Tips And Tricks on Increasing Patient Engagement: How engaged are your patients?

One of the key drivers for a successful practice is understanding your patient cohort and what services may be required to optimize patient engagement and care and gives you insight to make changes to your business structure.

Below are some key things to consider when looking at your patient cohort and ways you can engage with them.

1. What is the average age and socioeconomic status of people residing in the area and what are the common health conditions associated with these demographics?
This may help determine how often your patients will be attending for appointments and any speciality areas you might consider when recruiting for clinicians. If your GP’s are engaging in a high number of Mental Health consultations, it may be worth recruiting a Psychologist/Psychiatrist, this could also be relevant for any other discipline that your GP’s refer to- get your clinicians involved and ask what health trends they are noticing in their daily practice. Elderly patients specifically prefer to visit 1 practice where possible for all their healthcare needs and is equally attractive to potential new clinicians when recruiting as you have identified a need for their specialty within the practice and can market the practice as Multidisciplinary.

2. How did they hear about your practice?
Have you ever wondered how well you are marketing yourself as a practice, asking this question to your patients will give you a snapshot of whether your current marketing strategies are working or tweaks are required. It could also give you insight into what your patients need to better access your service offering- extended opening hours, vaccination clinics for convenience for local business owners etc.
Where your patients reside is another great tool to use as it may help you unlock marketing potential for patients outside the local area by reaching out to ongoing referrers and thanking them for their referrals. Referrals whether they are from fellow clinicians or friends/family are important because people trust word of mouth referrals and will likely draw them to you.
All of these questions can be asked either on the New Patient registration form or in a Patient Survey (we discuss the use of your survey in further detail below)

3. Using your Patient Survey will give you a snapshot of areas of improvement within the practice which can form part of your Quality Improvement activities and is a requirement for AGPAL Accreditation. Your patients can give feedback anonymously in a constructive way, which may lead to a decrease in patient complaints and overall improvement in patient satisfaction.
With these types of activities you will find the usual gripes on the list like long phone and appointment wait times, but it gives patients an opportunity to let you know what they like about the practice. I always encourage Practice Owners/PM’s to discuss the findings in team meetings and to boost team morale.
In my previous practices we have displayed this information (in waiting room, restrooms, website) to inform patients we have listened and are constantly improving our services and value their feedback.

4. How are you engaging with your patient base?
In this modern world people expect to receive updates in real time and a great way to engage and inform your database is by utilizing social media platforms to broadcast updates relating to your practice or health related information.
A benefit of using social media to communicate with your patients is it provides direct access to your followers, it also allows you to communicate with people who are not currently your patient especially if you are engaging and creative with your posts. I have seen practices introduce their practice team which builds a community feel and invites patients to get to know staff in an informal way.
With social media you have the ability to gain insights from your content and will help you make informed decisions about what you’re posting and what your followers/patients like to see and it’s FREE!
SMS is seen to be one of the better ways to communicate with patients in relation to confirming appointments, cancellations and recalls and reminders. However it is good to vary the communication and in some instances necessary (when dealing with recalls and reminders) to ensure you are capturing all types of patients appropriate to the line of communication. Your admin team might ask patients as they are doing the 3 points of identification check how they would like to be contacted, make a note in your PMS so this information is up to date.

5. Get your clinicians involved. They are engaging with your patients each time they have a consultation and sometimes on a regular basis which can have a huge impact on overall engagement and satisfaction. Ensure your clinicians are up to date with any new services within the practice that could benefit their patients, hold a lunch meeting if needed so it can be explained with time for questions. The clinicians play an integral role in retaining patients and delivering high quality care with patients healthcare needs at the forefront.

6. One of the common questions we get asked as consultants is how do I reduce the number of DNA’s. The answer is you can’t BUT you can minimise their occurrence. We often see clinics ringing patients ahead of the appointment to confirm they will be attending which is not only time consuming but a poor use of resourcing. An alternative strategy is asking your recurrent DNA’s to pay a deposit for the appointment at the time of booking, or advising they are only able to make on the day bookings and no future bookings. Make them aware of the impact of not attending an appointment has on the practice, patients and clinicians and this may also curve their behaviour.

7. Another way of engaging your patient base is running a report in your PMS capturing who your regular patients are (average visit every 4- 6 weeks, who do not have an upcoming appointment booked in), and encourage them to make an appointment for a review ahead of time using your online booking service. This will hopefully stop those frantic phone calls from patients saying they are in need to an appointment tomorrow and are unable to get in for a 2-3 weeks which can be an issues all clinics face. Encourage your admin team to remind patients about booking another appointment as they are checking out.

Overall engaged patients will feel they are part of a community.
Personalise your communication to your patients- no one wants to feel like just a number. Be mindful of how you communicate to your patient cohort and make it appropriate for their healthcare requirements.

If you would like any further tips, tricks or advice please don’t hesitate to get in touch.