How to Improve Patient Satisfaction in Virtual Care
Practices like yours have always focused on providing quality medical care. But in today’s telehealth market, it’s crucial to also focus on how to improve patient satisfaction in telemedicine.
Virtual medical and mental health professionals are prioritizing patient satisfaction with Telemedicine more than ever before. A high satisfaction rating can drive more patients to your practice. And that means a more attractive bottom line.
But how do you improve patient satisfaction in Telemedicine? It may seem like an impossible task, especially since every patient’s ideal medical experience varies.
When it comes to patient satisfaction in telehealth, you need to focus on making the entire experience enjoyable. Your patients should feel comfortable, welcome, safe, and valued. From first contact to ending each successful Telemedicine visit, the process must be smooth and easy.
Lucky for you, Mend does all that and more.
What Exactly is Patient Satisfaction?
The idea of patient satisfaction is relative to each individual. But here at Mend, we have our own definition. And we hold ourselves to high standards.
We define patient satisfaction as the measure of how well a patient perceives the level of care they receive from you.
There is a debate about the connection between the patient experience and health outcomes.
An article in the New England Journal of Medicine article suggests that patient satisfaction indicates the quality of care received. Regulatory agencies have also confirmed the connection. This is due to their reporting requirements for reimbursement.
The Importance of Improving Patient Satisfaction with Telemedicine
Although Telehealth has been around for a while, patients may be reluctant to use it. The rise of Telemedicine forced many patients’ hands on the matter thanks to the pandemic. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t parts of Telemedicine that intimidate patients.
Privacy concerns
When patients visit you in your in-person office, it’s a private, intimate meeting. But some patients may not feel as secure talking about personal health concerns over the worldwide web.
Many patients don’t understand the added security added to HIPAA-compliant Telehealth programs. Educating your patients and calming their fears on the matter will make them more open to the idea.
When considering how to improve patient satisfaction in Telemedicine, ensuring your patients feel safe goes a long way. They’re more likely to be satisfied with their Telehealth visits if they do.
Fear of technology
Technology is supposed to make our lives easier. But we all know sometimes that isn’t the case. Especially when you have to learn how to work with something new.
Connection and login issues, confusing downloads, and too many buttons to push are common patient complaints in Telemedicine. This is a significant source of reluctance regarding patients’ willingness to use Telehealth.
It’s also a chance for your practice to shine. Using an innovative, easy-to-use Telehealth platform like Mend, you’ll gain many points with your patients.
Quality of care anxieties
Many patients worry the quality level of care they’ll receive through Telemedicine isn’t as good as in-person visits. A fear of missed physical symptoms when not in your physical office is a common concern.
The pandemic brought about the necessity of ensuring quality telehealth programs. Because of this, Telemedicine has come a long way. Especially here at Mend.
A 2021 survey revealed that eight out of ten adults using Telemedicine had their initial medical concerns resolved. Therefore, it’s easy to conclude that Telehealth is effective. When you can deliver effective treatment using our state-of-the-art platform, you’re sure to improve patient satisfaction with Telemedicine.
How to Achieve a 5-Star Patient Satisfaction Rating with Telehealth
Improving Telehealth satisfaction with your patients starts with creating a comfortable environment and positive experience. Of course, providing excellent medical care leads to satisfied patients.
But don’t underestimate the importance of customer service. Even if your patients get excellent care, they still may report low satisfaction. If they have a negative experience with the Telehealth program or staff members, that impacts satisfaction.
Here are five valuable ways to achieve a 5-star patient satisfaction rating. All of which Mend accomplishes.
Communicate well
One critical aspect of ensuring high satisfaction among patient levels is to maintain stellar communication. You may think this requires you and your staff to waste valuable time on the phone or computer.
That may have been true in the past. But when you integrate our innovative, one-of-a-kind patient engagement platform into your practice, you’ll actually save time.
Mend’s innovative system sends the right number of appointment reminders via the proper preferred channels. So you’ll spend less time communicating about appointments and more time meeting with them about their medical needs.
Solid communication leads to improved patient satisfaction.
Use advanced technological tools
When putting strategies into practice to improve patient satisfaction with Telemedicine, it’s crucial to replace outdated systems. Patient engagement platforms like Mend help you streamline your practice’s business operations and improve patient outcomes.
Implementing Telemedicine means you can’t run your practice the way you always have. Simply adding a video visit option isn’t enough.
Your patients deserve more.
They deserve advanced Telemedicine that provides positive patient outcomes and streamlines your practice. Show your patients how to get high-quality care using a state-of-the-art patient engagement platform like Mend.
You may have heard of virtual waiting rooms used in Telemedicine. But you’ve never seen a virtual waiting room like ours.
Offer an Enhanced Virtual Waiting Room Experience (EVWR)
Mend’s Enhanced Virtual Waiting Room Experience has resulted in a 23% lift in patient satisfaction.
Why? Because it makes the whole Telehealth experience more comfortable, enjoyable, and efficient. Your patients won’t spend their time in a dull virtual waiting room. They won’t have to wonder if they’re even in the right place.
The Enhanced Virtual Waiting Room feature allows you to create custom-branded virtual waiting room experiences for your patients. Rather than staring at a blank screen, they’ll engage with a Netflix-like library of curated, specialty-specific Mend Media, including:
- health and wellness videos
- TED talks
- advertisements
Another valuable feature of our EVWR is the live support. In times past, you might’ve had to play the technical support role and be your patient’s doctor. But in our EVWR, that’s not the case. With Mend, you get:
- Automatic connection checks before your patients enter the virtual waiting room.
- Connectivity chatbots that offer solutions for connection issues before their Telehealth visit begins.
In our EVWR, they’ll make use of their valuable time, learning about your practice and procedures. This allows for a more engaging patient experience. Virtual wait times can last up to 20 minutes. So passing the time efficiently and enjoyably will improve the patient experience.
Allow for simple appointment scheduling and rescheduling
Your patients don’t want to jump through hoops to schedule or reschedule appointments. They don’t want to log in to several locations or click through pages. Integrate with a sophisticated patient engagement platform like Mend, and your patients won’t have to worry.
Our program grants your patients scheduling access 24/7/365. And it’s all done at the click of a button.
Make it easy
One of the biggest deterrents for patients’ desire to use Telemedicine is that it’s difficult and frustrating to use.
We understand that.
That’s why we created Mend to streamline the process not only for you but also for your clients. You don’t have to install a million different things, and neither do your patients.
On a tablet or smartphone, it’s an app. On a computer, it’s a website portal. That’s it.
Our platform also provides digital intake forms to your patients. That means no more printing out forms and keeping track of them. Once they’re filled out in Mend, they integrate into your practice’s computer system.
Mend is Your Key to Improving Patient Satisfaction in Virtual Care
You have options when it comes to offering Telemedicine to your patients. But if you want to improve patient satisfaction, you have to set yourself apart from the rest.
And that’s just what we did at Mend.
We set out to create the best high-tech, high-touch digital patient engagement solutions. Our goal is to streamline your operations and improve patient outcomes.
And we did it.
Your patients deserve a Telehealth experience that is:
- easy to use
- offers an unparalleled Enhanced Virtual Waiting Room experience
- HIPAA compliant
- technologically-advanced
- Reliable, even on low bandwidth connections
Don’t wait to implement the best patient engagement program into your practice. Contact us for a free demonstration to learn more about our incredible EVWR and innovative platform. You have nothing to lose.