance, when you don’t communicate with your patients about scheduling, they may not know an available appointment has opened up due to an unexpected cancellation.

Reliable and fast communication methods, like sending text messages to your patients, can result in major improvements in your practice. Here’s how text messaging improves patient satisfaction and practice revenue.

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How Does Text Messaging Boost A Medical Practice’s Revenue?

For healthcare organizations and other medical practices, the health and well-being of patients is always the priority. With patient numbers consistently on the rise, how can providers communicate quickly and efficiently with so many patients? Frequent communication with patients is necessary and also helps healthcare offices keep day-to-day schedules as full as possible, which boosts the bottom line. Text messaging is an excellent choice to increase revenue because of how it improves communication with the following:

Appointment Reminders

Patient no-shows are one of the most common factors that hurt a medical practice, as every missed appointment needs rescheduling, with a loss of both time and revenue. By sending out appointment reminders through text messages, you are cutting costs by reducing patient no-shows. Curogram’s appointment reminder feature effectively addresses this issue by sending automated SMS reminder text messages ahead of a patient’s scheduled appointment, ensuring they are aware of their appointment. They can also respond to reschedule if needed.

Payment Reminders

Payment reminders are a simple tool to remind patients their bill is due soon. You can also send an automated follow-up reminder if payment is late by a certain period. The benefit of text messaging payment reminders is its immediate nature and ability to cut through the distraction of the patient’s busy day — text message reminders can increase the likelihood of on-time payments. Not to mention, text messaging is also unobtrusive and cost-effective.

SMS Marketing

Marketing is a pivotal part of a successful healthcare organization. It is also one of the most expensive and difficult aspects to get right. Organizations often give marketing teams large budgets, yet the results are sometimes nowhere what was expected. SMS marketing enables your practice to create mailing lists of patients to quickly distribute personalized bulk text messages. Automated delivery reports ensure you’re immediately aware of any issues, which you can then rectify.

When it comes to improving patient satisfaction, there are primary areas where HIPAA-compliant text messaging is starting to make a real impact.

There Is A Significant Role Text Messaging Plays In Improving Patient Satisfaction

With text messaging, patients get care faster. Maintaining a constant flow of communication via SMS keeps patients engaged and more likely to follow through with appointments. You can personalize messages with detailed appointment information and allow patients to confirm or reschedule with a single reply. Here’s how patient satisfaction improves through the use of text messaging:

Appointment Scheduling

Missed appointments can be a major headache for healthcare providers because it causes hours of lost time and reduces the number of patients you can see. Online appointment booking allows patients to book when it’s convenient for them. Your online booking system can allow patients to opt in or out of SMS messaging, helping you communicate with them in their preferred way.

Follow-Up Messages

Text messaging can establish better patient care between visits. Sending patients a follow-up text after their appointment can make them feel valued, encouraging them to bring up concerns they forgot to mention to you in person or through virtual appointments. If your patient has an important care decision to make after the consultation, you can send a text message containing a summary of key information that can help them make an informed decision.

Clear And Effective Communication

It is important that your patients are continuously informed. Two-way text messaging allows providers and patients to communicate seamlessly in the palm of their hand. Unlike phone calls, patients can go back to your conversation with them if they happen to forget important information about their appointments, treatment, or prescription. SMS is an efficient, cost-effective solution for improving patient satisfaction because of the ease of communication.

Using text messaging as your primary communication tool can reduce appointment cancellations, patient no-shows, improve health outcomes, practice revenue, patient satisfaction, and more.

Revamp Your Communication System With Curogram’s 2-way Text Messaging

Consistent communication can help your patients be involved in their care journey, evidently improving health outcomes. Curogram’s 2-way text messaging tool is one of the most efficient ways to maintain secure and effective communication. With the help of Curogram’s innovative text messaging solutions, you can help your practice to be more efficient, improve patient satisfaction, and boost your bottom line.

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