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One of medical providers’ top priority is to provide the best healthcare services to patients, but that is not possible without investing in positive patient engagement.
Hiring medical virtual assistants (MVAs) provides an effective solution to your problems on keeping your patients engaged in their healthcare regimen. As your MVAs take care of administrative and operational tasks, they can take the time to increase patient engagement in your practice just with their availability.
Here are some ways an MVA can promote healthcare to your patients:
Patients need to be guided with their healthcare. Your medical assistants are your receptionists. They call patients to remind them of their appointments or to confirm a follow-up visit especially those who were requested to have some necessary medical tests or examinations. Patients are busy, so your MVAs grab the chance to educate patients over the phone explaining the importance of their appointments.
MVAs also advise patients on what to do before they see the doctor. For instance, having to fill out their demographic information and health history through the patient portal prior to the appointment will save everyone’s time. Patients need to be informed if their insurances are on your list. Otherwise, your MVAs give reasonable options so the patient can still see you.
Right after a patient’s visit, MVAs have to follow up on their prescriptions. Your medical assistants verify if the pharmacy has received the prescription or if the prescription needs to be transferred to another pharmacy. The latter accommodates patients’ request to get their prescriptions from the pharmacy nearest to their location.
Whenever patients call to ask for advice in regard to their health issues, MVAs should be readily available to answer their queries. For major concerns, your MVAs must advise patients to book appointments so they’re given the right care or counsel.
Communication is vital in patient engagement. Your medical virtual assistants respond to your patients’ inquiries received via email, voicemail, or phone call right away. Your urgency in responding to their inquiries through your assistant shows that you care for their health. With proper phone etiquette, your MVAs know some ways to handle different inquiries as well as their limitations in giving answers to patients.
Empathy impacts patients. Trust your MVAs to be capable of giving a genuine sympathy to your patients and their health issues. For example, they will have to relay some bad news to patients, or persuade them to take their medications. In these times, your MVAs must maintain a calm and concerned demeanor as they give advice and explanation to your patients. How they handle difficult situations also reflects on your practice.
Making the patients feel that someone’s listening well and willing to provide help is crucial. They need to feel well taken-care of. Even in a phone conversation, patients need to know you care about their health. Eventually, they realize how important it is to take care of themselves.
Extend further help to your patients. Patients need referrals from you for further healthcare services. Give your MVAs a list of doctors you recommend and they find the necessary contact information to be given to patients. Let your patients see that you want them to get all the help they need to be healthier.
Engage in online marketing. Utilize your medical virtual assistants’ skills in social media marketing. Provide your patients with educational tips on healthcare by posting useful articles on Facebook, Twitter, and other networks where your patients are usually signed up.
Run reports on patient acquisition. Know where you get more patients. It is essential that you invest in a user-friendly medical-related applications or websites. Patients have different lifestyles that can interrupt them from their healthcare appointments. Websites that are easy to navigate ease the doctor-patient relationship.
Keep in mind that your focus on patient engagement is essential. Maximizing the professional skills of your medical virtual assistants help boost your patients’ healthcare awareness.
Juvy is Xilium's driven client services officer who always aims to end the workday productive. She's an active participant in many of the company's activities and she never fails to lend a hand whenever needed.
