Most Effective Patient Engagement Trends That You Cannot Miss

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Most Effective Patient Engagement Trends That You
Cannot Miss
Has your practice embraced the latest patient
engagement trends? Or are you still waiting for
life to return to normal after COVID-19? One
thing you should know for certain is that
patients arent waiting. Theyre already living a
new normal and demanding frictionless access to
care. They want to engage with relevant, timely,
informative content that helps them make better
decisions about their health. According to
Patient Engagement HIT, 50 of healthcare
consumers say that their health worsened during
the pandemic, and 83 say they are ready to make
health and wellness improvements. 61 want better
patient engagement. If your practice wants to
attract a wider audience, increase engagement,
and grow by embracing patient engagement trends
that cater to the new normal then this article
will help. What is Patient Engagement? Patient
engagement simply means encouraging patients to
take action and make informed decisions about
their own health. Engaged patients are more
likely to practice positive behavior like taking
charge of their health and making decisions about
their symptoms, illnesses, and treatment options.
Engaged patients are also three times less likely
to have unmet medical needs, and twice as likely
to seek care in a timely manner when compared to
unengaged patients. What Are the Benefits of
Patient Engagement?
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• The main benefits are increased knowledge and
  understanding that encourages patients to become
  actively engaged in their health and healthcare
  choices, which can lead to improved care and
  fewer ER visits.
• In addition to improving care, patient engagement
  can have financial benefits for your practice as
  it reduces no-shows, helps increase revenue, and
  helps maintain your patient base. Collaborating
  and engaging with patients in the decision-making
  process, you can make better decisions regarding
  your patients health, improving the patient-
  provider relationship, and increasing overall
  patient retention.
• Why Does Patient Engagement Matter?
• Consider the importance of patient engagement in
  healthcare. It matters because patients expect
  more. They expect more information to make
  educated decisions, more transparency about costs
  and treatment options, more in-office amenities,
  and more open communication with their providers.
  If your practice isnt paying attention to
  current patient engagement trends, your patients
  will shop around until they find one that does.
• Here Are 8 Patient Engagement Trends to Watch
• 1. Digital interactions are becoming the norm
• As frequent digital interactions become normal
  and out-of-pocket medical costs continue to rise,
  more patients are using health information to
  make informed decisions. Healthcare practices
  need to provide value and convenience. This means
  driving patient engagement through increased
  access to high-value communications, price
  transparency, high-quality amenities, and strong
  online capabilities, including
• A helpful website and local Google Business
  Profiles

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• Educational content for social media and blogs
• Fast, easy, online appointment scheduling
• Timely physician-patient email communications
• Secure, online patient portal access to health
  records
• Online bill-pay capabilities
• 2. Health equality is getting prioritized
• The COVID-19 pandemic spotlighted persistent,
  significant inequalities in health outcomes for
  various patient populations, geographic
  locations, communities, and individuals. As a
  result, healthcare organizations must prioritize
  health equity and address common barriers to
  access by partnering with patients and
  communities via more effective programs and
  digital tools. Practices that integrate health
  equity into their marketing strategies and
  business operations will lead the way.

3. Better communications are becoming
normal Healthcare consumers want deeper
patient-provider connections and more accessible,
responsive, and strategic communications. They
want on-demand customer service tools such as
live chat and online appointment scheduling. They
want to be better informed about new or
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• emerging health information through regular email
  messages and blogs from providers.
• Mobile devices are shaping patient healthcare
  experience
• According to Pew Research, 85 of American adults
  have a smartphone. Smartphone ownership has
  increased rapidly since 2011 when it was just
  35. And mobile devices are enhancing patient
  experience in healthcare.
• Patient experiences includes every online,
  offline, and in-person interaction with a
  healthcare practice from their first inquiry to
  how theyre treated during the admissions
  process, to provider communication, follow-up
  services, and billing. A successful patient
  experience is about building a foundation that
  keeps them motivated and more fully engaged.
• Mobile devices like tablets and smartphones will
  continue empowering providers, enhancing patient
  care, and improving patient outcomes as more
  practices, hospitals, and health systems embrace
  mobile technologies and software solutions. These
  tools improve patient engagement and education by
  allowing doctors and nurses to spend time
  answering informed, specific questions about
  diseases, conditions, treatments, or procedures.
• Automation is supporting a more engaging patient
  healthcare experience
• Medical practices continue prioritizing
  automation and digital technologies for enhancing
  patient experience in healthcare. From clinical
  trials and routine doctor visits to surgical
  procedures and rehabilitation, virtual health
  care and automated digital systems encourage
  deeper patient engagement with physicians and
  boost

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• patient satisfaction. Here are just a few ways
  automation continues to enhance the patient
  experience
• Faster online appointment scheduling
• Complete, consistent, and error-free digital
  health records
• On-demand access to digital health records
• More timely and accurate medical interventions
• Faster physician response time
• Automated record-keeping
• Physician-patient collaboration is improving
• As patients take more control of their
  healthcare, physicians should embrace closer
  collaboration and encourage greater patient
  engagement and shared decision-making during each
  phase of their care, including
• Prevention
• Diagnostic testing
• Education
• Treatment
• Post-surgical recovery and rehabilitation
• Wellness

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• Improved retention strategies are supporting
  deeper patient engagement
• Improved access to care through mobile solutions,
  hybrid care models such as telehealth and pop-up
  satellite clinics, and digital automation
  technologies can all help healthcare practices
  develop deeper patient relationships. Your
  practice should consider using these retention
  strategies to keep current patients onboard
• Introduce more automated processes
• Respond to reviews quickly and professionally
• Stay on schedule to reduce wait times
• Train your front-office medical staff on customer
  service
• Deliver clear, consistent communications to build
  trust
• Finally
• If you altered your practice operations and
  embraced virtual and digital resources at the
  start of the pandemic, its time to take a fresh
  look at the latest patient engagement trends and
  implement digitally connected,

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patient-focused, virtual care services that
enhance engagement throughout the patient
experience. Its time for healthcare practices
to embrace these trends and meet their patients
expectations or risk losing them to competitors.
To learn more about patient engagement, look to
one of the best healthcare marketing agency.