One industry that is in desperate need of modernization is healthcare. Many organizations fail to develop a forward-thinking website, a strong social media presence and maintain a positive reputation online.
If, however, you want to stand out as a reputable organization, attract new patients and develop an online presence that reflects your internal standards, you must push your business into the digital age. Find out how to modernize your healthcare business with the following suggestions:
Create a Standout Website
Many patients will want to make an informed decision before booking an appointment with a healthcare practice. To do so, they will take to the web to identify the best options for their needs. If your organization doesn’t feature a website that appears in the search engines, they will be more likely to schedule an appointment at a different practice.
It is imperative to develop a modern, streamlined website that appears in Google, which should convince them that you are the right option for their needs. As they might never have visited your practice before, your website will provide a first impression of your organization, which is why you cannot afford to settle for an outdated, complex website.
You must also create a site that answers their many questions, while promoting your procedures and services.
For example, you should write webpages to showcase your practice’s:
– Onsite amenities
– Medical practitioners
– Procedures and specialties
– Contact information
– Patient testimonials
The above information could help prospective patients to make an informed decision on your practice. It is also critical to optimize your site for the search engines using various search engine optimization (SEO) tactics, which can improve your page rank and can drive a substantial amount of traffic to your site every day. For example, you should naturally incorporate relevant keywords into your copy, increase your page speed, publish fresh content, and develop a responsive web design.
Provide Online Scheduling
As much pressure will be placed on your administrative staff each working day, an online scheduling platform could take some of the pressure off your hardworking team. If you are failing to feature online scheduling on your website, it is likely you are missing out on many patients, who might be turning to your more forward-thinking competitors.
It is important to incorporate 24/7 online scheduling into either your website or a web app, which could streamline your operations and help you to secure many new patients.
A Strong Social Media Presence
As approximately 3.028 billion people are reportedly active on social media, the platforms can help you to connect and engage with your current and potential patients. By utilizing the powerful networks, you will be able to gain many new patients, highlight the credibility of your healthcare practitioners, and promote your organization’s latest news to your audience.
It cannot only help your practice to improve its reputation and support patient satisfaction, but it can also educate your readers on various healthcare issues and provide wellbeing advice. For example, you could raise awareness for serious medical conditions and offer top tips on how people can care for their mind and body, which could help to improve healthcare across the local community.
It is, however, imperative to analyze your social media posts’ data, so you can tweak or change a campaign to grow your followers, boost your engagement, and secure many new patients.
Encourage Your Employees to Become Brand Advocates
It is likely your healthcare practice is full to the brim with many passionate employees, who endeavor every day to provide patients with the highest standard of care. You should, therefore, embark on an employee advocacy campaign to humanize your organization.
For example, encourage your doctors, nurses and administrative staff to post positive content of their day-to-day duties (with patient consent, if required). You also should request they like, share and comment on your organization’s social media posts, which can boost your reach, engagement and brand awareness.
Send Automatic Patient Reminders
As your patients will lead busy lives, it could be easy for them to forget about an upcoming doctor’s appointment. To prevent empty appointments filling up your doctors’ schedules, you should invest in automatic appointment reminders that can be sent via SMS text message or email, which will ensure a patient doesn’t forget to attend a consultation, check-up or procedure. It can also improve your organization’s efficiency, as it will reduce the number of calls your patients will make to your office.
Hire Forward-Thinking Employees
Transform your organization’s operations and efficiency by hiring forward-thinking members of staff. For example, an operations manager will have a thorough understanding of the healthcare environment, so they can manage and improve vital areas, such as human resources, finance, innovation, patient safety, and strategy. Plus, they can utilize big data to support healthcare management.
You could even support your hardworking professionals by providing educational opportunities. For example, a member of your administrative team could flourish by enrolling in a Master of Healthcare Administration program with Suffolk Online.
Request Feedback from Your Patients
Every healthcare organization must aim to maintain and improve their standards, which can help them to build on their strengths and eliminate any weaknesses. To routinely improve the patient experience, you should request feedback following a consultation or a procedure.
However, manually asking for the feedback can drain your company’s time and resources, which is why you must invest in reliable software to automate the process. For example, you could send automated text messages to patients asking for their feedback on their experience. The front office can then review the various responses, so your medical practice can quickly respond to any negative engagements.
Conclusion
If you want to establish your practice as a leader in healthcare, while adding patients onto your database and improving standards and satisfaction, you must modernize your organization. So, take the time to build a premium website that stands out from your rivals, create a strong social media presence, and introduce technologies to streamline your internal operations.
