Increase Patient Volume Fast: What Every Practice Should Know
In a complicated healthcare landscape, medical practices must navigate medical scheduling difficulties and incorporate marketing, digital presence, and more to optimize the overall patient experience. Common challenges include poor online visibility, negative patient satisfaction, and a poorly operating patient portal and appointment management system. Let’s look at some of the pitfalls and solutions for medical practices to get more patients into your practice.
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The Key to Increasing Patient Volume
Understanding how to increase patient volume is part efficient scheduling, part enhanced patient experience, and part targeted marketing efforts. Practices looking to expand invest in products that can streamline their operations, such as remote medical reception services, allowing on-site staff to focus on patients and their care.
Whether you are interested in taking on these challenges yourself or working with an outside fulfillment company, you need a clear overview of some prevailing factors impacting your patient retention and bottom line.
Uncovering Missed Opportunities in Your Practice
When you’re seeking the answer to how to get more patients into your practice, you may first want to consider how you may be losing current and past patients. Patient retention is an indication of an efficient and competent medical practice.
Several common issues that can cause a practice to lose patients include:
- Inefficient scheduling: Long wait times and difficulty booking appointments frustrate patients.
- Lack of follow-ups: Many patients fail to return simply because there is no reminder system for follow-up appointments.
- Poor patient engagement: Inefficient phone systems, overburdened on-site staff, and patient portals with poor user experience can all leave customers feeling undervalued and ignored.
How to Fix These Issues
- Hire a medical call center to answer phone calls and alleviate missed phone calls.
- Use a medical scheduling company to Update or upgrade your patient reminder system, ideally giving patients the option of receiving text message reminders, reminder calls, or emails.
- Re-engage patients that have become inactive with an outreach campaign.
- Optimize scheduling and operations with efficient and streamlined processes.
How Patient Experience Affects Patient Volume
Improving patient retention relies on overall patient satisfaction and communication. Patients who feel valued are more likely to suggest your practice to others. Patients who experience unexplained or excessive wait times, poor communication regarding scheduling or rescheduling, and a lack of follow-through from staff can lead to negative reviews, damaging a practice’s reputation.
Ways to Improve Patient Experience
- Utilize tools for better scheduling and data management.
- Train staff to provide compassionate and efficient service.
- Offer convenient booking and patient portal options.
- Implement real-time feedback surveys to address patient concerns immediately.
By prioritizing patient satisfaction, practices can organically get more patients through referrals and positive ratings.
Leveraging Marketing to Attract More Patients
While healthcare is not the same as retail, some of the same strategies can help you increase your patient load by increasing your visibility online. The three primary suggestions for success are:
- Search Engine (SEO) optimization to appear in local search results.
- Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising to attract targeted patient groups in your service area.
- Social media engagement to build trust and visibility.
Here is a simple checklist of things you can do to reach patients and improve patient loyalty by engaging patients:
- Claim and optimize Google My Business profile – Google is the most powerful search engine so claiming and updating your Google Business Profile will boost your organic search results.
- Encourage patient reviews online in both general review sites like Yelp and in niche health directories.
- Use a QR code in your lobby so patients can leave a review on the day of their visit.
- Include Social Media buttons in e-mail communications and newsletters.
- Place a review widget on your website.
- Run targeted social media ads for patient outreach
- Improve website SEO to rank higher on Google
When executed correctly, marketing can increase patient volume, ensuring long-term practice growth.
What’s the Best Way to Increase Patient Volume Quickly?
If you’re looking for immediate results, here are some suggestions to get more patients into your practice:
- Find and correct patient communication pitfalls: Ensure every call is answered with professionalism and care, making appointment scheduling seamless and hassle-free.
- Reduce patient wait times: Hire trained receptionists to streamline scheduling, keeping your practice running smoothly without overwhelming your staff.
- Use email and SMS reminders: Use automated call, text, and email reminders to help confirm appointments and encourage follow-ups, keeping your schedule full.
Real-world examples show that practices implementing these quick changes see significant increases in patient volume within weeks.
Take Action to Grow Your Practice Today
To increase patient volume in a medical office and sustain that growth sustainably, practices must incorporate marketing, staff support, and patient satisfaction strategies. These include
- Improve patient experience to boost word-of-mouth referrals.
- Fixing scheduling inefficiencies and wait times will retain more patients after their first visit.
- Invest in options such as online booking, automated reminders, and remote medical receptionists to keep patients informed and engaged.
- Improve digital visibility through reputation management, an optimized Google My Business profile, and SEO to reach targeted patient audiences in your area.
Ready to grow your practice? Appointment Desk™ specializes in expert scheduling solutions that help practices streamline operations and improve patient satisfaction. Talk to us today to learn how we can support your practice’s success.
