You’ve no doubt heard of patient engagement before. It’s one of those terms that gets thrown around often. But what exactly is patient engagement? Let’s start our discussion by defining it.

 

The term patient engagement is used to describe the act of interacting with your patients before and after their visit. It’s the idea that they aren’t just there for the visit, but instead, focuses on developing an ongoing relationship. It’s about getting them more involved with their treatment.

 

Now let’s talk about some of the ways you can achieve this in your practice through your EMR system. Whether you’re in a multi-disciplinary rehabilitation clinic, or you offer speech therapy to little ones, there’s something in here for you.

 

Home Exercise Plans

 

Home exercise plans provide clinics with a fantastic way to engage with your patients. In the past, clinicians would send patients home with diagrams and stick figures drawings demonstrating how to perform certain exercises. Thankfully they don’t have to rely on these rudimentary tools anymore.

 

Many clinics have adopted video home exercise plan (HEP) systems like Physiotec to help their patients continue their treatment at home. Their videos are engaging, easy to follow, and take the hassle out of home exercises. The best part about it is that there’s an integration between Practice Perfect and Physiotec, so any home exercises that you prescribe your patients will become a part of their client record.

 

By engaging your clients with HEPs, you’re helping them become more invested in their recovery–and it definitely gives you something to talk about when they return to the clinic!

 

Surveys and Feedback

 

Surveys are a phenomenal way to get feedback from your clients and better understand their journey. Is there something in particular that your clients like about your clinic? Then you may want to do some more of that. Conversely, is there a particular hurdle that they’re experiencing? Surveys and feedback can help bring that to light.

 

One fantastic way of getting feedback is to send Net Promoter Score surveys to your clients. As a matter of fact, you’ve probably received one of these yourself. They’re the types of surveys that ask “how likely you are to refer the business to friends or family members on a scale of 0 to 10.” The resulting answers tell you a lot about the clients feelings towards your business. Anyone who replies with 0 to 6 are considered detractors, while folks who reply with either 7 or 8 are more neutral–they don’t feel strongly one way or the other. What you’re really after are the 9’s and 10’s. These are your advocates. They’re the ones that are going to be shouting your name off of the rooftops. You can make the most of this by asking them to leave a Google Review.

 

 

Did you know there’s a way to automate your Net Promoter Score surveys and get more Google Reviews using Wired Client? Click here to find out more. 

 

Online Booking and Checking In

 

One of the greatest ways to improve patient engagement with your clients is to make things easy on them. How easy is it for new patients to register? Can returning patients easily schedule a follow-up appointment? These are things to consider when you want to improve patient engagement through your EMR.

 

Practice Perfect offers a client portal that allows brand new patients to request an appointment. They’re able to fill out their basic profile including demographic information, contact information and provide details regarding their insurance coverage such as their insurer and policy number. Existing clients may also use the client portal to view past and upcoming appointments, as well as schedule appointments. To learn more about our client portal, click here. 

 

You can also take the pain out of check-in by employing a patient check-in app. Some patient check-in apps, like ours, are designed to work on all iPads and Android tablets. You can keep the tablet at your front desk, and upon arrival, your patients can use it to check-in and notify their therapist that they’re ready to be seen.

 

Open Lines of Communication

 

Last but not least, you can improve patient engagement through your EMR system by keeping an open line of communication with your clients. How easy is it for them to get in touch with you? If their only options are to leave a voicemail, or fill out a contact form on your website, then it might be time to change it up

Studies have shown that SMS messages have an open rate as high as 82%. This means that your text messages are a lot harder to ignore than your missed calls. Try implementing some form of text message communications in your clinic, preferably one that’s integrated with your EMR system, and watch how your clinic’s response rate improves dramatically.

 

We hope that you found this article helpful! If you are a Practice Perfect client and have any questions about how to implement the above features, feel free to contact us at: [email protected]

 

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