3 Ways You can Meet Your Patient’s Technology Expectations

The way patients interact with their healthcare providers is changing. Patients of all age groups want digital options to manage their care and are more likely to switch providers to get it.

Self-service options became increasingly popular during the pandemic as a safer and more convenient way to facilitate healthcare needs. They enable patients to access various healthcare tools via their tablets, mobile phones, and smart devices virtually anywhere at any time. 

Patients want access to more digital tools

As the pandemic wanes, digitally enabled self-service options remain in demand as more patients prefer the speed, safety, and convenience over traditional methods. 

A Black Book survey found that 93% of patients want digital options to manage their care, including online appointment scheduling and tech-based payment tools. The same study found that, when utilized correctly, these tools help drive better patient satisfaction rates, increase loyalty and retain more patients.

Staying ahead of the technology curve has never been more critical for healthcare providers. The combination of patient demands for digital options on top of growing staffing challenges has many healthcare providers accelerating efforts to modernize their patient experience. 

Here are three examples of patient technology options healthcare providers can leverage into their practice that boosts patient satisfaction and revenue while lessening the burden on staff:

1. Online Appointment Scheduling: online scheduling removes barriers such as inconvenient office hours and personal scheduling conflicts to lengthy hold times. Instead, patients book or cancel appointments at their convenience, leading to fewer missed and canceled appointments. 
2. Digital Check-in: The patient intake process for many healthcare organizations is plagued by manual, time-consuming tasks, redundant processes, and a lack of personalization. Patient check-in kiosks allow patients to complete paper-based intake processes from one easy-to-use check-in kiosk, shortening lines, wait times, and manual intake burdens on staff.
3. Payment Tools: Although most patients rely primarily on health insurance to cover the bulk of medical costs, out-of-pocket costs such as co-pays still need to be collected. Patients are more likely to pay their bills when given cashless options such as credit card are offered. That means healthcare organizations offering more convenient payment options can simultaneously boost collections and patient satisfaction.

Patient technology options are now a necessity

Digital tools such as patient check-in can help hospitals and health systems save time and money. As patients increasingly prefer contactless interactions for convenience and safety, self-service options enable organizations to drive higher patient satisfaction rates.

Quest Diagnostics, for example, saved countless hours of their phlebotomist’s time across millions of patient interactions by automating patient check-in with Aila’s Interactive Kiosk. Aila’s self check-in solution eliminated the need for paper forms, resulting in lower data entry errors and higher process rates, making it a win-win-win solution for patients, phlebotomists, and strategic lines of business. 

Pandemic-related restrictions changed many of the ways healthcare providers run their organizations. Many elements of the check-in process, like checking eligibility and collecting co-pays, moved online or over the phone. Many patients now view these changes as improvements. According to this report, 78% of patients say they want contactless options made more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic to remain in the future.

Help with patient engagement technology

Aila specializes in helping healthcare providers save time and money while boosting patient satisfaction rates by automating the patient check-in experience across their locations. For more information, contact us.