As the healthcare industry continues innovating and introducing new breakthrough treatments, one thing remains constant: the importance of building and maintaining strong relationships with patients. Successful patient relationship management is essential for creating positive patient experiences, improving outcomes in your practice, and achieving long-term success through retention.
This is where patient engagement strategies come into play, as they can help improve patient satisfaction and overall experience.
To help you boost your own patient engagement, we will explore some of the most effective patient engagement strategies for urgent care facilities to implement this year.
By prioritizing patient engagement, urgent care facilities can create a more welcoming environment for patients.
In the oftentimes sterile medical environment of urgent cares, it can be tough for patients to feel at ease. That’s why creating a welcoming environment is such an important patient engagement strategy. Adding some decorative flair around the office and greeting patients with a big smile can go a long way.
Creating a transparent and informative dialogue is important for patient engagement both in and out of the office. During a visit, make sure that all the patient’s questions are being fully addressed so that they feel heard. After their visit, sending a follow-up text or email is a great way to keep the line of communication open.
The decision-making process can be difficult for patients as their health is often on the line. Providing your patients with the necessary resources to make an informed decision is key to strengthening patient engagement.
One of the most important things you can do to better patient engagement in your urgent care is simply provide passionate care. Remember, many patients you see are going through a medical situation which may have them frightened and stressed. Being compassionate during your examination and treatment is crucial for establishing positive relationships with patients.
Using technological solutions to remove the burden of administrative tasks from your staff will help them spend more time on patient care. Automating tasks such as sending out prescriptions, filing paperwork and checking patients in can help your staff spend their energy on more important areas.
Making it as simple and streamlined as possible for patients to schedule appointments and be seen by a doctor is a must when you’re looking to improve patient engagement in your urgent care. Here are some tools that you can use to make the appointment process a breeze for patients:
Besides software solutions geared for urgent cares, you can use some more common technologies to connect with patients. Social media is a great way to provide patients with information they need and direct them to your website.
Staying in touch with patients through appointment reminders and follow up messages is key for increasing retention rates. Your practice can easily use technology to make sure that patients remember their appointments and are followed up with to ensure they had a positive visit.
Surveys and online reviews are very effective for understanding the patient experience through the patient’s eyes. By collecting valuable feedback, you can better assess where your practice is thriving and what areas could be improved upon.
Since the pandemic, people are more wary than ever to be cooped up inside an office with other sick people. Luckily, there are a number of software-driven tools that let you meet with patients virtually so that they can receive care without having to leave home.
It’s important to make sure that your staff is well-equipped to handle any situation and create a positive experience for patients. Regularly training staff on best practices and encouraging them to create positive interactions is the best way to ensure that patients leave your urgent care satisfied.
Sharing patient feedback with your staff can also help to make sure that they’re aware of which areas need more development and where they’re succeeding.
One of the best strategies for bettering patient engagement is by utilizing the technology available to you. ER Express offers software solutions tailored to urgent cares and emergency departments so that you can provide the best patient experience possible while reducing burdens on your staff.
To get started, request a demo with our team today.
As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, one thing remains constant: the importance of building and maintaining strong relationships with patients. Successful patient relationship management is essential for creating positive patient experiences, improving outcomes in your practice, and achieving long-term success through retention.
In this guide, we’ll explore how you can truly understand the patient experience, as well as the key strategies and best practices for building and maintaining strong patient relationships in your practice.
The first and most important step in truly understanding the patient experience is to see things from their point of view. How would you like to be greeted and treated throughout your potentially stressful visit to a doctors office?
As you can probably imagine, patients want to feel heard, understood, and valued. On top of providing top-notch service in the office, this can also be accomplished outside the office by providing responsive communication and offering patients ways to engage with your organization through online portals, emails, chats, and texts.
You can also leverage feedback tools like online surveys or reviews to hear what they think of their experience at your facility and see what you can improve on in the future.
When a patient is being seen in your office, they want to feel heard. That’s why communication is so important. Listening to their concerns and communicating with clear and concise language can go a long way in building a successful patient relationship.
The last thing that a patient wants is to be treated in a cold and unwelcoming office. It’s important to create an environment in your office that puts patients at ease. This is not only limited to the physical environment, but also making sure that your staff are welcoming, kind and attentive throughout the visit.
One of the most common annoyances that can put a strain on patient relationships is long waits. Making sure that patients are seen in a timely manner is crucial for successful patient relationship management.
There are a number of tools such as online check-ins, digital queuing and virtual waiting rooms which help to ensure that no patient is waiting too long to be seen.
