How to Cultivate New Patient Engagement Strategies

Have you ever thought about the costs that more of your patients are having to pay out of pocket? The cost of the average deductible is rising higher than ever. This is a patient engagement trend that is certainly not escaping the attention of your base. They can be left wondering whether a practice owner is aware of this type of change. 

Patient Engagement Translates to Improved Customer Experience

As noted above, it’s no secret that your patients are now being asked to spend a great deal of their own income on healthcare. Much of this will tend to come in the form of a much higher initial deductible. As a result, they are desirous of a much higher level of care. This includes the manner in which you deal with them as your patients.

Some of the demands that they are making can be considered integral components of the patient engagement process. For example, many are asking for a more accessible and transparent level of care from the healthcare practices that they patronize. This means they want a higher level of service that is personalized to meet their needs.

The average patient would very much like to go on to the web in order to find answers to their symptoms. They want to diagnose a possible illness and then find second and third opinions. They would also like to talk with medical experts with no initial obligation. On top of all this, their level of patience is lower than ever before.

It will be up to you to devise a marketing strategy that can take all of these changes into account. You need to give your patients a great deal more for the money that they pay upfront. This can start by giving them a higher level of customer service that begins with a better reception at your site. Increased accessibility will be the key. 

You Can Use Technology to Improve Engagement

Patient engagement is a strategy that you ought to be mastering in order to pursue at a high level. The first thing you need to understand is that you can use a wide host of new tech to do so. A whole new series of integrations are making it easier for you to connect with your patients. This includes record storage and instant communication.

You can make use of this new tech in a wide variety of ways. You can gather and store info while also harvesting opinions and other valuable bits of info. These can include basic patient engagement, virtual care, and digital patient experiences. With the aid of this tech, you can soon make patient engagement more efficient and cost effective. 

Adapting to Consumerization is a Must

The increasing consumerization of modern healthcare is a trend that seems set to continue into the very far future. You can seize this chance to modernize and upgrade your patient engagement strategy. One of the best things you can do will be to improve the mobility and navigability of your website. This will improve your initial appeal. 

Keep in mind that you need to optimize your site not only for casual PC and laptop viewing but also for cell phone users. In fact, the vast majority of people who land on your site will be doing so via their phone. This means that your site needs to be fully optimized for this perspective. 

The last thing to consider is an upgrade to the basic SEO you are currently making use of. You want to try to show up at the top of the results for searches that involve terms such as “nearby” and “instant” care. Accessibility and convenience are the terms you want to emphasize.

It’s Time to Form Your Patient Engagement Strategy

There is no time like the present to get started on forming an efficient strategy for patient engagement. The best news of all is that you won’t have to do it on your own. Best Edge Medical Marketing is here to help you customize an approach that is suited to your unique needs. Get in touch with us today to learn more about what we can do.