Health professionals know that healthcare is a collaboration of sorts. It isn’t enough for a doctor to prescribe a medication — the patient must take it on the prescribed schedule. Patients need to be fully invested and engaged in their care for it to have any chance of being effective. Fortunately, technology is making this easier, as people today have much greater access to their providers than ever before. To take full advantage of this availability, new technologies must be embraced and patients need to use them.
For example, offering telehealth appointments means greater convenience for patients. Rather than wait for an in-person visit, those with relatively minor ailments or questions can communicate with their providers through a video chat or text messaging. This makes it more likely they will reach out when they have concerns instead of waiting for their issues to become too problematic to ignore.
Connecting with patients portal through emails, text reminders and app notifications is another valuable strategy for boosting engagement. These tools ensure that the flow of information between provider and patient is kept open at all times. This means it will be easier to stay on top of patients’ progress and let them know help is available.
Healthcare is more of a two-way street than most people know. For more ideas and tips about how to use technology to improve patient engagement, take a look at the accompanying resource.
Infographic created by SpecialDocs Consultants, a medical practice consulting company