When you’re treating patients, it’s important to be thinking in terms of their long-term health. One great way that you can show this is by offering them education and resources that they can use to stay healthy and better manage their conditions down the road.
Each patient that walks through your door has their own set of concerns, needs and conditions. When you’re seeing a patient, be sure to cater your care to their unique preferences and healthcare goals so that they don’t feel like “just another patient”.
There are a number of digital tools out there that enable organizations to prioritize tasks, streamline their workflows, and create more quality time to spend caring for patients directly. Here are some of the most effective types of software that will help you manage both your practice and patient relationships with ease.
Being able to maintain successful patient relationships is just as important as forming them in the first place. Promptly addressing all of your patients’ concerns as they go through their medical journey is crucial for maintaining a positive relationship.
Keeping a line of communication both in and out of the office is important for both developing and maintaining successful patient relationships. By sending regular (but not too often) texts or emails, it keeps your practice top of mind for your patients, while showing that you care about them outside of the office too.
Reaching out to patients after a visit can go a long way. This shows patients that you are invested in their health and are available for any additional concerns.
ER Express is the leading developer of patient engagement software solutions for urgent cares and emergency departments. Whether it’s a virtual waiting room or digital queuing system, ER Express’ software solutions allow your practice to develop and manage successful patient relationships with ease.
To learn more, request a demo with us today
Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) have revolutionized the way healthcare providers deliver care, enabling them to streamline administrative tasks, reduce medical errors, and improve patient outcomes. To receive the most value from your investment in this software, however, a strategic approach to integrating them into your organizational workflow is required.
When an EMR is properly integrated into your organization, you can experience numerous benefits like improved communication across departments, greater collaboration, and a better experience for your patients.
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about successful EMR integration. Before you can begin the process, we’ll need to cover the types of integrations that you can choose from.
When you’re choosing how to integrate your EMR into your tech suite, there are three methods that you can choose from: Standard, custom, and hybrid.
A standard integration involves integrating an EMR in a pre-developed, as-is format. This requires the least amount of time and effort to implement, but for some organizations, it may prove too limiting depending on the complexity of the other systems it is integrating with.
Conversely, a custom integration involves a longer development process to integrate, but it opens more abilities to fine-tune settings and performance features. For a completely custom integration, one major consideration to account for is its complexity. Will it be too difficult for an average staff member at your organization to use effectively?
A third option is to take a hybrid approach. This would include integrating an EMR with many of its standard features intact and a handful of customizations added. For many organizations, a hybrid integration can be viewed as a happy medium between the other two.
EMR integration refers to the process of connecting different healthcare systems, including EMRs, clinical applications, billing systems, and analytics systems, to achieve interoperability. Interoperability is the ability of different systems to communicate and exchange data with each other, regardless of the platform or language used.
EMR integration refers to the process of connecting different healthcare systems, including EMRs, clinical applications, billing systems, and analytics systems, to achieve interoperability. Interoperability is the ability of different systems to communicate and exchange data with each other, regardless of the platform or language used.
In general, organizations can expect to receive the following benefits from a successful EMR integration:
Better Decision-Making: EMR integration enables healthcare providers to access patient data in real-time, allowing them to make more informed decisions that can, in turn, improve patient outcomes. It also reduces the risk of medical errors and ensures that patients receive coordinated and consistent care.
Increased Efficiency: EMR integration reduces administrative tasks, such as manual data entry and duplicate testing, enabling providers to focus on patient care. It also streamlines workflow and reduces the time and effort required to access patient data.
Cost Savings: EMR integration reduces costs associated with manual data entry, duplicate testing, and inefficient workflows. It also enables organizations to optimize their resources, reduce staff workload, and improve revenue cycle management.
Better Analytics and Reporting: EMR integration enables healthcare organizations to collect and analyze data from multiple sources, allowing them to identify trends, patterns, and opportunities for improvement. It also enables organizations to generate more accurate and comprehensive reports, improving decision-making and regulatory compliance.
Before embarking on EMR integration, healthcare organizations need to consider several key factors to ensure the success of the integration. These factors include:
EMR integration is a complex process that involves several stages, including planning, design, development, testing, and deployment.
The planning phase involves defining the scope of the integration, identifying the systems to be integrated, and establishing the project timeline. Organizations need to engage stakeholders early in the planning process to ensure that the new EMR system meets the needs of all involved.
The design phase requires creating a detailed plan for integration, including the data mapping, workflow, and user interface. The design phase should take into consideration the scalability and flexibility of the integration and ensure that the integration meets the security and compliance requirements of the organization.
