There are two broad challenges that medical clinics face in interfacing with the public. Depending on their geographic surroundings, some clinics are competing with more than twenty facilities for patients. Others provide services to under served communities with too few healthcare options.
For healthcare clinics in crowded markets, how can they stand out and provide exceptional care that allows them to grow their practice. And in under served communities, how can communities make healthcare more accessible? The answer is the same.
It’s important to reach beyond the practice and use mobile technology – telemedicine – to segment their market and engage through personalized, confidential outreach.
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1. Community Outreach Starts with Location-Based Services
There are few things more personal than medical conditions and treatment. To effectively reach patients within their local community, hospital staff need to carefully allocate resources to legitimate patient needs.
Radar is a location platform that powers smarter smartphone apps. With the user’s permission, this technology can be integrated into a medical application to share hyper-accurate user location. And, more importantly, Radar allows for location information to be used to interact with the user’s surroundings.
For example, a medical app enhanced with Radar can provide relevant information to patients based on their location. And, if enabled, react based on the patient’s entry into a geofence. A use case for this would be a patient that is seeking medical advice remotely. Once they are advised to come in for treatment, they are provided with turn-by-turn instructions. And as they approach the facility, the app can alert treatment staff with all the pertinent details necessary for check-in. The app could continue to broadcast location throughout the treatment phase – allowing physicians to use a tablet to quickly locate patients and optimize their travel between cases.
The entire process is made possible through Radar’s powerful location-based sensors, and its ability to trigger complex events based on location.
2. Refocus Treatment Around the Patient
This may seem like an obvious tip or goal. But it’s rarely implemented well. Tomorrow, when you walk into your office, carefully analyze the triage funnel that your patients are experiencing. How can you innovate and reduce wait time, aggravation and stress in the process?
3. Evolve to Provide 24 Hour Care That’s Actually Useful to the Patient
Blow up the term “doctor’s hours”. Your patients are trying to weave their care into a busy life. Hire a 24-hour call team – outsourcing is one of the best ways to do this affordably. Use a proactive answering service that does more than just pass along messages. Ensure they are staffed by trained nurses with experience handling the conditions that your practice specializes in.
4. Analyze Your Medical Data for Opportunities
If you haven’t already invested in an electronic medical record (EMR) platform, you’re behind the curve. In fact, you could be fined by federal agencies for failing to provide pertinent data in an electronic format.
But beyond the legal liabilities, there’s an ethical responsibility. Patients needs access to information if they’re going to be an effective member of the treatment team. Healing is a team support. Make sure everyone involved, from specialists to caregivers, have the information they need to effectively provide care.
By providing a wholistic approach to care, supported by EMR technology, you’ll find that patients require less follow-up care, and they become healthier faster. This reduces the toll that illness takes on our communities. And healthy patients provide for a more robust community – full of referrals for the amazing care that they received.
5. Reduce Operating Overhead Per Patient
By expanding to offer 24-hour services, you’re going to experience increased overhead. That’s not a problem. Why? Because your practice is going to grow. And if you also serve as gateway for patients to sign-up for the medical insurance and subsidy plans that they qualify for, you’ll improve the percentage of patients with health insurance. This directly impacts your bottom-line, reducing the overhead per patient.
In conclusion, if you dedicate yourself to providing holistic, compassionate care, your practice will grow. Bedside manner matters, but so does the technology used to reach out and provide care to the community.