| |
The 9 Essentials of Improving Patient Retention
For your internal marketing audience, it's all about caring.
The established patient base for any healthcare
organization, practice or group is never permanent...and may
not be as firmly established as you might think. The process
of improving retention is grounded in the internal communications
skills of doctor, staff and everyone who works there. Surprisingly,
the essentials are all about caring.
In healthcare, "retention" and "attrition"
are always part of the Internal Marketing mix. And with both,
the true question is: how much?
It's pretty obvious that your want a high retention and low
attrition. Perhaps less obvious is that these factors can
be quantified so you know the actual score.
If you haven't done this lately, put pencil to paper and
calculate how many patients you are losing each year and compare
that number to your active patient base to come up with your
attrition rate. Of course, reasonable percentages vary by
profession and specialty. Also, keep in mind too that some
attrition is inevitable — after all, patients die or move
all the time.
Once you have uncovered your attrition percentage, calculate
(or guesstimate) what that represents in lost revenue. It
is one thing to say you have an annual 18% attrition rate.
It is quite another to translate that into lost revenue and
discover you are frittering away $250,000 (or millions of
dollars) away each year.
Worse, remember that all of your efforts to increase new
patients will be fruitless and even frustrating if you end
up with as much or more patient attrition as you achieve in
new patient volume. If you achieve 10% growth in new patient
volume, but you simultaneously experience a 20% loss in your
established patient base—the net result is definitely not
in your favor.
Good businesses know that they cannot afford to take for
granted the established relationships with current patients
in their quest for new. So how do you organize your processes
in a way that insures higher levels of patient retention?
Patient Retention Essentials
In business in general, upwards of 70% of people who take
their business elsewhere do so because they perceive an attitude
of indifference. Admittedly, their perception may not have
been due to a deliberate slight or discourtesy, but the result
is staggering anyway.
In virtually any healthcare environment, the essential elements
of interaction (improving retention and reducing attrition)
are proactive steps to avoid the "indifference"
message with your internal public.
We've found seven key elements, in our experience, that are
vital to office procedures or processes in order to insure
higher levels of retention.
- Every encounter is important. It's not
just the first impression, and it's not just the provider.
Every encounter counts. This would include patients, other
healthcare practices that are referral sources, vendors
and suppliers, insurance company representatives, etc. Basically,
everyone you communicate with, and everyone you have a relationship
with. They are the audience for internal marketing of your
brand.
- Treat patients/clients with respect.
Successful practices sustain a constant culture of respect,
leaving no room for anyone to feel that they (the patient,
visitor, family member) are an intrusion or interruption
to the busy office environment.
- Pay attention to needs and concerns.
You and your staff have to pay attention to patient needs,
and to hear them when they share their concerns with you.
Taking the time to hear about the long walk to and from
the parking lot—or whatever the issue—shows you are concerned
about them. Even if the issue seems trivial or out of your
control...listen.
- Anticipate problems and obstacles. Beyond
reacting, it's also about getting ahead of issues that could
impact patient retention. If, for example, you have many
patients who are employees of a particular company that
company's insurance plan is about to change. A proactive
strategy can have a big impact on patient retention.
- Stay on schedule. OK...nobody's perfect.
Reality intrudes. But staying on schedule (or close to it)
is a major factor in retention; perhaps one of the biggest.
There is a clear message of "indifference" that
flows when people frequently experience long wait times.
- Confirm appointment in advance. Reminding
people the day before an appointment is good office and
calendar administration, and equally important it lets people
know that you respect their schedule also. (And if needed,
a last minute change is vastly better than a disappearing
patient.)
- Reach-out when visits are overdue. Take
the extra step of connecting with individuals who have missed
an appointment or were expected to return. A brief and simple
reminder may be all that's needed...and usually appreciated.
- Survey your patient base. If you have
a high attrition rate, there are probably one or more reasons
for it. You have to find out what the problems are before
you can fix them.
- Establish and use a recall system in which you
schedule the next appointment in advance, usually
at the end of the current appointment. Review your recall
routine to be sure the process is proactive, and includes
multiple contacts.
Of course, your attrition might be a VERY expensive problem.
It is not uncommon to uncover attrition rates that translate
into lost revenue of hundreds of thousands of dollars — or
even millions of dollars — annually. In that event, it makes
economic sense to bring out expert help.
We have many resources that can help you, both within and
outside of our company. Spending a few thousand dollars to
fix a six-figure problem is the best return on investment
you'll find anywhere.
Call us and we'll point you in the right direction. 800-656-0907.
|
|
Get Articles Like This One As They Are Published
|
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
digg