Once the EMR has been integrated into your organizational workflow, training and onboarding need to occur. Once the system has been activated on intended devices across all departments, take the time to train your employees on how to use it effectively and have your IT staff remain available for any follow up questions as it becomes adopted across the entire organization.
As your organization uses the EMR system, ask them to provide ongoing feedback regarding its features, convenience, and functionality. Does it continue to provide its intended benefits? Are there any additional features that your staff is asking for?
To ensure the success of EMR integration, healthcare organizations should follow best practices from engaging stakeholders to ongoing monitoring and evaluation.
First, start by engaging all stakeholders early in the planning process. Provide plenty of advance notice to your staff regarding when the EMR integration will roll out, what they can do to prepare, and invite any follow-up questions that individuals may have.
Next, establish objective and transparent governance policies. These can include standards for storing data, procedures for handling data, and what qualifies as acceptable quality, consistency, and accuracy.
Thirdly, select the integration method that best fits their needs, based on factors such as cost, scalability, and customization. As mentioned above, the three types of integrations to choose from include standard, custom, and hybrid.
Finally, organizations should regularly monitor and evaluate the integration to identify any issues and make necessary adjustments. They should also collect feedback from users to ensure that the integration is meeting their needs.
At ER Express, we develop a diverse range of EMR-enabled solutions like virtual waiting, digital patient queuing, digital intake, and online check-ins for emergency departments and urgent care organizations. To learn more about how you can streamline your workflow at your own facility, request a demo with us today.
The importance of patient safety in high acuity care facilities, such as emergency departments, cannot be overstated, as medical errors and adverse events can result in serious harm to patients and their families, as well as significant financial costs for healthcare facilities. Therefore, it is essential to understand the risks associated with high-acuity care, the impact of medical errors on patients and healthcare facilities, and strategies for improving patient safety in these settings.
In this guide, we are going to highlight some of the common risks in high acuity care facilities as well as some potential strategies to navigate them. First, let’s dive deeper on the importance of patient safety in these environments.
Patient safety is critical in high acuity care facilities because medical errors and adverse events can have severe consequences for patients and healthcare facilities. The impact of medical errors on patients and their families can be devastating, leading to long-term physical and emotional consequences, decreased quality of life, and increased healthcare costs.
For healthcare facilities, medical errors can result in lawsuits, fines, and damage to their reputation. These risks can also increase operating costs and place greater strain on resources as a result.
The risks associated with high acuity care are numerous and can result in serious harm to patients. These risks include medication errors, surgical errors, infections, falls, and other adverse events. The complexity of medical conditions and treatments in high acuity care facilities makes these environments particularly vulnerable to medical errors.
For example, medication errors can occur due to the mishandling of high-risk medications, such as chemotherapy drugs or anticoagulants. The risk of medication errors is higher in high acuity care facilities as patients may require multiple medications and complex dosing regimens.
Surgical errors can also happen due to the complexity of surgical procedures and the need for precise coordination between surgical teams. Without a single point of communication, surgeons may not have a reliable record of which procedures have already been performed on a specific patient.
As a final example, infections can spread rapidly in high acuity care facilities due to the high volume of patients with weakened immune systems. Without proper coordination between staff and external providers, this risk can increase exponentially.
There are several strategies that healthcare facilities can implement to improve patient safety in emergency department settings. The following are some strategies that have been shown to be effective:
Safety protocols can include the use of checklists, the standardization of medication orders, and the use of patient safety rounds to identify potential risks. Protocols and standards provide healthcare professionals with an objective, transparent, and systematic approach to care that helps reduce the risk of medical errors.
Staff training and education can help improve patient safety by ensuring that healthcare professionals are knowledgeable and skilled in managing complex medical conditions. Staff training can include ongoing education and training programs, simulations, and mentorship programs.
The use of technology and automation can help reduce the risk of medical errors by providing real-time data on patient conditions and treatments. For example, an online referral system can assist external providers and internal departments with maintaining a more accurate continuity of care between facilities. By uploading necessary documentation in a secure environment, the referring organization can provide a complete record of medications, surgical procedures, and other aspects of treatment to avoid unnecessary duplication.
Communication is essential in high-acuity care settings to ensure that healthcare professionals work collaboratively to provide the best possible care for patients. Improving communication can include implementing a standardized handoff process, promoting interprofessional collaboration, and providing opportunities for staff to debrief and discuss patient care.
Beyond internal operations, having a digital solution in place for external providers to access can also prove instrumental in patient treatment. For example, if a primary care provider can access information during their patient’s stay in your emergency department, they can better prepare to continue treating them once they have been discharged.
