Article Summary
Patient Retention Crisis: The healthcare industry faces a significant patient retention challenge, with churn rates outpacing growth rates.
Power of Personalization: Understanding and catering to individual patient needs drives customer loyalty, repeat business, and positive word-of-mouth recommendations, ultimately boosting revenue.
Data-Driven Personalization: Collecting and analyzing patient data enables tailored treatment plans, improved communication, and proactive care, fostering stronger patient relationships and potentially better health outcomes.
Losing Patients, Losing Profits
The healthcare industry is facing a patient retention crisis. With a staggering 48% patient churn rate and a growth rate of just 45%, practices are losing more patients than they’re acquiring.
One way to thrive in this competitive landscape is by prioritizing patient experience. Partnering with like-minded organizations can help create a comprehensive treatment plan that keeps your patients engaged.
Empower shares your goal of providing optimized patient care.
Download our product guide and find out how we can support your practice.
The Case for Personalization in Healthcare
A McKinsey & Company report found that 76% of consumers are more likely to make repeat purchases from brands that personalize their experience, and 78% are more likely to recommend those companies to their network.
The report also found that companies that build strong relationships with their customers experience faster revenue growth compared to those that don’t.
Essentially, the more you understand your patients, the better service you can provide, and the greater the benefits for the medical practice.
What is Personalization and Hyper-personalization?
Personalization is knowing your customer and using that knowledge to tailor the patient’s experience. It allows your practice to cater to patients based on their individual behaviors, treatment plans, attributes, and preferences.
It can be as simple as using personalized communications and developing treatment plans unique to them.
Hyper-personalization uses data analysis, machine learning, and AI to generate deeply tailored experiences. Instead of relying on basic patient information, hyper-personalization combines data points to provide a more customized experience.
In this article, we’ll use “personalization” to encompass both personalization and hyper-personalization.
Ways to Incorporate Personalization
As a medical practice, you are uniquely positioned because your patients already come to your organization with some level of trust, which fosters any successful relationship. In fact, 81% of consumers say trust is an important factor in their decision-making process.
Data Collection for Customized Solutions
With patient consent, medical practices can collect various data points and leverage them strategically. Here’s a breakdown of key data types and their applications:
- Medical History and Demographics: Data from Electronic Health Records (EHRs) allows for targeted preventive care reminders, medication adherence monitoring, and identifying patients at risk for specific conditions.
- Lifestyle and Social Determinants of Health: Using surveys or questionnaires to collect data about your patients’ lifestyle habits (diet, exercise), social environment (income, housing), and behavioral health can provide a holistic view. Practices can use this data to address social factors impacting health and recommend wellness programs.
- Patient-Generated Data: Wearable devices and health apps can capture real-time health data like blood pressure, sleep patterns, and activity levels. Analyzing this data empowers patients to manage their health actively and allows providers to monitor chronic conditions remotely, intervening proactively when needed.
By integrating these data sources, medical practices can create a comprehensive patient profile that enables them to personalize communication (appointment reminders, educational materials), recommend preventive measures based on individual risk factors, and develop treatment plans that consider a patient’s unique circumstances.
Leveraging Software Apps
Leverage software applications to streamline data collection, analysis, and communication, enabling your medical practice to deliver more personalized experiences.
Here’s how these apps can be beneficial:
- Patient Engagement Apps: These apps allow patients to schedule appointments, access medical records, and securely communicate with doctors. Some even offer features like medication reminders, symptom trackers, and educational resources.
Examples include Zocdoc and Bamboo Health. - Patient Relationship Management (PRM) Systems: PRMs consolidate patient data from various sources, providing a centralized view. They can track patient satisfaction, segment patients based on demographics or health conditions for targeted communication, and even automate personalized appointment reminders.
Examples include SimplePractice and Kareo. - Telehealth Platforms: Telehealth offers patients scheduling flexibility and has been shown to potentially reduce no-shows with a 12% no-show rate compared to 25% for traditional in-person visits.
Examples include Doximity and Teladoc Health. - Data Analytics Tools: Generate reports highlighting trends in patient data, allowing your doctors to identify at-risk patients or help tailor preventative care strategies for their patient population.
Examples include Zoho Analytics and Looker.
These software applications are designed to help your practice be more effective in an increasingly patient-centric healthcare landscape.
Compounding is Personal with Empower
Empower Pharmacy strives to tailor our business and products around the needs of you and your patients. Experience compounding on a personalized level with products optimized for your patients.
