For healthcare providers facing growing competition and growing expectations from patients, a robust patient engagement strategy is essential. There are five key factors that healthcare leaders must consider in order to be successful.
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Traditional healthcare providers are facing two major challenges to their future success. The first is consumer expectations and the second is pressure from new entrants coming in to fulfill those expectations. To stay relevant and competitive, traditional healthcare providers need a robust patient engagement strategy.
Here are five factors essential to creating that.
Patients are consumers, and their search for healthcare, like other products and services, will start online. The first step in an effective digital patient engagement strategy is attracting patients with easily-accessible digital information about the provider’s services, tools, and uses that set the organization apart from others. Make sure it is easy and convenient to learn more.
Patients come from all sorts of backgrounds. A successful digital engagement strategy should address different languages, literacy levels, and accommodations for special needs. Patients who feel included are more likely to trust the organization and its care teams.
Many patients face barriers that can be alleviated with an inclusive digital strategy – from translation services to logistical challenges – ensuring patients can access and understand important health information when they come to a website and use digital tools.
Patients do not always know how to support a healthy life and access healthcare. They also may be confused along the way as each healthcare journey can vary in complexity.
Proactive text-based communication can help patients can stay engaged, receive helpful reminders, and access valuable information when needed.
Delivering a prompt that a patient is due for a flu shot or a mammogram is important. Combining that prompt with easy-to-understand information about how to access these services, why they are important, and the potential negative impact of neglecting the services will make that prompt much more impactful. Engaging patients along the way with information from trusted sources builds loyalty, improves satisfaction, and helps patients achieve the best outcomes possible.
Patients want the conveniences of today’s digital world, as well as the personalized experience of traditional healthcare. A digital patient engagement platform that can be tailored to the user — iterating and adjusting according to patient needs, preferences, and unique journeys — is crucial to attracting and retaining today’s healthcare consumers.
To achieve sustained engagement, patients must see value for themselves. Does engagement help them meet their health goals? Is the information being provided align with their needs? A personalized approach to engagement will help healthcare organizations create a personal connection with patients, support retention, create loyalty, and increase satisfaction.
Today’s patients are savvy consumers. An effective digital strategy will make information and services easy and convenient to access and nurture ongoing engagement to build trust and loyalty. Effective engagement will result in better outcomes, lower costs, and more satisfied patients.
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