Engaging patients and families can include providing education and support, involving them in care planning, and encouraging them to ask questions and provide feedback. Keeping patients and their loved ones updated on the latest developments in their treatment can help increase confidence in your organization and allow for more collaborative decision-making regarding care options.
At ER Express, we develop innovative solutions for high acuity care environments like emergency departments to streamline their communication and workflow operations, resulting in better collaboration and improved patient experience. To learn more, request a demo with us today.
As a healthcare administrator, you know that marketing your medical practice can be a major challenge with a limited budget and resources. By getting creative and utilizing modern technology, however, you may be surprised by the effectiveness of some cost-effective or even free methods for promoting your medical practice.
Today, we’ll outline 8 effective strategies for boosting patient engagement without having to break the bank on ad budgets. While not all strategies will work for every practice, you can review them and consider which ones might work best for you!
One of the best and simplest organic marketing strategies for growing a medical practice is to use social media. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are free to use and can serve as excellent channels to showcase your credibility and knowledge about relevant medical topics.
By creating quality content and using relevant trending hashtags, you can also reach a large number of people who may be interested in your services. Additionally, you can use social media platforms like LinkedIn to connect with other healthcare providers in your community and build referral relationships.
Another great method to grow your medical practice without an ad budget is to focus on patient referrals. When patients have a positive experience at your practice, they are likely to tell their friends and family about it.
You can encourage patient referrals by providing excellent customer service and offering incentives for patients who refer new patients to your practice. Remember, patients may not remember the specific details of a procedure performed on them, but they will remember how they were treated and how they felt after leaving your office.
Medical practices serve their local communities. One of the most effective strategies to raise awareness for your organization is to introduce yourself to the same people who would schedule appointments with you. This can be accomplished through community outreach.
By participating in local events, donating to local charities, and partnering with other businesses in your community, you can increase awareness of your practice and attract new patients. Additionally, outreach initiatives can also help you build and nurture relationships with referring physicians and other healthcare providers in your area.
Unlike digital marketing or advertising, public relations focuses on generating positive press coverage for a business or organization. Securing coverage with local media outlets can help to increase your brand awareness and create a positive perception with members of the community.
Generating press coverage can be accomplished through multiple strategies. Some in-house options could include hosting events, participating in charitable activities, and winning awards. If you do not have time to manage all of this on your own, you could also hire a local public relations agency in your area to assist you.
When potential patients are searching for medical treatment online, they are likely starting with a search engine like Google or Bing. A search like “Emergency department near me” can generate listings of local EDs in someone’s area within seconds.
Though Google does offer paid advertising options to help your organization appear higher on search engine results pages (SERPs), many users view organic listings as more authoritative. By ranking higher in SERPs, you can increase your website visibility and draw more visitors to your site. Additionally, you can use SEO to target specific keywords that potential patients are searching for online.
In practice, though, SEO encompasses multiple strategies and not just a single tactic. From introducing new keyword-rich content to your website to obtaining high-quality backlinks, optimizing the technical elements of your site, and more, you can start to compete for desirable keywords in your area.
While content marketing can serve as part of an SEO strategy in the form of blog posts and updates to core pages of your website, it can also prove an effective standalone tactic as well. With assets like eBooks, whitepapers, and brochures, you can demonstrate your knowledge of important topics while also providing a valuable reference for your patients.
No matter what type of content you’re producing, the most important tip to keep in mind is to be helpful first. Offer real information that can satisfy the person reading it instead of simply using it to promote your own practice.
YouTube has become a powerful platform for medical practices to market themselves. Not only can a medical practice create videos discussing the latest treatments and technologies, but it can also create content that educates viewers on other important aspects of health, such as nutrition, exercise, and preventative care.
Videos on YouTube provide an opportunity for medical practitioners to present information in an engaging and entertaining way. Once uploaded onto a YouTube channel, this content will also become available to a much wider potential patient base than just local referrals alone. A well-curated YouTube channel is an invaluable asset for any medical practice looking to reach potential patients outside its immediate area.
Google reviews are an invaluable tool in the medical field, both for patients and practices. Reviews provide a way for medical providers to interact with current and potential patients on an online platform while also advertising their services. Positive reviews send a message of reliability and trustworthiness to potential patients, who often rely on feedback from other patients when selecting a healthcare facility.
The collected data also provides valuable insight into how clients feel about particular services or even individual staff members, helping medical practices make adjustments and focus their efforts accordingly. Utilizing Google reviews not only allows medical offices to interact with clients but can allow them to market themselves in an extremely effective way.
