How to make a great first impression at your medical practice?

Scanning all the industries and every other activity that we do, we are proved time and again that the first impressions matter. The famous saying, "the first impression is the last impression" still holds valid in every possible sector of the present, including the healthcare industry.

The first impression of the patient greatly influences the patient's experience, which is, of course, followed by the other experiences in successive processes. The ultimate aim of the healthcare providers is to treat patients well so that they are properly cared for and are cured of the illnesses they were suffering from, while having an impressive patient experience.

Patient experience in healthcare and why should it be considered?

Patient experience in healthcare can be simply defined as the experiences that the patients get during their healthcare journeys. Lifting the patient experience along with providing the patients with decent treatment is the way of the wise healthcare providers and practices. Offering the patients delighting experiences helps the practices and medical units in more ways than one.

The drive for patient-first practices has evolved with time, digitalization, and the spread of awareness among the patients and the practices. Competition has increased manifold today in the world we live in, which is dominated by cutting-edge medical office software and systems that are offered by trusted medical software solutions providers like GrowPractice. All these are reasons enough why exemplary patient experiences are sought by the patients that will make their journeys fast and smoother, wiping out all the hassles that they needed to go through earlier.

Here's checking out why the patient experience in healthcare should be focused upon by the practices today:

Patient experience measures the quality of the healthcare provided

If you are wondering why patient experience is something that is prioritized by the healthcare practices today, then there's one prominent thing. The patient experience measures the quality of the healthcare provided without which the quality of healthcare could never be measured in a quantifiable way. This is now possible with the help of the patient online reviews and feedback, conducting which is easier than ever before with providers like GrowPractice which brings efficient patient practice management software.

Patient experience in healthcare influences the attraction and retention rates of patients

A patient rushes down to the nearest practice to have a proper medical aid and care. Thus, it is the experience that the patient has of the practice unit, which attracts them to the practice and makes them come back to the practice again on future occasions. Furthermore, if the patients are satisfied with the services of a particular practice, then the chances are high that they would also recommend others to visit the same practice, thereby promoting the practice via word-of-mouth marketing.

Patient experience impacts practice credibility and reputation

Healthcare practices are really possessive about their reputation and credibility, and it is the patient experiences that significantly contribute to the credibility and the reputation of the practices. Now, just like any other business, nobody wants to visit a healthcare practice that is lacking a name or is not credible to the patients.

It is a measure that helps practices retain their position or grow

Patient experiences create satisfied patients, who came back to the practices that they are satisfied with and also bring other referrals to the same. Therefore, if a practice successfully creates good experiences for the patients, then that would turn out to be rewarding indeed for the practice. Patient experiences, thus, help practices retain their position in terms of popularity, revenue, and valuation, and let them grow.

Why does the first impression of the patients influence the patient experience?

It has already been seen now how the patient experience proves to be a useful metric to assess the practice revenue, credibility, and more. The patient experience surely depends on a list of things that the practices offer the patients or they do not, resulting in good/bad patient experiences. This experience that the patients develop depends upon how they feel the practice services are as a whole. However, as we have already mentioned, the first impression always has its own way of contributing to the overall experience of the patients in the healthcare industry. Therefore, it is the first impression that should be primarily focused on by the practices. However, if you are wondering how to set the magic on right by the first impression of your practice, then don't worry because here we have brought you some smart hacks to score huge just by an awesome first impression.

Smart tips to improve patient experience in healthcare via impressive first impressions!

The first impressions ought to be impressive for the patients. Here if the patients feel that a particular practice is good right by the first impression, then statistics say that around 80% of them are more likely to find it good overall. If you are worried about the first impression of your practice and eager to revamp everything that is required to create ecstatic first impressions for the patients, then you are right at the place where you should be.

So, without any further waits, let's start off with the best ways to create an outstanding first impression for the patients:

Book the patient appointments digitally

The patients now are aware of the advantages that digital medical office software and products bring and absolutely love these digital tools and technology from trusted providers. Patient portals are used by a majority (over 78%) of the patients today. Besides, the patients also love their appointments to be booked digitally. Statistics say that over 80% of patients love to schedule their appointments using secure web services. Furthermore, reports have also added that around 68% of the patients prefer to book, schedule, and reschedule their appointments online via efficient software, the kind that is offered by GrowPractice. Maintaining these things and tailoring the patient appointments according to the patients' requirements is something that needs to be done to create a great first impression.

Offer secure patient appointment schedulers

Around 81% of the patients have mentioned that they would love to have their appointments scheduled via a secure web service. This security lacks in many practices today because of the lack of trusted medical software or the prevalence of manual methods for data entry. However, GrowPractice, on the other hand, brings HIPAA-complaint patient management software systems that are secured with multi-level data encryption, and security.

Extend the digital patient intake process

Patient intake comes right next to the patient's appointments. This process has long held the reputation of being too long and windy. However, with the new-age practice management software systems offered by GrowPractice, the patient intake process can now be conducted paperless and online that can be completed even before the patients' visit. 80% of the patients now don't want to wait long, which is why they complete their paperwork way early. Besides, the patient intake process, which was previously done manually, involved paper bills, for which over $120 bn was spent by the practices. Furthermore, it has also been noted that around 45% of these papers ended up in the trash bin at the end of the day. This makes the online patient intakes really effective, which contributes its part to the greening of the earth.

Smoothen up the patient check-ins

The patient check-in is the step when the patients are onboarded after they visit the practices. These check-ins processes include numerous data and are usually quite time taking but GrowPractice brings effective solutions to smooth up the check-in process of the patients as well, making it fast and effective, thereby cutting down the wait time, which is deemed as a crucial part of the patient experience by 84% of the patients.

Greet the patients warmly

Warm greetings should be extended to the patients, who visit the practices with piling tensions, worries, or are drenched in despair. Therefore, if the practices greet the patients warmly and extend courteous behavior to them, then that would give them some solace and help them for a high impression of the practice.

Develop a bond with the patients

After a warm greeting, the medical worker should then try to form a bond. Building a relationship between the practices and the patients goes a long way now to reward both of them. So, never hesitate to gel up with your patients.

Stay transparent about the healthcare costs

Being transparent is always regarded by everyone in a system or a particular practice. 77% of the patients state that the healthcare costs are unpredictable and 65% of the patients want transparency to be there when it comes to healthcare costs. Therefore, bringing transparency to the healthcare costs readily improves the patient experience. Patient wait times are another most important thing that requires the patient practices to be transparent. Reports reveal that over 53% of the patients feel that an insight into the patient wait times is critically important for their overall experience. The transparency in healthcare costs and patient wait times greatly influence the patient experience strategy.

Cutting the patient waiting room woes, engaging the patients throughout, and providing adequate follow-ups and reminders to the patients help in further improving patient experiences. GrowPractice is one of the most trusted medical office software solutions providers that offer a wide array of patient and practice management software and systems to impress the patients right at the first impression they have of the practice. Here are some of the main advantages of GrowPractice, which help the practices attract new patients and retain the old ones:

• Online 24x7 operating patient appointment scheduling software

• HIPAA-compliant solutions

• Two-way texting facilities

• Easy patient check-ins and intakes

• Customized patient workflow

• Easy integration of patient's data

• Efficient patient followups and reminders

• Smooth reception of patient surveys and reviews