Four Types of Patient and Employee Engagement You’re Probably Not Leveraging

Four Types of Patient and Employee Outreach You’re Probably Overlooking

Feedtrail’s flexible messaging tools help healthcare organizations drive engagement with patients, caregivers, and employees.

• Feedtrail has flexible messaging tools that help healthcare organizations improve engagement with patients, caregivers, and employees.

• The platform’s powerful functionalities are an effective way to drive business, increase communication, improve care, and engage with employees.

• Learn how four Feedtrail clients are leveraging this technology in non-traditional ways to empower patient and employee engagement in real time.

Healthcare organizations across the spectrum have come to appreciate the power of surveying patients and employees to improving experiences, gather feedback, and reduce stress on providers. In recent years, the power of technology has made real-time engagement possible in new and innovative ways that go beyond surveys.

Familiar engagement strategies leverage the power of technology and automation to segment users and educate them. But there are other non-traditional forms of outreach that often get overlooked.

Here are a few interesting use cases to illustrate how Feedtrail clients are using the platform’s flexible messaging capabilities to improve engagement in four areas: driving business, increasing communication, improving care, and engaging with employees.

1. Engagement to drive business: Get patients in the door

Messaging is about more than communication; it’s a valuable tool for driving business in healthcare. The goal is to get patients in the door while publicizing and raising awareness about the provider.

One example is appointment reminders so patients don’t forget about their upcoming visits. These days, people are busier than ever and missed appointments, and missed revenue, can be all too common. A quick text message with the option to re-schedule if needed is a simple way to make sure clinics don’t lose business due to no-shows.

Wellness reminders are another useful strategy for getting patients to schedule appointments. National campaigns like Breast Cancer Awareness month present a great opportunity to suggest scheduling an annual check-up or mammogram. With the Feedtrail platform, it’s easy to include direct links so patients can engage with a single click.

National campaigns or events aren’t the only touchpoints for driving new appointments. New awards and/or recognition also offer an opportunity for outreach. Has your clinic recently

received an award or been recognized for its outstanding service? Have you been rated number one in the state or opened a new location? Marketing campaigns can send messages directly through the platform to let the public and the community know, with a link to learn more.

⭐ Mini case study: Millennium Physician Group

Millennium Physician Group, an independent physician group with 600+ providers and more than 150 locations throughout Florida, successfully used messaging to grow its business and help patients rebook appointments. Like many organizations, it saw a sharp decline in patient volume early in the pandemic due to fear and uncertainty around visiting doctors in person.

The company used the Feedtrail platform to proactively initiate outreach to every patient who had missed an appointment, offering the option to reschedule in-person visits as telehealth appointments. Ultimately, Millennium Physician Group was able to rebook over 2,000 appointments in under eight weeks, getting patients back in the door — or the virtual door — and driving revenue.

 

2. Engagement to increase communication: Educate and inform

Communication in healthcare can and should go beyond managing an appointment calendar. Providers can effectively use messaging to engage and educate patients, and make them aware of time-sensitive process updates.

Welcome messages sent to brand-new patients of a clinic or hospital get people engaged even before their first visit. A link with directions and a map of the facility make sure first-time patients never get lost on the way or once they arrive, and that they show up in the right place on time.

When a patient misses an appointment, it can be for a number of reasons, forgetfulness aside. Community resources like free transportation services are often available, but many people don’t know about them or are embarrassed to ask. A friendly message with a link to more information can be just what the doctor ordered.

⭐ Mini case study: Valley Professionals Community Health Center

Valley Professionals, a Federally Qualified Health Center for medically underserved populations in Indiana, has creatively used this functionality to keep its community in the know. The organization notifies patients about education and information sessions held throughout the year. This intentional outreach comes to patients directly via text with a link to easily register, in case they forget or miss announcements posted elsewhere.

The company also uses messages to announce facility updates like closures, holidays, and new hours. For example, when there was a staff training day, they sent out the closing times for all their locations so that none of their patients would be surprised.

 

3. Engagement to improve care: Focus on a successful recovery

Improving outcomes is the golden ring in healthcare, and messaging can be a powerful lever to do just that. Feedtrail clients use the platform to engage not just with patients, but with their families and caregivers as well, for better coordination of care, especially during crucial recovery periods.

Alerts that a loved one is ready to be discharged, medication reminders with clickable care-plan details, and messages with links to recovery resources go a long way toward ensuring positive outcomes. This provides peace of mind to patients and providers alike, allowing them to focus on what’s most important: recovery.

Learn more! Download the ebook: “Engaging Patients Pre, During, and Post Encounter”

⭐ Mini case study: Montana Health System

A multispecialty group serving local communities in Montana, uses these types of messages to improve care coordination and patient flow. The organization not only notifies caregivers when a patient is ready for discharge, it asks for an estimated pick-up time. This gives the group a better understanding of how long the patient is going to be in a bed or how long they need to hold that individual, for more efficient resource management and handoffs.

 

4. Engagement with employees: Beat the burnout

So far I’ve been exclusively discussing engagement with patients and their caregivers, but healthcare organizations also use this functionality for engaging with their employees. The sector has been besieged by increased workloads and burnout since the onset of the pandemic, and boosting engagement among staff is a top priority.

For instance, busy workers appreciate a notification reminder when flu shots become available, with a direct link to sign up. This functionality has also been especially useful for COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters.

Messages are also a great way to let employees know about new resources, such as retirement planning portals, as well as educational opportunities like mental health clinics, giving them the option to click to learn more and register. These types of events can get lost in the shuffle, and people are grateful for a reminder.

⭐ Mini case study: Aveanna Healthcare

Aveanna Healthcare has over 40,000 employees across the country, ranging from private-duty and home-health nurses to administrative and operations teams. Given the organization’s geographic footprint, there are lots of opportunities to inform workers about process changes.

When moving payroll services online, the organization sent out a notification to all its employees with useful information to ensure the key details weren’t overlooked. The company has also used the Feedtrail platform to screen for COVID exposures. This has proven useful with remote staff, who can’t be monitored in person.

 

Final thoughts on patient and employee engagement

Successful engagement strategies improve both patient experience and employee experience. Often a simple text message is all it takes to make a difference.

Healthcare organizations that leverage the full capabilities of platforms like Feedtrail are able to streamline their businesses to achieve better outcomes and greater customer satisfaction.

Discover innovative ways Feedtrail clients are going beyond traditional surveys to enhance business growth, care quality, and employee engagement in this short video: