Strategies/Ways to Improve Patient Retention

We all know that patients are an integral part of the healthcare/medical industry. Healthcare services exist in order to provide these patients the kind of support they need when facing health-related issues. Needless to say, it is highly important for one to retain its patient base and keep improving it. 

Patient retention is the process of engaging existing patients to continue with the practices of a particular healthcare facility. In simple terms, it means that the patients keep coming back to avail the same medical facility over and over again.

Why is Patient Retention Important?

As much as it is important to acquire new patients, it is equally important to keep your existing ones interested as they help in the success of your healthcare practice for the long term. Experts say that acquiring new patients cost more. The healthcare company’s reputation is also affected if the customers switch to their competitors. Also, the existing clients tend to recommend your services to their relatives or friends. This helps you to acquire new patients and this ensures profit as well. 

How to Improve Patient Retention?

Acquiring new patients might be easier than retaining the existing ones. It is often hard to keep them interested in your practices if your competitor did a better job at attracting them. You can follow some strategies to improve patient retention. Listed below are five of them:

1. Patient Satisfaction – The first and foremost way to make a patient come back is by giving them the utmost satisfaction by delivering excellent services. Whenever a patient steps into an office their expectation isn’t limited to just the solution to their health issues. You, as well as your staff, should display the proper attitude, respect, and compassion even. Also when the process is systematic and long waiting hours are not involved, it makes the customer experience better. These few things give the patient a reason to return.
2. Leverage Feedbacks – Feedbacks are always valuable. Gaining feedback from your patients helps in more ways than one. Though not all feedback might be positive it helps you to identify the areas where you are lacking and work on them. This not only helps to improve the quality of the services but also builds the patients’ trust because they feel more valued and empowered. Positive feedbacks also create a reputation for the company. This can be done by sending out surveys to the patient or even just asking questions before they leave the office premises.
3. Operating Digitally – Now that the world is getting used to the new norm of operating virtually, the medical world has adopted such changes as well. With mobile applications customized especially for health, the patients can easily access services like billing or monitoring finances, or even ordering medicines. Most people nowadays prefer to schedule appointments online. Though it should be ensured that the applications or websites are easy to use and convenient. You can even use automated appointment reminders to remind the patient about their appointments. This makes the patient more inclined to use your services. 
4. Educating Patients – The healthcare industry is becoming more patient-centric and prioritizing patient education. Keeping your patients well-informed about their condition and treatments increases their confidence in you. You can do so verbally when the patient is visiting you. You can even ask your patients to visit your blog or connect with you on social media; where you can post about topics related directly to the patient’s treatment or even general tips about health. This basically acts as a platform to showcase your knowledge and expertise and your patient’s trust in you grows.
5. Stay in Touch – Engaging with patients beyond the walls of your office is one way to stay connected with them. It could be through any of their preferred mode of communication— through phone call or message or even email. It is a good practice to reach out to the patients beyond the appointments or even after they have recovered, and ask about their well-being. This makes them feel that they matter and in the future if they ever need to seek a healthcare solution, they will surely come back to you. 

Though these strategies sure do help, they don’t provide instant results. You have to continue giving the best of your services and maintain doing so. As they say ‘‘the first impression is the last impression”, you should start early and make a lasting impression on the first visit itself. 

Thank you for reading the article. I hope it was well informed. In case you want any information regarding the medical billing process, kindly contact us. Team SYANTHY will be happy to help you and make your work easier. It will be our immense pleasure if you give your valuable feedback in the comment section. Please share this article with your loved ones and professional circle if you like it.