May affected person textual content reminders play a key function in making healthcare extra handy and accessible for sufferers? Experian Well being’s newest State of Affected person Entry 2024 survey discovered that six in ten sufferers need extra digital instruments to handle their healthcare. Total, it signifies a larger demand for extra clear, less complicated processes. Affected person textual content reminders make this a actuality by decreasing the cognitive load of scheduling and paying for care.
With 98% open charges and a mean response time of 90 seconds, textual content messaging is a straightforward however highly effective engagement software for suppliers. For the eight in ten suppliers gearing as much as spend money on digital affected person entry instruments within the close to future, sending affected person textual content messaging reminders might be a sensible alternative.
Listed below are three use instances to think about.
Use case 1: Enhance affected person collections with cost reminders
For suppliers with squeezed margins, each cent counts. Whereas healthcare affordability poses the largest problem for affected person collections, outdated billing and cost processes hinder affected person income general.
SMS (textual content message) reminders forestall pointless delays by gently prompting sufferers to settle their payments. They’re direct, handy and discreet, in order that they’re extra more likely to be acted upon, versus emails or cellphone calls which are simply ignored.
Texting additionally helps a tailor-made expertise. For instance, Experian Well being’s PatientText resolution integrates with Collections Optimization Supervisor to section sufferers based mostly on their wants and preferences. The Textual content-to-Pay characteristic sends sufferers personalised messages with safe hyperlinks to cost choices, to allow them to pay their payments when handy with out having to recollect a username and password.
Case research: See how St Luke’s used Collections Optimization Supervisor and focused affected person outreach to extend common month-to-month collections by $1.7 million.
Use case 2: Cut back no-shows with affected person appointment reminders
Virtually 90% of sufferers say they need to have the ability to schedule appointments at any time through on-line or cell instruments. Automated textual content reminders ramp up the return on funding in on-line scheduling and cell registration instruments by decreasing no-shows, optimizing affected person stream, and making certain sufferers get the care they want.
Messages can embrace preparation directions, so sufferers know precisely the place to go and when, and if they should quick beforehand or carry something. It’s a lot simpler for sufferers to click on a hyperlink in a textual content to substantiate, reschedule, or cancel appointments, than to examine their e mail or wait to talk to a name middle agent. That’s excellent news for name facilities too – when extra sufferers go for self-service choices, suppliers can scale focused outreach whereas preserving name volumes manageable.
Case research: See how IU Well being reworked affected person scheduling with self-service automation
Use case 3: Affected person textual content reminders improve affected person satisfaction and care plan adherence with useful alerts
Sufferers actively engaged of their well being usually tend to comply with via with therapies and care plans, main to raised well being outcomes. Textual content messages can remind sufferers about post-appointment care, check-ups and medicine refills to assist them keep on monitor and scale back the chance of missed doses or appointments. Closing gaps in care and stopping avoidable problems is not only good from a medical perspective – it additionally reduces the chance of dearer care being wanted additional down the road.
Nonetheless, probably the most important benefits of utilizing affected person textual content reminders is making a extra organized and patient-friendly expertise with little effort, benefiting sufferers and workers. Automated, well timed messages via sufferers’ most popular channels guarantee they really feel cared for and knowledgeable, with out workers needing fixed, high-touch follow-up. Employees members are free to concentrate on affected person assist and different revenue-generating duties, as an alternative of wading via limitless admin.
Learn extra: 5 advantages of automated affected person outreach
PatientText in observe: How one supplier used focused outreach to spice up collections by almost $2M
Certainly one of Experian Well being’s shoppers gives a snapshot of what they’ve achieved within the 12 months since implementing SMS-based affected person outreach:
$1.89M in affected person collections through Textual content-to-Pay
$168 collected per transaction on common
11K+ transactions through textual content
These outcomes present that providing sufferers the flexibleness to interact with cost processes at their comfort results in increased transaction quantities and extra {dollars} collected general.
Benefit from smartphone tradition with affected person textual content reminders
Many sufferers have their smartphone with them 24/7, which provides suppliers a unbelievable alternative to enhance affected person engagement via automated textual content reminders. Whether or not the drive is to extend collections, enhance affected person stream, or create handy affected person experiences, it’s clear that this comparatively easy know-how punches above its weight.
Schedule a demo to see how Experian Well being’s affected person textual content reminders resolution, PatientText, may also help your group enhance affected person engagement and optimize collections.
