The healthcare industry is quite competitive nowadays, meaning that patients basically have more options than ever. So, if you have a medical practice already, or you are thinking of opening one just now, you should be aware of the criteria that people use to choose one practice over another. Not understanding how they make this choice is problematic, because it means that you won’t really know what to do in order to attract more people and make them visit you instead of your competitors. That can cause problems for your entire business, eventually even leading you toward closing it due to not getting enough work.
Anyway, as I have mentioned above, the idea here is for you to understand why patients choose one practice over another. Once you have a better idea about that, you will automatically be able to pinpoint those areas that need improvement, and thus work on that in an effort to attract patients and retain them. Without any further ado, thus, let us check out some of the main reasons why people choose one over the other.
Table of Contents
1. The Quality of Care
The quality of care always comes, and should always come, first. Meaning, therefore, that even if you do everything else right, if you’re not providing them with high quality of care, you are unlikely to see people returning to you. So, this should always be your main focus, as I suppose you understand already. Just like I suppose that you are doing everything you can to improve the quality of care, getting the right equipment and using the right tech solutions to enhance your service.
2. Accessibility
The quality of service, of course, is assessed way before your patients come to visit your practice physically. In fact, it start with that very first phone call, and the initial communication. If, thus, you are not easy to reach and you’re not available when they call, chances are that they won’t be happy, and that they will choose another practice over yours. This is exactly why medical answering services, that you can read more about on this website, have become essential for all practices. They ensure your accessibility at all times, thus helping you get more clients.
3. Responsiveness
It’s not only the long holds or general unavailability that will deter patients. In addition to that, when they call and need an answer to a question that is important to them, and then you take too long to get back to them and respond, they are also likely to go somewhere else. Therefore, responsiveness is crucial, and you need to follow up in a timely manner. Once again, when you use medical answering services, you are sure to get the messages prioritized appropriately, so that you can answer them on time and without leaving your potential or existing patients to wait for far too long.
4. First Impressions
There is absolutely no doubt that first impressions count when it comes to medical services. So, when potential patients walk through the door, you definitely want to greet them appropriately. You want to make them feel comfortable and at ease, as well as assure them that you’ll be able to answer all of their questions and address their concerns in a prompt manner. This is where your staff plays a crucial role, but so does the quality of your own communication.
As you may have guessed it, though, first impressions are actually made even before the potential patients come in. Once again, they are sure to call first, and you need to make a good first impression there as well. When you use medical answering services, you are sure to do that, because you will have a dedicated team answering the calls promptly and making sure that every caller is treated respectfully. The sensitive calls will be handled with compassion and empathy, which is sure to make a good first impression.
5. Emergency Handling
While you have an opening and a closing time, people can’t choose when they are about to have a medical emergency. So, to further improve the quality of care and patient safety, you should have someone ready to answer the calls even after hours, thus allowing you to handle any kinds of emergencies on time. People will undeniably appreciate that, which means you’ll build trust and establish yourself as a reliable provider on the competitive healthcare market. And, that is essential for the success of your practice.
6. Privacy and Compliance
Finally, you should never disregard privacy, and compliance in handling the sensitive data of your patients. Because, that is another reason why they may choose one practice over another. This further means that, when you want to partner up with a third party, such as a company offering medical answering services, you should ensure that they do the work in accordance with the HIPAA regulations, and that they will, therefore, protect people’s privacy and ensure you’re staying in compliance with those rules.