To start generating more Google reviews, consider placing a QR code on a sheet of paper near your office’s entryway, exit, and at the front desk. Users can simply scan it with their phone camera and follow the link to leave a review of their experience.
Most importantly, once a patient arrives at your practice, the expectations you promote in your marketing materials should match reality. Providing an excellent experience can help generate more return visits and referrals more than any other strategy.
One of the simplest, most efficient, and cost-effective ways to do this is to invest in patient engagement software that allows your patients to interact with your practice prior to their visit. For example, tools like a virtual queuing system, digital intake, and ePrescribing all help patients save time and create more bandwidth for your staff to spend with them.
At ER Express, we are dedicated to innovating the ways that urgent cares, emergency departments, and veterinary practices can engage with their patients and elevate their experience. To help accomplish our mission, we also provide in-depth, personalized marketing strategies to help you reach your goals.
To learn more about our patient engagement software and how we can help you craft a marketing strategy to grow your practice, contact us today.
Urgent care centers are an essential part of the healthcare system. They provide convenient access to medical services for those dealing with minor injuries or illnesses that do not warrant an emergency department visit.
One caveat of these medical practices, however, is that patient volume can rise very quickly, causing significant backups in the waiting room and putting additional stress on employees. It can often be very difficult for clinicians and staff to manage excessive influxes of patients at urgent care facilities.
Fortunately, there are a variety of strategies that administrators can use to reduce wait times and increase efficiency in urgent care facilities while still maintaining a high quality of care for their patients. Let’s take a look at some of these strategies and how they can be implemented in your urgent care.
One of the most effective ways to manage high patient volume in your urgent care is to ensure that your facility has adequate staffing levels. This means having enough physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals on hand to meet the needs of the patient population at its peak. You also need an appropriate number of the front desk and administrative staff to keep the waiting room organized and running smoothly when large influxes of patients arrive.
By employing more staff that are able to quickly process and take care of patients, more patients will have a positive experience in your urgent care.
If possible, you should also have extra staff available so they can be called in as needed when there’s an unexpected surge in patient visits or if a number of staff have to call out for any reason.
You can also use technology to your and your staff’s advantage when dealing with high patient volume. Through the use of a data-driven software application, you can collect essential analytics that paints a better picture of when patient volume is at its highest throughout the week. You can then use these analytics to strategically have more staff on hand at times when you anticipate higher volumes of patients coming in for treatment.
On a similar note, another important strategy for managing high patient volumes is to invest in technology and automation solutions that can help streamline processes and ultimately reduce wait times for patients. For example, digital check-in and intake software can help to reduce long lines by allowing patients to quickly sign in via their mobile phone without having to speak with a receptionist or manually fill out intake forms.
Additionally, electronic health records (EHRs) systems can help speed up documentation processes and make it easier for physicians and nurses to spend more time with their patients instead of being bogged down by paperwork.
Digital queuing is another great technological feature that can prove to be useful in any urgent care. This technology helps patients see how long they have to wait before they are able to be seen. It also allows staff to see how many patients are waiting for treatment in real time so that they are able to plan ahead and budget their time appropriately.
In addition to investing in technology solutions, it’s also important to provide education and information about what services are available at your urgent care center. This helps your patients know what kind of care they can expect when they visit your facility.
Providing educational materials such as in-office brochures or online information can go a long way towards helping both current and prospective patients understand what services you offer so that they’re better prepared when visiting your urgent care. This will give your patients an idea of what kinds of treatments they may need prior to even coming into your office.
On top of that, some patients may see that they are better off going to an emergency room or waiting to see their primary care physician. As a result, this education can aid with both reducing wait times and improving your urgent care’s overall efficiency when it comes to handling high patient volumes.
Effectively managing high patient volumes at your urgent care can seem like a daunting task. However, taking advantage of the right technology solutions can make it easier than ever.
ER Express provides tools such as online check-in, digital patient queuing, and digital patient intake, which make managing urgent care patient volume a breeze.
Get started today by requesting a demo.
Finding new ways to increase revenue can be a struggle for many medical practices. While the primary goal of any healthcare organization is to provide excellent patient care, that cannot be done without a consistent influx of revenue.
There are a number of ways that you can increase the revenue of your medical practice, but no one-size-fits-all approach will work. What may work for a certain practice may not be a great solution for another.
