Building and maintaining strong relationships with patients is always top of mind for clinics and healthcare organizations.
This process begins with ensuring prospective patients show up for their first appointment.
Next, a thoughtful follow-up can be the differentiator that helps patients see their treatment through to the end and return for further assistance should they need it.
A modern CRM platform can help a healthcare provider improve their appointment first attendance rates and create comprehensive and personalized follow-up cadences.
And that’s just the beginning.
In this article, we will explore the challenges that healthcare providers working in clinics face when trying to build and nurture strong relationships with their patients and provide insights into how a modern healthcare CRM system can help.
What is CRM?
CRM (customer relationship management) is a software toolset that assists businesses with the day-to-day management of their people (customers and employees), work processes, products, and projects.
Once thought of primarily as a sales tool, CRM technology has evolved to address the needs of many different business aspects, including marketing, customer service, and HR.
Through the use of advanced automations tools and data centralization, CRM software can help your business improve communication (both internal and external), work more efficiently, and track performance.
The challenges of patient relationship management for clinics
Establishing and maintaining a strong relationship with patients is key to ensuring the long-term success of a clinic.
While the ultimate goal of a healthcare professional is to help a patient get to a place where they don’t require continued treatment, good patient relationships can keep the clinic top of mind when needs do arise.
Clinics face all the same challenges as any organization does when it comes to managing relationships, plus some issues that are unique to the healthcare industry.
- Patient engagement- Good patient communication can be difficult for many reasons. First, patients can have wildly varying degrees of access to different communication channels.
While some might use email regularly, others may not use it all. Likewise, some patients may be comfortable with video conferencing while others may not.
Meeting patients “where they are” requires administrators and healthcare practitioners to use various avenues of communication depending on the patient and the circumstances.
When you factor in language and cultural barriers, this challenge can become even more daunting.
- Appointments and scheduling- Managing patient appointments can be a persistent challenge for clinic administrators.
On one hand, long wait times and limited availability can be a big deterrent for patients. On the other hand, leaving room for walk-in appointments and emergencies builds trust and reinforces reliability. Finding the right balance is tough.
Added to this mix are issues with no-shows and last-minute cancellations that can create a lot of extra work (and headaches) for admins.
- Patient education- Educating patients about their conditions, treatment options, and preventive care can be difficult, as patients have varying levels of health literacy.
Cultural sensitivity is also an issue as recognizing and respecting cultural differences can be challenging when delivering patient education because cultural norms and beliefs may influence health practices and decision-making.
When you factor in different learning styles, emotional reactions, and the potential for data overload — there is a lot to consider.
- Security and compliance- Staying compliant with local healthcare industry regulations adds another layer of complexity to patient relationships.
For example, compliance standards like those imposed by HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act — in the US) and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation — in Europe) require that digital patient data be handled in a very particular way.
Not only does this require more training and stricter operational processes to achieve, but it also makes finding software tools that handle patient data harder, as many of these vendors don’t consider the needs of a healthcare provider when designing their toolsets.
For more information on finding a HIPAA-compliant CRM solution, check out our HIPAA-Compliant CRM Software Guide.
CRM for clinics: Patient relationship management
A CRM solution can help clinics drive patient engagement which can lead to increased attendance, improved outcomes, and higher patient satisfaction rates through:
- Automated appointment reminders- With CRM automation, reminders can be sent out before an upcoming appointment. These reminders can be set up with triggers like “one day before an appointment” or “one hour before an appointment”, or they can be set up as a cadence.
When used via text message or SMS, automated reminders are very effective at improving appointment attendance rates.
Additionally, when integrated with a scheduling tool, automated reminders can enable patients to reschedule appointments themselves, saving time for admins and increasing the chances of future attendance.
- Automated follow-ups- CRM automation can be used to create follow-up cadences that provide important patient information, including:
- Appointment summaries
- Findings and diagnosis
- Emergency contacts
- Satisfaction surveys
- Prescription details
- Treatment plans
A post-appointment follow-up cadence is a valuable communication tool that helps patients better understand their patient care plan and can lead to improved outcomes and a better patient experience.
- Patient portal integration- By integrating with patient portal software, a CRM system can enable patients to easily and securely access their digital health records, test results, and treatment plans
This also allows a healthcare professional to provide patients with real-time updates, share billing and insurance information, and request and collect feedback.
Patient portal integration can also improve patient onboarding processes as new patients can use the portal to complete registration forms, review privacy policies, and provide consent electronically.With CRM automation, reminders can be sent out before an upcoming appointment. These reminders can be set up with triggers like “one day before an appointment” or “one hour before an appointment”, or they can be set up as a cadence.
FreeAgent CRM is the best healthcare CRM software for clinics
FreeAgent CRM is a modern work management platform that provides top-of-field software tools for healthcare organizations of all sizes and technical proficiency.
FreeAgent is the best healthcare CRM software for clinics because it is:
- Easy to use- FreeAgent’s modern user interface is quick to learn and easy to use, encouraging teams to work within the platform, driving up adoption and aligning your work processes.
- User-configurable- With FreeAgent, the power is in your hands. You can customize and personalize FreeAgent to fit the specific needs of your business and teams without external support.
- HIPAA-compliant- To demonstrate our commitment to ensuring all data captured and contained within the FreeAgent platform is safe and secure, FreeAgent CRM maintains HIPAA-compliance.
To learn more, see our article, FreeAgent Announces HIPAA-Compliance.
Plus, FreeAgent offers:
- Robust integration- FreeAgent’s flexible toolset and extensive integration library supports teams and businesses of all types and structures.
- Generative AI- Uplift your work with Generative AI-powered features. With FreeAgent, you can access AI across any app, allowing you to get the information you need faster.
With FreeAgent, it’s really that simple.
To see FreeAgent in action, get a demo, and discover for yourself how we are leading the way to a better workday.
