Patient Engagement Trends 2022 | Healthcare Success

By Stewart Gandolf
Chief Government Officer

Whereas many companies lengthy for a return to pre-COVID regular, savvy healthcare organizations and health systems embrace digital and digital providers that champion a affected person engagement future that exceeds expectations in our new actuality.

Has your enterprise embraced digital and digital affected person expertise tendencies, or are you continue to ready for issues to “get again to regular?”

Elevated adoption of digital and digital providers mixed with an increase in healthcare consumerism means sufferers aren’t ready. They’re residing a “new regular” and demanding frictionless entry to care and the flexibility to have interaction with related, well timed, instructional content material to make knowledgeable choices about their well being. 

In response to a 2021 survey by NextGen Healthcare, 83% of respondents believed patient engagement solutions played an essential role in organizational financial success and patient outcomes. Engaged sufferers are three times much less prone to have unmet medical wants and twice as prone to search immediate care than unengaged sufferers.

It’s time to draw a wider viewers, improve engagement, and develop your enterprise by implementing affected person expertise tendencies that cater to a “new regular” and promote engagement throughout all touchpoints.

In right this moment’s weblog submit, I share:

• What affected person engagement is,
• Why it issues,
• And 9 affected person engagement tendencies to observe in 2022.

What’s Affected person Engagement?

Affected person engagement is typically outlined as sufferers who’re motivated to assemble the knowledge that enables them to take cost of their well being and make healthcare choices about their signs, sicknesses, and therapy choices. 

Nevertheless, I’d argue affected person engagement additionally contains sufferers motivated to transcend mere studying and as an alternative take motion in their very own lives to make wholesome way of life selections, prioritize wellness, and benefit from preventive well being providers. After all, hospitals and well being programs are motivated to assist sufferers obtain their absolute best well being (partly by insurance coverage incentives) and out of hospitals or emergency rooms.

However, earlier than we dive into affected person engagement tendencies, there are two associated phrases I’d prefer to make clear:

• Affected person-centric care says a affected person’s particular well being wants and desired well being outcomes are the driving drive behind all well being care choices. With patient-centric care, sufferers usually are not solely companions of their medical well being but in addition their emotional, psychological, non secular, social, and monetary well being.

“The goal of [patient-centric care] is to bridge some disconnect or discordance between physicians and sufferers. [It] focuses on communication strategies like shared decision-making, constructing empathy and belief, apply effectivity, and adherence,” says Fasiha Haq, a world medical training chief at Eli Lilly and Firm.

• Affected person expertise contains each on-line, offline, and in-person interplay a affected person has with a well being care system (from model consciousness, their first inquiry, and the way they’re handled through the admissions course of, to supplier communication, in a single day hospital experiences, aftercare providers, and billing).
  
  Success with “affected person expertise” is much deeper than simply making sufferers comfortable. It’s about constructing the groundwork that retains them motivated and engaged. My buddy and main authority on patient experience, Dr. Jim Merlino, notes, “During the last ten years, the healthcare business has superior from an concept that the affected person expertise is about happiness and satisfaction to an understanding that it’s rather more transformative than that. That is about how we ship high quality care.”

I’ve been a speaker, author, and guide in healthcare advertising for over twenty years, lengthy earlier than these phrases have been commonplace. However even again once I began, many docs and healthcare professionals needed to boost the shopper shopping for journey, goal disengaged sufferers, and encourage them to construct the information wanted to handle their healthcare. This continues to be a problem for populations in sure geographic places, demographics, and people managing continual illness.

A Deeper Take a look at Affected person Engagement 

Immediately, affected person engagement has change into more and more vital for all sufferers as healthcare shifts extra readily into digital care experiences, like telehealth and distant monitoring.

The excellent news is many youthful sufferers are in search of out and fascinating with digital assets to achieve the information wanted to make knowledgeable choices about their well being.

