Dental News - Drive patient loyalty and profitability with online engagement management solution

Diana P. Friedman, USA

Wed. 22 January 2014

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A loyal community of patients is the foundation of any successful dental practice. Loyal patients keep their appointments and pay on time, give referrals and engage in other behaviors that drive profitability for your practice. Patient engagement management, the process of consistently interacting with patients to positively influence behaviors like these, should be a priority for your practice.

The cornerstone of an effective patient engagement management strategy involves interacting with patients where they spend their time — online. Make sure the online patient engagement system you choose can deliver the following.

Provide anytime, anywhere patient access and interaction

According to research conducted by Sesame Communications, 74 percent of patients said being able to access information online anytime makes them more likely to stay with their dentist. Patients manage many aspects of their lives online on mobile smart devices, and they expect their dental practice to plug into this world too.

Today patients want 24-hour access to information on their chosen Internet-connected device. An online patient engagement system that isn’t optimized for any mobile device a patient might use will compromise the patient experience and ultimately damage their loyalty to the practice.

Support comprehensive online patient engagement services

Automated reminders are a key aspect of any patient engagement system. A recent study from Sesame Communications found that 36 months after implementing an automated appointment reminder system, practices had reduced no-shows by 22.95 percent. This translated to $31,456.88 in incremental production revenue.

Automated reminders are just one component of an effective online patient engagement management system. A comprehensive portal should also let patients to:

View and manage appointments
Select contact methods and preferences
Access financial records and image data
Pay bills online
Print insurance forms
Provide feedback and referrals

Practices should make sure their system addresses a broad spectrum of patient engagement touch points and makes it easy for practice staff to manage patient interactions. Practices must also have an intuitive portal to administer the system, monitor key practice metrics and ROI, improve staff productivity and identify clear opportunities for improvement.

Final thoughts

Your practice faces a supreme challenge: Implement a loyalty-generating patient engagement strategy without straining resources or budget. Effective patient engagement tools are a cost-effective means of improving patient engagement and loyalty with the end results of improved practice efficiency and profitability.

Note: This article was published in Dental Tribune U.S. Edition, Vol. 8 No. 10, October 2013 issue. A complete list of references is available from the publisher.

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