Patient expectations about chiropractic care and experiences have changed over the years. Now, patients have more choices when it comes to choosing a chiropractic practice, and they’re more empowered with information than ever before. 64% of patients say they will likely switch providers if their expectations are not met. This means if your patients don’t find the overall experience satisfying, they will switch to a provider who offers a more engaging, positive experience.
Every time a patient interacts with a practice is an opportunity to deliver an exemplary patient experience. The easier you make it for patients to interact and engage with you and your practice, the higher the patient satisfaction rate will be. Ultimately, you want your patients to be evangelists for your chiropractic services based on their positive experiences. So how your chiropractic clinic can respond to these changing demands and expectations? The strategies you follow to deliver a positive patient experience can set the foundation for improved financial success. Check out this blog to know how to improve patient experience in your chiropractic clinic and which patient experience solutions can help achieve long-term success.
How to Improve Patient Experience
1. Online Presence
The minute a patient starts searching for a chiropractic provider, the process of patient engagement begins. You need a stellar online presence and a website or social media channels. A patient survey conducted by RepuGen found “more than 95% of the patient population consider online reviews to be an important aspect of their decision-making process, with 40% of them refusing to visit providers with poor reviews. Therefore, having a positive online reputation becomes paramount.
Action: Get your existing patients to share their positive feedback online. zHealth Review Plus is one of patient experience solutions that is designed to automate this process for you by sending feedback review requests to patients after their appointments and posting 4-star or 5-star reviews on top review sites. Sometimes, patients want to know more about the chiropractic provider. Provide a mobile-optimized website that shows up-to-date and relevant information for your chiropractic services.
2. Appointment Scheduling
Earlier, scheduling an appointment used to mean just one thing: picking up the phone and calling the practice. Today, self-scheduling is often the first point of patient interaction. Imagine a patient is on Google searching for a new provider. If the patient visits a practice’s website and sees a “Schedule Now” button, he is more likely to click it, rather than waiting for a day or two to call the office and then book an appointment.
Action: For chiropractic practices, self-scheduling appointment software is a great way to build digital engagement with current and prospective patients – while accelerating internal efficiencies. Choose an appointment scheduling software that allows your practice to add a “Schedule Now” button to your website or social media channels. When patients click the “Schedule Now” button, they should be able to look for appointments across different providers in a facility within a single view. If one provider is not available within a patient’s requested timeframe or date, the patient should be able to easily select another qualified provider. Implementing appointment booking technology will streamline scheduling and provide a clean, seamless experience for all parties – both providers and patients – involved.
3. Online Patient Intake
If you hand a clipboard with piles of intake forms to fill to a patient when they walk through the door of your practice, you’ve already created a wrong impression of your practice. Filling out forms in the waiting area only extends their waiting time. A majority of patients begin to feel frustrated after 10-20 minutes of waiting to see the provider.
Action: Easy to use, online patient intake helps reduce the stress of visits and improve patient experience. With digital patient intake paperwork, your patients receive a link before their scheduled appointment date and time. They fill out your forms online when it’s convenient for them. zHealth’s online patient intake helps you deliver a much more convenient patient interaction and intuitive experience. Your practice can also provide a patient portal where patients can log in and add or edit their personal and health details.
4. Appointment Reminders
Patients have busy lives, and oftentimes, they forget about appointments they’ve scheduled. Sending timely reminders helps them stay on track with their appointments or visits. When your practice sends appointment reminders via text or email, it shows them that you care for their well-being.
Action: Get an appointment scheduling software with built-in automated reminders capability. zHealth appointment scheduling software makes it easier for your practice to send strategically timed automated appointment reminders by email or text message.
5. Patient Communication
Providing various means of communication can lead to greater patient satisfaction and, ultimately, higher patient retention. You can use patient communication software that opens the lines of communication between the provider and the patient. Different patients prefer different modes of communication channels. Your practice needs to tailor your communication outreach based on patient preferences whenever possible. The more tools you have in your toolbox, the higher the chances of meeting your patient’s unique needs. 80 percent of patients in a survey said that they wanted to receive text messages from their provider. According to the same survey, 73 percent of patients desire a 2-way text messaging solution in order to text back their provider. 93% want to email their providers. This means either mode of communication gives you a great shot at reaching your patients.
Action: Use patient experience software that combines both email and text messages so information reaches your patients seamlessly—in a way they’re used to and rely upon.
Also read: 3 Crucial Patient Communication That Most Chiropractic Practices Miss
6. Online Bill Payment
More than 50 percent of patients expect more online interactions with their providers, including bill payment. They want intuitive, mobile-friendly payment options that offer helpful functionalities, including the ability to review statements and choose their desired payment options.
Action: Offering online bill payment options to patients provides them with an added convenience while helping your chiropractic practice to improve patient collections and the revenue cycle. Patients who say they don’t have time to check emails and pay online should be provided with the ability to pay with just one tap or card swipe right after the treatment. By offering membership plans and securely storing credit cards on file, providers can offer patients the option to choose automatic recurring payment dates. This can improve the financial experience that is easy for patients and results in increased revenue. With high deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, patients also want flexible payment options. Use payment processing technology and patient experience software that could enable patients to pay a part of their bill on the spot and the rest they could pay online later on.
7. Patient Education
Today’s patients are both connected to the Internet and educated about chiropractic benefits. They expect the same kind of access from their provider. Providing educational materials will help your practice to engage with your patient after the visits.
Action: Provide patients with easy-to-understand information that they can access from any computer, tablet, or smartphone. They can revisit the exercises, stretches or tips you told them during the appointment later on at their own pace, right from their phone. Patient education software for chiropractors is designed to make it easy for providers to share educational materials and videos with patients via email or text.
Also read: Reimagining Chiropractic Patient Experience: Going ‘Contactless’ In The ‘Untact’ Era
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Now when you know how to improve patient experience, it will be easier for your practice to increase patient satisfaction. Happy and satisfied patients mean more online reviews, more returning patients, and more revenue. Chiropractic software can help you deliver the best possible patient experience by providing the kind of ease, convenience, and flexibility that patients want today.
At zHealth Software, we help chiropractic practices digitally transform provider and patient experiences. Our all-in-one practice management software for chiropractors has enabled providers to re-think and re-define the patient experiences and engage them better.
