Features in Practice Websites which increase Patient Satisfaction

An important part of managing a patient over a long period of time is communicating with the patient. Most follow up cases in medical practices have niche requirements and consequently patients have certain expectations from their physicians. Also a happy patient is a physician’s most powerful marketing asset. Practices should strive to provide for such patients by offering services which improve the quality of service they perceive, which in turn will increases their satisfaction.

A well planned and feature rich practice website allows physicians to assist patients in their day-to-day living by providing timely solutions for all their health queries even after a visit. For a patient, this continued access to expert medical advice via simple online tools is one of the most cherished features of any e-practice.

Despite best efforts, many patients make errors while following medical advice. Many times, follow-up patients have new queries they wish they could simply share with their physicians. A large number of patients also do not ask new questions just because they don’t want to look stupid in front of their physicians! These patients are often unsure of the importance of their queries and generally procrastinate visiting their physicians for answers. Sometimes new complaints crop up which may or may not affect the ongoing medical management. The internet, via a medical website, allows physicians to clarify many such small doubts these patients face while following medical advice. A timely word of advice can save these patients a whole lot of pain, literally and figuratively. Important issues which may arise during such advice can be solved by arranging for a new visit.

There are a number of ways medical websites and integrated web 2.0 tools can be used to help physicians improve patient-physician communications and thus decrease the morbidity among patients. Let’s look at five such applications:

Online Chats

Chatting on the internet is something most patients are comfortable with. Medical websites can have widgets which allow patients to directly chat with the physician or the physician’s representative. This is a common and simple to add functionality within any medical website. Patients can be given pre-decided timings (say, 9 p.m - 10 p.m on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) when the physician shall be available for the chat. Such chat transcripts can then be appended to the electronic medical record of the concerned patient. More people can be added to chats so as to allow group discussions (e.g: Friday evening hour long chat session for all Pregnant women, in case of gynae practices).

Contact Forms and Feedback Forms

Medical websites allow all registered members (i.e. follow-up cases) to access some parts of the website which are meant only for them. A simple form is embedded within this secure area through which a follow-up patient can ask a question. These questions are then directed to the physician’s email address. The physician can answer such questions securely via email or even ask the patient to book an appointment if required. Ideally, physicians should create an email id purely for answering queries of follow up cases. This will help in segmenting all electronic medical communications between physicians and patients. All such queries are also automatically added to electronic medical record of that patient.

Facebook Groups

After email, Facebook is the most commonly used online platform for communications. physicians can easily use this platform (by forming closed groups) for answering some of the common queries by their patients. All follow up patients who share their primary email id can be added to specific closed groups on Facebook. These patients can post their queries on the group wall (which is not public and viewable only by group members) or send it as a direct message. Answers which have general significance for all patients can be posted on the group wall (e.g.: I am taking Metoprolol XL 50 mg once daily for my hypertension. I am scheduled for a tooth extraction next week. What precautions should I take? ). Personal queries can be answered via direct messaging. Urgent and important issues can be simply escalated to a telephonic conversation. Over time, such a Facebook group shall mature into a powerful resource for all new members. 

Video Chat

Questions which require visual inputs (like appearance of rashes or swelling on hands and feet) can be handled by using Video chat within Facebook. Important advice can be reinforced by typing it into the chat area so as to create a transcript document of the encounter. There are medical social media guidelines published by many international organizations which can be followed for all such patient-physician communications on Facebook.

eVisits using Skype

Physicians can also use Skype and payment gateways like PayPal to organize revenue generating e-visits by follow-up cases who find it difficult to physically visit the clinic premises at regular intervals. This is especially the case with geriatric and physically challenged patients.

Read more »

Medical Websites Help Small Practices Compete Against Large Hospitals

Practicing medicine in the private sector is a very tough proposition. It’s not enough simply to be a very good doctor; Its also imperative that one is known by most to be a very good doctor. It’s not enough to provide all the latest treatment options and services; Everyone must also know or be able to find out easily all the services provided at a practice/hospital.

Traditional Healthcare Communication Meant Word-Of-Mouth Publicity

Traditionally, physicians and medical practices have relied on word-of-mouth publicity to establish themselves. A patient who has undergone an event-free angiography at the local cardiac care center would then tell five others about his/her wonderful experience.And now five more people know about the latest angiography services at that cardiac center. Hopefully, this positive review would continue in a geometric progression and more and more people would visit the medical center. 

But is that enough? Also, what about the high tech cardiac catheterization and latest stenting services also available at that center? There would be hundreds of bits of positive details about your practice most patients would’nt even get to know of. Hoping that all visitors to a medical center realize all its plus points and then remember to pass these plus points to others is so optimistic, it’s foolish. Thus word-of-mouth publicity serves a very limited role in evangelizing any healthcare services.

Challenges In Healthcare Communication

Medical practices can no longer rely only on word-of-mouth to inform the world about their existence. But they also face a big handicap. They need to make themselves and their quality services known without resorting to overt advertising. Clinics and smaller hospitals face a specially forbidding challenge in breaking through this glass ceiling of ‘perceived quality’. Sheer size has allowed larger hospitals to carry an aura of quality, irrespective of the services they provide. In contrast, many clinics which provide top-of-the-line services are just not accorded due respect or simply remain unknown.

