If you adopt it, they will come: How technology in your practice can draw in new patients

How do patients choose health care providers? This is a key question for many health care professionals and one that has a wide range of answers. A study conducted this summer by the Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA) found that, above all, patients seek quality care from their providers. That said, it won’t shock health care providers to hear that cost is a key factor in decision-making. It may, however, be news that only half of patient respondents said they think quality care and cost of care have any correlation.

Health care professionals juggle caseloads with compensation, and it doesn’t take an economics major to come to the conclusion that the more patients a physician treats, the more revenue he or she brings into the organization. Does that balance of more and more patients have to result in a lesser quality of care?

If the answer is no, it may be that technology is the reason why. The generation of cord-cutting and lifehacks — Millennials — is the most likely to shop for providers based on cost, but members of that age group said one thing would trump even cost in their decision. Millennials have grown up with more technology in their pockets than any previous generation. If a health care provider has newer technology, Millennials say they are more likely to choose that physician over his or her competitors with older technology.

WHAT PAIN POINT DOES TECHNOLOGY SOLVE?

Technology tends to make complex tasks simpler and long jobs shorter. When health care providers can hand off or shorten admin tasks, they’re able to then spend more time with patients. For example:

• A provider who adopts a tablet that converts handwriting into editable text saves the physician the time she would have taken to transcribe her notes.
• A provider who adopts policy management software saves the time he would have spent helping a colleague find just the right section of the policy manual.
• A provider who adopts a software to allow his patients to access his notes on their case saves the time he would have spent in a follow-up visit correcting the patient’s memory of next steps toward recovery.
• A provider who adopts self-service and correspondence tools reduces the number of calls the office takes.
• A provider who adopts analytics reports gains a better understanding of demand and available resources.

The recent HIDA study shows health care providers can woo some prospective patients with just having technology for technology’s sake. That said, a physician can benefit from the right technology, and so can his or her patients, when it saves administrative time and increases face-to-face physician/patient time.

HOW CAN POLICYSTAT HELP ATTRACT NEW PATIENTS?

As mentioned above, policy management software can save your organization valuable time, not to mention stress.

Our blazing fast search tool with typo corrections helps you find policies quickly, and automated periodic review reminders, approval routing, integrated collaboration, electronic signatures and powerful reporting help you keep policies up-to-date and help you maintain compliance. You won’t feel the mental strain when it comes to accreditation surveys, and because our software is web-based, you don’t need to install anything on your devices, minimizing the burden on your IT staff.

When patients interact with happier health care professionals who can devote more time to face-to-face encounters, they’ll in turn be happy to refer your organization to their friends and family, and you’ll enjoy the growth of your organization.

How do you currently attract new patients? Share your stories on our Facebook page.