How Do You Keep Your New Patients Calling You? Give Them What They Want!
That’s right, the new patients calling your office each day want something from you, besides healthcare services. Patients in today’s healthcare world should be treated more like “clients” than “patients” because that’s what they are. They are clients that have choices about their health and who they receive those healthcare services from. Will they go to the physician’s office closest to their work or their home? Or perhaps, they will drive across town because a friend has shared the positive experiences they’ve had with their doctor and his staff. Patients are in search of a better experience and they are calling your office looking for it.
Recent studies and combined data from medical mystery shopping projects reveal that nearly 80% of new patients calling medical offices to make appointments to want more information about the practice, the health services offered and the physician they are about to make their appointment with, than they are getting from the initial call with the receptionist. Some are waiting on long holds to even get through and those that are stuck on hold, are hanging up and calling another office in hopes of that better experience. In fact, 75% of patients who are placed on hold longer than 5 minutes or are transferred from department to department being placed on hold are likely to abandon that call and never call back.
The phone call is the first impression a new patient has with a practice and it will determine how the rest of their interactions with that office and physician go in the future. Never has it been more important to be certain that the first impression your practice gives a patient, is one that provides them with a positive, lasting impression and sets the tone for an outstanding in-office experience. The challenge facing practice leaders comes in finding the areas of improvements needed and putting into place a plan to change the attitude (and sometimes culture) of the medical office to reflect a much needed “patient-centric” outlook both on the phone and in the office during the patient visit. It can be done and starting out on the right step with the proper assessment tools, like a medical mystery shopping evaluation, and specific training are key in success and utlimately, an increase in patient retention and referrals.
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