While your long standing baby-boomer patients are important, the current standard method of practice caters to only one sect of potential clientele. Millennial patients may seem unreachable and nonsensical at times, but they operate on a pretty simple to understand method of communication. Their world is online. For this reason, you need to make your practice attainable via web search. Remind patients to write reviews, take surveys, and recommend your practice via yelp and google. Sometimes your online presence takes some trial and error to really perfect. Studies show as many as 72% of patients use online reviews as their first step to finding a healthcare provider (1). This is where you need to be sure to mention online reviews to every patient. Specific services exist just to help you streamline the electronic communications with patients. These services have messaging features that can be set up to create wait-lists for appointments, automatically schedule appointments for patients, and text and communicate with patients on your behalf to remind them of appointment times or balances due. Millennial patients love this type of communication, and are more likely to reply or comply with requests made via text.
Remember the 2 2 2 rule. You should be sending your patients reminder messages two weeks prior to their appointment, two days prior, and two hours prior. Patients are busy! Extra short SMS reminders effectively help patients manage their time and respect yours. These patient communication services can also be set up to send patients surveys immediately following their appointment. Most of them include algorithms that will redirect patients to Yelp! or Facebook to leave a review when they score a survey highly, or to send your practice an email with suggestions when they rate your practice lowly. This helps ensure that you receive feedback and ideas to better serve patients, and that the patients who loved your practice will be encouraged to leave positive reviews. Don’t forget to personally respond to as many reviews as possible, especially the negative ones. Patients read replies from businesses, and they take into account who is apologetic and offering solutions to problems.
You should also encourage patients to use your website to access an online patient portal, where they can fill out new patient paperwork, request and schedule appointments, pay account balances, and communicate with their doctors. Millennials love streamlining their appointments and limiting their time making phone calls or physically being in the office. They love the convenience of taking care of their healthcare right from home. This assists in streamlining their examination as well. The patients can update their portal, show up right at the time of their appointment, be called back quickly, and be prepared with proper documents and payments after being reminded via text or email prior to their appointment.
Last but not least, keep the office environment light hearted and polite. Millennials may seem nonsensical, but their phones aren’t just attached to their hands; they are actually communicating with all of your patients contacts simultaneously via social media. Millennials are very big on appearances, they want to share experiences with their friends on social media, and they want every experience to be an event. Everytime a patient tags an experience, for example, “I love #groceryshopping! Thanks #walmart!” they are providing the company they are tagging with free advertisement. You should really encourage your patients to do this for you! Make it fun with a “photobooth” in the corner with cute easy DIY props they can hold in photos, with a fun hashtag like “#Ivebeenframed!” or “#finallyinfocus.” Encourage them to post their new eyewear, or tag your office when they are waiting to be called back for an appointment. You can make your office environment more appealing to millennial patients by avoiding tons of clutter in your showroom. Try decorating with only a few statement pieces, and keep everything clean. You can have a TV playing different promotions in the showroom!
Remember, millennials are still people who care about quality healthcare. They want to be heard, they want to feel valued, and they want to feel cared for above all. Provide all patients with excellent customer service, and listen to patient feedback! With a little help from Sol Operation Solutions, you will be ahead of the curve in no time.
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