This is why healthcare administrators need to be prepared to tailor their strategies based on individual business needs and emerging trends in an ever-changing marketplace. With that in mind, here are five proven ways that you can improve revenue in your medical practice:
One of the most effective ways to increase your medical practice’s revenue is by increasing the volume of patients that you see. While this is something that is obviously easier said than done, the right combination of targeted marketing and excellent care can do wonders for increasing your practice’s patient volume.
Marketing your practice to a wider audience or offering new and innovative services will help you to attract new patients from previously untargeted demographics. You can also increase your patient volume by offering extended hours or by accepting new insurance plans.
If you want to increase your medical practice revenue, introduce new processes or update current ones to ensure that you are collecting all of the money that you are owed from patients. This means having an efficient collections process in place that is able to conduct the proper communications with patients so that these payments can be completed in a timely fashion.
It is also helpful to work with patients to set up payment plans if necessary. This enables your organization to accommodate any patients who are not able to pay their entire bill upfront by allowing them to pay on a set schedule over time.
Beyond payment plans, you may also want to consider using a third-party billing service to help improve your collections process. This can save valuable time for your current staff and allow a dedicated team to focus on securing outstanding payments.
Making sure that your employees are working efficiently and not spending too much time on any one task is key if you want to increase your revenue. Certain software enables you to track how much time is being spent on each task and assess where efficiency can be increased and where goals are being met. It’s also important to ask questions like:
Understanding the relationship between time spent on tasks and their associated costs can provide you with the objective insights required to make decisions that can improve or optimize processes. It may also highlight a need to upgrade certain tools, equipment, or other resources.
Reducing your expenses is a great way to increase your revenue. The less money that your medical practice is spending, the more money you will be able to gain in revenue.
Take a close look at your budget and see what areas are bloated and can be cut back on. You may be able to save money by negotiating better rates with outside vendors or by doing something as simple as switching to cheaper office supplies. You can also save your practice money by reducing energy costs or by eliminating unnecessary expenses around the building.
Medical practices that take advantage of existing technologies are often able to increase revenue more effectively than those that do not. Investing in technology that can help automate or offset recurring low-level tasks is crucial for allowing your staff to spend more time with patients and focus on improving the visitor experience.
Examples of this can include an electronic health record (EHR) to manage medical records electronically so that less time needs to be spent on manual tasks. An EHR could also allow patients to complete intake forms online so that your staff doesn’t have to spend as much time processing paper documents.
Utilizing the right technology in your medical practice can do wonders for increasing your revenue. When it comes to choosing the perfect software for your practice’s unique needs, ER Express has you covered.
ER Express is an innovator of time-saving and performance-enhancing software solutions for emergency departments and urgent care organizations.
To get started, request a demo today.
With each new year, new marketing trends arise in every industry, and the medical profession is no exception. As the public shifts its attention toward new platforms, how can your organization position itself to meet users where they are most active?
Today’s healthcare landscape is more competitive than ever before. With the rise of telemedicine and other advancements in medical technology, organizations are continuously looking for ways to stand out from their competition. In order to stay ahead of the digital marketing game in 2023 and beyond, it is important for medical organizations to leverage effective digital marketing tactics.
Let’s take a deeper look into some of the best practices that can be used by medical organizations as part of their digital marketing strategy in 2023.
In a report by Forbes, 33% of Gen Zers use TikTok as a trusted source of medical information. Whenever we hear that a social media platform is being frequented for medical insights, it’s easy to cringe at the thought or brush it off as something not worth taking seriously.
Instead, the popularity of video-based platforms like TikTok provides ample opportunities for doctors to share credible, highly specialized medical insights with young people. This can serve to both promote your organization as well as inspire teens and young adults to learn more about their health.
In an environment like the social media ecosphere where anyone can post anything, the need for credible information rises. As a medical professional, sharing accurate and factual information can help to increase medical literacy on platforms where online engagement is at its highest.
Videos that you create on TikTok can also be posted to Instagram in the form of Reels. Reels mimic the format and user features of a TikTok video with some minor differences. You will be able to share the same video across multiple platforms without the labor-intensive process of creating unique creative assets for each one.
Long-form video content can help to showcase your organization’s medical expertise and ease patient anxiety about specific treatments or procedures. If you plan to upload a video lasting over one minute in length, place it on your YouTube channel where lengthy videos remain king.
YouTube videos can also be embedded onto your website. Add them to pages with similar information to add more context and offer an alternative way for your visitors to consume the content you’re presenting.
