What does your patient portal have to do with marketing your practice?
As much as you want it to, it turns out.
We know the power of the patient portal when it comes to driving patient engagement. But that’s not all your patient portal can do. It also can act as the centerpiece of a successful practice marketing strategy.
“As long as our patients are happy, that’s the most effective way to spread the word in town,” said Bethany Suggs with Family Medical Associates of Raleigh. “And the portal plays a very important part in patient satisfaction and inspiring good reviews and referrals.”
The goal: Improve the patient experience
Because of escalating healthcare costs, your patients have become savvy healthcare consumers. They’re shopping around, using personal referrals and online reviews to choose the provider who best fits their needs.
Bethany’s practice has experienced significant improvement in patient satisfaction since implementing its portal. Patients want to be heard, she said, and they don’t want to wait forever for a response. At the same time, practice staff need time to respond thoughtfully and to address each patient’s needs.
Having an effective portal makes it that much easier to go the extra mile for your patients … without adding a lot to your workload, Bethany said.
Leverage your portal for marketing
Consider how much of an impact your patient portal can have on your patient’s life. With the right portal, your patients can:
- Schedule appointments.
- Ask clinical and billing questions.
- Request prescription refills.
- Stay up to date on their open accounts and payments.
- View their lab results.
- Access links to additional information on their conditions and treatments.
Using these features and services, you can share your practice’s patient-centric mission and goals. You can show that your waiting room moves quickly, communication is fast and easy, and patients get their questions answered in a timely, thoughtful manner every time.
“These kinds of things are really what patients are going to remember and talk to their friends about. They aren’t going to talk about their A1C poor control being less than 15%. They’re not even going to know that. But they do know that they only waited 10 minutes and that when they had a follow-up question, the doctor got back to them in three hours.”Bethany Suggs, Family Medical Associates of Raleigh
When your practice can deliver on the things that matter most to patients — convenience and prompt, thoughtful care — you’ll have a strong narrative to market your practice.
Promote your practice with patient messaging
While your patient portal gives your patients the power to schedule appointments and message you with questions and requests, Greenway Health’s Patient Messaging gives you an even more proactive tool to promote your practice.
With Patient Messaging, you can send your patients secure messages about:
- Practice closures for holidays or inclement weather.
- Birthday and holiday greetings.
- Special offers and promotions.
- Seasonal reminders (e.g., “Time to get your flu shot!”)
Should your patients have questions or concerns about a message you send them, they can respond immediately and get the timely answers they want and need.
To learn more about unlocking the power of your patient portal, read Part 1 of this blog series.
For more information, click here to schedule a conversation with a Greenway representative.
