At any chiropractor’s facility, there is always a need to have open and honest communication with patients. After all, when it comes to chiropractic care, the element of open conversation is essential for healthy outcomes. There is a time and place, and method that comes into play for communication strategies, and it is essential that the idea is to improve outcomes.
Using strategies that have been well-documented is one of the biggest pathways to success when it comes to communication. Luckily, the specialist ChiroTouch software is an EMR that understands how to communicate with patients in a chiropractic facility. The software has all of the tools that you would need to set up an advanced communication strategy.
Not done well, communicating with patients can have its own pitfalls. For example, you don’t want to send the patient so many messages and reminders that they decide to stop visiting the practice completely. Or, you don’t want to use an inappropriate tone or language as that can dissuade a healthy bond with patients, or lead to negative consequences.
In order to avoid such mistakes, keep reading about the ChiroTouch software in this article, along with the do’s and don’t’s of patient communication.
How To Communicate With Patients
Understanding how to communicate with patients effectively includes a lot of different kinds of operational knowledge. There’s the human element, the medical, and then the marketing. We went through all of the information about this solution out there, including ChiroTouch software reviews, so you have the most accurate updates on the services offered.
Set Success Markers
One of the first communication strategies you set up when you work with the ChiroTouch software is to decide what your goals are. For most of the providers out there, there is a very simple goal – to get patients to open the message or email, and learn something new about the practice. However, if you want that, you need to be strategic about communication.
Patients are very likely to ignore emails or messages that don’t seem to be relevant or the ones that are giving off too much of a ‘salesperson’ vibe. It is vital that you have an honest and open idea of what your goals are when reaching out to a patient. There are certain norms at play here as well – you only want to send texts patients are comfortable with.
For example, if your goals are centered around visits- reminders, rescheduling, even about billing, they are acceptable. You may also want to reach out to patients who haven’t visited in some time. Or, the message may be about updates to the services you offer. In COVID-19, it could have been regarding the changes to the practice or larger information-sharing.
Include Pleasantries – But Not Too Much
When you are interacting with patients in person, it is customary to also engage with them as human beings, exchange pleasantries, etc. This can also be translated into the strategy utilized in your communications. Of course, the majority of communication will still focus on the apppointments and anything associated with that at your chiropractic service.
However, you also get the chance to connect with patients in terms of their personal lives. It is important that as a healthcare provider you also indicate that you care and show concern in some capacity. For example, a great way to do this is to send patients messages on their birthdays or on significant days that they may care about.
The ChiroTouch software has some amazing tools that can help you out in this regard. For example, you can come up with one email or text template that can be used for birthdays. This can then be automatically sent to patients on the day of their birthday.
Keep Friendly Attitudes
When communicating with patients, always make sure to have a friendly tone and attitude with them as well. Always make sure to avoid strict or stern messaging. This can especially be relevant when interacting with patients who need something changed. For example, if a patient wants to reschedule their visit, do not seem angry or stern in your messages.
Even if a patient is being difficult, the tone of the conversation should always be understanding, friendly, and inviting. Make sure to avoid any signs that can indicate other tones, such as certain kinds of punctuation. The more that patients feel like there is a good and positive interaction, the more likely it is that you will be able to retain them later.
Let Patients Leave Mailing Lists
There is often a section at the bottom of email campaigns that gives people the option to opt-out of the mailing list. This is an important part of email communications that helps people decide what messages they are willing to receive and what they don’t want to clog up their inbox. This is standard practice and is bound to happen with your email lists as well.
It is always a good idea to be quick and prompt with such requests. When you send out emails to patients and someone says they don’t want to hear more, you cannot try and convince them that isn’t a good idea. A good practice is to just respect their wishes and take them out of the mailing list as soon as possible.
Set A Fixed Number Of Messages
Another important thing to consider is the number of messages that you send out to the patients. As you may see during the ChiroTouch software demo, there are options in place that allow you to decide what the frequency of emails or texts is. The number of messages you send out depends on what your overall goal is, but it should not be too excessive.
No patient wants to get messages multiple times during a day for no reason, so make sure that the only time that happens is when you have important information to share. For other messages, you could rely on a frequency of once or twice a week. Some practices use options like email bulletins and round up relevant updates to send once or twice a month.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that ChiroTouch software is an excellent option for chiropractors who want to upgrade their patient communication. If you are interested, you can reach out to the vendor and ask for information on ChiroTouch software pricing, demos, and more.