Unlike a nationwide SEO campaign, local SEO involves optimizing your digital presence to rank highly on organic search results within your geographic region. Some key tactics of local SEO include:
Formerly known as Google My Business, Google Business Profile allows you to upload all relevant information that search users need to know about your healthcare organization. You can upload photos of your facility, business hours, contact information, address information, and much more. You can also collect reviews from patients through Google and respond to them with your profile.
Accurate business information can also be imported into other useful Google tools for patients to easily find your office. For example, address information can be pulled into Google Maps so that people searching on the app can find your location and instantly receive driving directions.
Keep all of your business information up to date on all relevant provider directories. These can include ones specific to the medical profession, such as insurance network listings as well as general ones like Yelp.
If you serve a specific region, use local city, town, and county names in your website copy that potential patients in your area might search for. For example, if you are marketing your urgent care based in St. Louis, Missouri, a keyword to target through your website content could be “Urgent care St. Louis”.
With keywords, it’s important not to shoehorn them in awkward places on your website. Mention local city, town, and county names tastefully throughout your content so that you can add more context for search engine algorithms that are indexing your pages.
Another effective strategy for introducing more local keywords to your website is to set up individual location pages on your website. For example, if you have more than one urgent care location, make a page for each one with their respective business information. If you only operate one location, you can create pages that highlight nearby cities and towns nearby a significant portion of your recent patients live.
Email marketing has reigned as one of the most effective channels for medical organizations for years. Why? Many aspects of patient relations are already conducted over email, such as appointment confirmations and reminders.
Create a short, easy-to-use email signup form on your website to collect email addresses from visitors. Once you build a list, you can start sending them helpful content focused on health-related topics, retargeting recipients with advertisements, and send updates about your business, such as changes in hours or new locations.
Within each email, include an engaging call-to-action that motivates readers to engage further. This could take the form of a clickable button to schedule an appointment, to visit your blog for more helpful articles, and many other similar destinations.
Medicine has become an increasingly more contactless experience. Continuing to innovate these features and capabilities for patients can increase their satisfaction and inspire them to return in the future.
Features like virtual waiting rooms, online check-ins, virtual queuing, and digital patient intake forms all allow people to prepare for their visits in places where they are most comfortable, such as at home or in their cars. In turn, this also reduces time spent in the waiting room and places less strain on your staff, automating many of these recurring tasks.
At ER Express, we offer innovative, 100% white-labeled digital solutions to help your urgent care, emergency department, or veterinary practice offer an incredible experience. As part of our commitment to helping you succeed, we also offer free marketing support – including a customized campaign to help generate the results you’re looking for.
To learn more about our solutions for your organization, contact us today to request a demo.
The best way to effectively run a medical practice is by constantly making improvements in order to ensure that patients are receiving the best possible care. Collecting patient feedback is essential for doing so in urgent cares and emergency departments.
Not only does patient feedback provide a direct line for healthcare professionals to gauge how well their services are meeting the needs of their patients, but it also helps gather insight into operational issues that may need improvement. By understanding the experience of the patient, healthcare staff can better identify trends and make adaptations accordingly.
If you’re looking to enhance the way that you collect feedback in order to provide a better patient experience, here are some tips to do so efficiently:
One of the most efficient ways to collect patient feedback is by using an online survey tool. There are a number of simple and accessible online survey tools available, such as SurveyMonkey and Google Forms.
These sites allow you to create your own customizable survey and send it out to patients electronically. Patients can then easily complete the survey at their convenience and you can view the results in real time. These tools also make it easy to analyze the data and spot any major trends to identify where your practice is succeeding or could use improvement.
Another way to collect patient feedback is through the use of an online patient portal. Patient portals are secure websites and/or apps that allow patients to access their medical records in one place and easily communicate with their healthcare providers.
Many patient portals have features that allow patients to provide feedback on their care. For example, some portals have forums where patients can post questions or comments about their experience. This is a great way to collect feedback from patients while they’re already on the portal viewing test results, requesting medications or communicating with their provider.
Today, social media is one of the most powerful tools for any practice. It’s not only effective for marketing, but is also a great way for your urgent care or emergency department to collect patient feedback.
There are a number of ways that you can leverage social media to do so. For example, you can create a hashtag for patients to use when posting about their experience at your practice.
This will not only boost your practice’s online presence, but allow you to see what your patients are saying online. You can also encourage patients to leave reviews on your practice’s Facebook page or Google listing after their visit.
Another option for collecting patient feedback is to use a third-party review site, such as Healthgrades or RateMDs. These sites make it super easy for patients to rate and review their healthcare providers. They also allow prospective patients to find your practice and view existing reviews.