In a current weblog submit, I shared how healthcare consumerism has modified how hospitals and well being programs market their services. Immediately’s sufferers have extra entry to complete details about physicians, hospitals, and affected person evaluations than ever earlier than. Because of this, many are “purchasing” for healthcare suppliers that meet their medical wants and prioritize a patient-first philosophy in keeping with different service sectors (e.g., retail, hospitality, eCommerce, and so on.). 

Higher affected person engagement comes with value-add affected person experiences, like quick access to info, well timed appointments, and high-quality communication with healthcare suppliers. It’s baked into each expertise they’ve along with your model, whether or not intentional or not.

Understanding and emphasizing the significance of curating a optimistic affected person expertise is vital to constructing extra engaged sufferers and model loyalty. 

Model loyalty improves model recognition, permitting your well being system, multilocation apply, or healthcare group to extend market share and income.

Why Affected person Engagement Issues?

Shoppers in each sector count on extra—and healthcare isn’t any exception. Sufferers need extra info to make educated choices about their healthcare, extra transparency concerning prices and choices, extra in-office facilities, extra training and assets, and extra open communication with suppliers. In case your healthcare group isn’t taking note of affected person engagement tendencies, your sufferers will store round till they discover one which does.

Which suggests you lose enterprise.

Interact present sufferers and appeal to new ones once you mix sturdy medical outcomes with distinctive experiences for every touchpoint alongside the shopper journey. 

Healthcare organizations that hold tempo with affected person engagement tendencies and embrace change will keep on the vanguard of affected person acquisition ways and proceed rising their companies. 

Most sufferers or caregivers are digital-centric and self-reliant with expertise. The truth is, 72% of Gen Xers (ages 41-56)—shortly changing into the dominant voice in healthcare as they take care of themselves, their growing old mother and father, and kids—use web assets like Healthgrades, Vitals, Google My Enterprise, and even Fb to analysis docs and physicians.

Prime 9 Affected person Engagement Tendencies for 2022

Listed below are 9 affected person engagement future tendencies to observe:

1. Healthcare consumerism continues to reign.

As frequent digital interactions change into the norm, out-of-pocket medical prices proceed to rise, and sufferers use info and expertise to make knowledgeable choices, healthcare organizations should present worth and comfort. This implies driving affected person engagement and loyalty by way of elevated entry to high-value communications, worth transparency, high-quality facilities, and strong on-line capabilities, akin to:

a. A useful web site and native listing profiles

b. Academic content material in your social media and weblog

c. Simple, on-line appointment scheduling 

d. Accessible and responsive physician-patient e mail communication

e. Safe, on-line entry to medical data 

f. Digital invoice pay capabilities

g. And extra

2. Well being fairness will get prioritized.

Organizations that combine well being fairness into their core methods, budgets, and enterprise operations will cleared the path in 2022. The continuing COVID-19 pandemic has spotlighted the persistent and important inequalities in well being outcomes for varied affected person populations, geographic places, communities, and people. This implies healthcare organizations should prioritize well being fairness and handle systemic limitations to entry by partnering with sufferers and communities of shade by way of simpler mechanisms, applications, and digital instruments. 

Frequent limitations embody:

a. Entry to well being care

b. Well being care high quality

c. Affected person training and empowerment

d. Well being care infrastructure

e. Well being care coverage

f. Program administration

3. Excessive-quality patient-physician communications have change into the norm.

Immediately’s healthcare shoppers count on deeper connections, together with extra accessible, responsive, and strategic physician-patient communications. As different industries prioritize on-demand customer support instruments (e.g., stay chat and social channels), strong web site content material, and customized drip advertising ways, healthcare organizations should additionally rise to satisfy these altering expectations. Right here’s how one can get began:  

a. Rent skilled healthcare writers to develop and submit correct web site content material constantly. This ensures your web site ranks high on the Google search engine results page (SERP), attracting a wider viewers and growing thought management.

b. Begin and handle your Google Business Profile to take up more room on Google’s SERP (growing model consciousness), information first impressions, and set up (and keep) credibility.

c. Hold sufferers knowledgeable about new or vital info with common e mail and social media campaigns.

