– Patient engagement is a valuable tool for any medical practice but increasing your facility’s patient engagement rate can be a small challenge for some firms to overcome.
– Medical building construction company, Simone Health, shares four tips for increasing patient engagement rates in healthcare facilities.
Engaging patients in their own healthcare has shown to be immensely beneficial to their overall healthcare experience. Having patients play an active role in their medical needs gives them more urgency in their care, promoting feelings of empowerment when it comes to making healthy decisions, and reaching out to healthcare practitioners with questions and concerns. Patient engagement is a valuable tool for any medical practice but increasing your facility’s patient engagement rate can be a small challenge for some healthcare facilities to overcome.
Simone Health, a full-service real estate medical building construction company designing, building, financing and managing successful medical office and healthcare facilities in the New York tri-state area shares four key best practices to increase patient engagement rates in healthcare facilities:
1. Have Information Resources that Patients Can Access: Be sure to provide essential healthcare information to patients regarding some healthcare topics of interests, such as new medication or therapies on the market. These informational resources can promote not only what’s going on in the healthcare world, but also what kinds of new options are going to become available to your facility’s patients in the future. These informational resources should be highly accurate and easily accessible in order for them to grab patient’s attention and keep them engaged.
2. Be Active on Social Media: Social media is a promotional powerhouse, providing an avenue of direct interaction between patients and their healthcare providers. Launching a social media initiative to connect patients with others who have same conditions can help empower those feeling isolated and encourage their interactions with arenas offering medical help. Encouraging those with chronic pain and conditions to share their stories and experiences can give patients an outlet to express their difficulties and offer some understanding to those who may not know about the condition or have just begun struggling with chronic pain.
3. Use Online Portals: Online portals can be a valuable tool for patients and healthcare providers alike, as they can contain essential medical information accessible through a simple portal login. These online portals can contain as much or as little data as patients want, but the more data provided to healthcare facilities, the better quality care they can give to patients. Providers have the ability to track patient progress, while patients have a highly accessible online outlet to keep track of their medical history, lab test results, and treatment progress.
4. Use Reminders for Appointments: Many patients have a lot going on in their lives on a day-to-day basis and remembering various doctors’ appointments in between their regular activities can sometimes be a struggle. Utilizing an appointment reminder system with patients can help them remember their arrangements, lowering the risk of no-shows, and make them more likely to schedule a follow-up appointment. Presenting reminders to patients through various channels, such as email or text options, makes the medical process feel less daunting and more casual for patients and healthcare professionals alike.