Medical Websites In Healthcare Communication

Despite providing the best services, many small practices are labeled ‘poor quality’ simply because of low visibility. Technology has broken down this artificial divide between small and larger medical practices. A high quality website has become the single most important way to establish your credibility, authority and niche online. Websites and social media channels provide an easy to access free platform for showcasing your expertise to any targeted/ segmented population.

A website becomes the way people remember and recall your clinic. A website creates a visual brand for your medical practice, allowing strong recall value even among people who may never have visited your clinic. With the help of a high quality medical website, a niche specialty clinic can achieve the same recognition as many large super-specialty hospitals.

Beyond branding, the practical utilities medical practices can provide the patients via their websites are plenty. Appointment scheduling and lab reports can easily be accessed via medical websites. Interactive patient communication widgets and electronic health records can add an entirely new dimension to the concept of medical websites.

Read more »

Social Networking for Physicians – Tips and Options

With millions of patients seeking medical help and information on social media and the Internet, it has become imperative for physicians to connect with existing and potential patients as well as the medical community across the globe using social media and other means of electronic communication. A study by the online physician learning collaborative QuantiaMD in August 2011 indicates that nearly all physicians in the United States are social media users. However, the study also reveals that most physicians engage in social networking for personal purposes only, appearing rather reluctant to adopt it for enhancing professional interactivity and building a web presence for their medical brands.

Social Media Tips for Physicians

Social networking can help physicians manage their online reputation. Signing up for a static profile on Facebook or Twitter does not make for an active social media presence as it contributes zero value to doctor-patient relationships or the physician’s positioning in the medical and patient community. A good social media strategy must consolidate your presence and identity over a number of social media communities.

Here are some tips on how physicians can improve their social media presence to build a strong online medical brand for themselves.

Content Creation - Blogs and Social Media Sites

Social media websites give you access to a valuable network of prospective patients looking for credible medical information. Naturally, the best way to reach out and connect with them is to provide the information they need. Creating and publishing medical content like your medical experiences, breakthrough cases, innovative medical practices and other crucial medical information on your website, blog and also guest medical blogs can help you create a reputation of credibility and goodwill.

Posting links to such exclusive and valuable medical content on social media websites and other medical blogs will boost your visibility and reach. Over time, such consistent and organized social media linked blogging will make you a trusted name in the medical community, helping you position yourself as an influential thought leader in your specialization.

Informative Videos

Another effective way to engage patients is by posting informative and educational medical videos on You Tube and similar sites. Conversion rates from You Tube are found to be about 20% higher than search engines. A good social media strategy will include this tool to achieve greater reach, link building and visibility.

Social Media Attitude

Social media plays an important role in influencing opinions and perceptions. With so much information available on the Internet, patients often resort to online medical communities to conduct background checks, read patient reviews and testimonials before consulting a physician. Doctors must therefore maintain strict social media etiquette and decorum at all times. Upholding a positive attitude towards patients and other professionals in the network, willingness to help, answer questions, address concerns and being accessible can go a long way in building strong social media relationships as well as your medical brand and practice.

Social Networking Options for Physicians

Apart from general social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, specialized physician communities are a great way to connect with other professionals in the industry. 

Some popular social media sites for physicians are DocGlobal, Sermo, Ozmosis, DoctorsHangout.com, MomMD, DoctorNetwork and StudentDoctor.net.

These medical networking circles help you interact with the international medical community. They are also a valuable resource for critical medical information and research.

Patient communities are also very effective in leveraging social media to encourage patient-doctor communication. Even though they are not very popular with physicians as compared to other social networking platforms, practitioners must use these forums to learn about their patients and inform themselves about patient concerns, needs and healthcare requirements and utilize these to improve the quality of care.

Read more »

How can Mobile Technology help Healthcare

An estimated 70% of physicians in the United States have either a smartphone or a tablet PC such as an iPad. They are adopting EHRs and are more techno savvy than ever before.  Mobile health provides ease of access and mobility to both physicians and patients and creates a coordinated care culture.  Let’s look at some of the examples available today of Mobile Technology driving Healthcare.

1. Mobile technology can help patients access care for themselves and others.  They can help with making physician appointments and getting alerts to be reminded of them.  Mobile also allow direct to patient alerts to increase adherence of physician instructions, specifically with regards diets, exercises and medications.

2. Mobile Technology helps in easing the delivery of care in the form of tools to better self monitor. Examples are the mobile apps capturing vital sign as also those which monitor various parameters like blood glucose, heart rate, cholesterol, etc.

3. Mobiles help improve the patient provider communications. Simple text messages and phone calls to verify or report a problem or symptom allow a more direct one to one relationship. While many physicians wonder how this helps them, this significantly adds trust in the eyes of a patient.

4. Mobile Technology also helps in easing the delivery of care by providing direct access to medical providers, ancillary services such as home nursing, insurance companies and the patient’s electronic health record portal. 

5. Mobile health Technologies can provide physicians and laboratories with data measured at much shorter intervals than those of typical in clinic patient visits.  This allows collation of data which can be meaningful analyzed for trends.  For e.g. a physician may increase surveillance of blood glucose levels to help manage diabetic patients.

6. Mobile technology allows the patient information, results, trends to be accessible anywhere.  A patients history can be pulled up on demand on a smartphone in the operating room; Patient charts can be viewed and updated on a tablet while walking in the hospital on rounds.

Read more »