Why is the patient experience even more important now than ever for private practice?

In short, it’s what generates reviews for more patients that have the same problems that you can solve. The public is becoming more educated in the options they have and are sourcing reviews prior to scheduling an appointment. “Nearly 80 percent of patients turn to online reviews as the first step when searching for a new physician.” “60% read at least five reviews when researching providers.” More and more practices are figuring out how to put a process in place to ask for reviews as part of their operations. They are even taking it one step further to automate sending them out since they are vital for marketing. Reviews are turning into the top of the marketing funnel for private practice.?

For patients to write reviews they have to emotionally connect to the experience. This means from first touch point to first interaction to meeting the staff/doctor and then the final checkout. This is for every visit as well. Doctors' offices are reviewed the same as restaurants are and the service is paramount. Meeting our patients when and where they want to be met. The world of social media and concierge medicine has exploded. Response times and availability must match for a prospective patient to turn into a real patient.?

Response times need to be less than 5 minutes and the preferred way is by text message (SMS). Patients do not want to wait to have to speak to someone. They would prefer a chatbot to respond quicker than wait for a human. With the advances in technology, multiple studies have shown that AI powered chatbots provide better and more consistent, empathetic responses. After the initial communication, patients would like to be able to book online and choose the time that’s available for them. This gives them the control over their appointments.?

With these appointments, patients expect reminders to come to their email and phone. This helps them prioritize what they previously committed to and also decreases no shows to the clinics. Along with the appointment reminders, patients want to fill out their forms electronically on their time so the appointment time is not extended with paperwork. With the paperwork being filled out prior to the appointment, it allows the staff/doctor to prep for the patient's visit. The wave of the future is to deliver pre-appointment content related to their problem or interest. This will also cut down the repetitive content needed to be discussed for appointments (ie healthy diet and exercise).

With all the repetitive activity of paperwork and basic content related to the issue(s), it leaves more time to deliver patient specialized care for their problem or interest. This interaction creates more time for understanding and a bond to trust the treatment plan. With the trust with the practice, the patient is more likely to follow the treatment plan. Trust alone does not achieve the optimal outcome. It is also in the follow up for the patient by the clinic. This can be organized and automated on a cadence that makes adherence inevitable but this comes down to a process in the clinic. Usually this falls onto the patient-care coordinator but now there are options to leverage software to harness the operations. These softwares are powered with AI and automations.

The last step to get reviews from patients to build authority and a brand is the actual asking for the review! This is usually done verbally by the staff and doctor as the patient is leaving or saying “Thank you.” If this is forgotten then best practices are to send a SMS and Email for a review request within 15 minutes of checkout. Some practices have this incorporated into the check out process. The experience does not end here. Patients are expecting a quick response and these response times and responses are also crucial for search engine optimization (SEO) for the practice.?

To create the expected patient experience requires intention by the practices to meet patients where and how they want to be treated. Leveraging technology with AI and automations is the way of the future since patients are demanding it and the workforce is shrinking. The patient experience is crucial to growing and scaling a private practice in this day and age and is reflected in public reviews and word-of-mouth referrals.???

Currently, this has been my experience with analyzing practices coast-to-coast on our platform of Ad Vital. It is a customer relationship management (CRM) that integrates with electronic medical records (EMR’s). This allows the business intelligence needed to compete in the marketplace of private practice.