4. Cell healthcare shapes the affected person expertise.

COVID-19 shortly modified how non-urgent healthcare was delivered and compelled progressive hospitals and well being programs to adapt to new methods, processes, and applied sciences, embracing cell options like telehealth. Cell gadgets like tablets and smartphones will proceed empowering clinicians, enhancing affected person care, and bettering affected person outcomes as extra hospitals and well being programs embrace out there applied sciences and software program applications.  Right here’s what to anticipate in 2022 and past:

a. Good hospital rooms
Empower sufferers with bedside tablets that present entry to medical data, take a look at outcomes, therapy schedule, care staff, hospital providers (e.g., recent linens, meals), lights, and thermostat. These instruments enhance affected person engagement and training, permitting nurses to spend time answering knowledgeable, particular questions on a illness, situation, therapy, or process.

b. Hybrid care fashions assist higher accessibility
Distant affected person monitoring, lower-care outpatient providers, and telemedicine will proceed remodeling residence healthcare. These patient-first, lower-cost experiences will proceed paving the best way towards higher well being fairness and accessibility.

5. Automation helps extra partaking affected person experiences.

The healthcare business continues prioritizing automation and digital applied sciences to boost the affected person expertise. From medical trials and routine physician visits to surgical procedures and rehabilitation, digital well being care and automatic digital programs encourage deeper affected person engagement with physicians and increase affected person satisfaction throughout the care continuum. Listed below are just some methods automation continues to reshape the affected person expertise:

a. Sooner on-line appointment scheduling

b. Full, constant, and error-free digital well being data

c. On-demand entry to digital well being data

d. Extra well timed and correct medical interventions

e. Sooner doctor response time 

f. Automated record-keeping

6. Emphasis on physician-patient care collaboration continues.

As healthcare consumerism continues to nudge the business right into a extra accessible future, physicians should encourage affected person engagement and shared decision-making throughout every section of their care journey:

a. Prevention

b. Wellness

c. Training

d. Discovery

e. Diagnostic testing

f. Therapy 

g. Submit-surgical restoration or rehabilitation

h. Continued self-care

A 2017 study from the University of Oregon confirmed actively-engaged sufferers have been 9 instances extra prone to really feel their therapy plans mirrored their values, 4 and a half instances extra prone to tolerate negative effects, and thrice extra prone to provoke a more healthy eating regimen.

7. Entry to reasonably priced affected person care expands utilizing real-time digital analysis.

On-demand telehealth appointments are handy, well timed, and reasonably priced—that means they’re now not an choice however essential. Creating a sturdy digital care community that’s simply accessible to distant care facilities or sufferers in rural areas is crucial for enabling suppliers to ship extra proactive care in lower-cost settings—additional bridging the well being fairness hole.

8. Affected person wellness improves with augmented actuality.

The healthcare business additionally leverages augmented actuality gadgets and immersive VR expertise to encourage sufferers’ engagement in next-generation health experiences and actions.

9. Sturdy retention methods assist deeper affected person engagement

Offering improved entry to care by way of cell options, hybrid care fashions, automation, and different digital applied sciences helps healthcare organizations develop deeper affected person relationships. Appeal to and retain sufferers with these retention methods:

a. Present excellent care

b. Ship customized affected person experiences

c. Construct extra automated processes

d. Reply to suggestions optimistic and destructive evaluations shortly

e. Construct affected person belief

f. Keep on schedule to cut back wait instances

g. Prepare your front-office medical workers

h. Present efficient, clear, and constant communication

Whether or not you embraced digital and digital assets firstly of the pandemic or briefly altered your operations, it’s time to reexamine affected person engagement tendencies and implement digitally linked, patient-centric, and digital care experiences that promote engagement throughout all touchpoints.

Immediately’s sufferers are empowered, and so they count on higher worth, high quality service, well timed and handy care, clear info, and a very good affected person expertise. 

Organizations should embrace these adjustments and meet their affected person’s expectations or threat dropping them to the competitors.

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