You can also collect patient feedback by sending out surveys to patients after their appointments. This can be done electronically or by mail. Surveys should be short, to the point and focus on specific areas, such as the quality of care, wait times, and customer service. In order to collect the most responses, patients should be given a reasonable amount of time to complete the survey and they should be made aware that their responses will be anonymous.
There are a number of creative ways that you can collect feedback from your patients. The number one rule to keep in mind is that you should make it easy. Patients are far more likely to leave a review if it is quick and convenient for them.
One strategy to accomplish this is by providing a QR code in your office that patients can scan upon leaving. This code would direct patients to your website or a third-party review site where they can provide feedback. You can also provide links on your website for patients to easily leave reviews.
ER Express provides intuitive and effective software for emergency depts and urgent cares that makes your practice’s day-to-day administrative tasks smooth and painless. As a result, you can spend more time with patients and provide them with excellent care.
Our solutions allow your practice to free up more time so that your team can focus on providing the best patient experience possible with more accurate data collection and reporting capabilities.
To learn more, request a demo with us today.
It’s no secret that urgent cares can quickly become chaotic environments. As patient volume and demand increases, staff can quickly become overwhelmed, and patients can suffer the consequences.
To make sure that you can adequately allocate enough time to your patients, having the right workload management strategy in place is essential. However, this is easier said than done.
Today, we’re going to offer some tips to help you better manage your workflow at your urgent care. Let’s begin with the central piece of the puzzle: your staff.
The first step in managing the workload at your urgent care is to understand your staffing needs. You should have an understanding of how many staff members you need to have on duty as well as what their roles and responsibilities are. Additionally, you should have a plan for how to cover shifts when staff members are out sick or on vacation.
Beyond the staffing needs, also consider your staff’s needs. Do your current personnel have any ideas or requests for solutions that could improve their workflow and reduce time spent on administrative tasks? Listen to feedback and determine if there are options that you can pursue to help them, whether interim or long-term.
Once you know how many staff members you need, you can create a schedule that ensures that there are enough staff members on duty at all times. The schedule should be designed to meet the needs of your patients and should be posted in a visible location or available on an internal server so that staff members can easily refer to it.
However, before you craft your schedule, take a moment to review peak times at your urgent care. Schedule more staff members during these hours so that you can see and treat more patients with greater efficiency.
Onboarding is one of the most crucial steps in making sure that employees are well-adjusted to the environment. During the onboarding process, it is important that you train your staff on how to properly handle the workload at your urgent care. They should know how to prioritize patients based on their needs and how to effectively communicate with other staff members. Additionally, staff should be familiar with your policies and procedures so that they can properly follow them.
When managing a practice that can get as chaotic as an urgent care, it’s important that you regularly monitor the workload to ensure that it is being managed effectively. You can do this by tracking patient wait times, observing staff interactions, and speaking with patients about their experiences.
If over time you find that the workload is not being managed effectively, you can make adjustments to your staffing or scheduling as needed.
Because of the ever-changing needs of urgent cares, it is paramount that you’re able to be flexible when managing the workload in your practice. This means that you may need to make changes to your staffing or scheduling based on the needs of your patients or the availability of staff members.
Additionally, you may need to adjust your policies and procedures as new challenges arise or you discover more efficient methods of managing the practice.
As the manager of an urgent care, you must be able to efficiently delegate responsibilities to your staff members so that they can help to manage the workload. This includes assigning tasks, setting deadlines, and providing feedback. By delegating responsibilities, you can ensure that the workload is managed effectively and efficiently.
With the right software, you should be able to offload repetitive tasks and manage your practice more efficiently.
One common feature of medical administrative software is the ability to manage patient queues remotely and digitally. This helps your staff prioritize which patients need to be seen first and make sure that the line runs smoothly. Many softwares also provide wait times so patients know how long they have to wait until they’re seen.
Another important feature that a software can offer is the ability to securely manage medical chart information. This way, your staff can access any information they need in a single secure location without having to sift through piles of documents.
Additionally, many software solutions offer the ability to digitize your registration, intake, and consent forms so that patients can fill these out via their mobile device. On a similar note, your practice should find a software that allows you to communicate with patients via SMS and two-way texting. These features make it easier for your patients to fill out forms and receive communications without the hassle of a phone call or long wait in the office.
ER Express is the premier innovator of medical administrative software for urgent cares in the United States. Our solutions allow you to provide a better patient experience while also freeing up your staff’s time to focus more on providing excellent care.
Our solutions are built based on real needs of urgent care administrators, care providers, and patients with a single goal to help you elevate the quality of your services. To learn more, request a demo today
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