Nine Actions for 24/7 Patient Engagement- Preempting Competition & Driving Growth

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

As healthcare continues its rapid evolution into a far more accountable, cost-effective, price-conscious, and patient-driven model, it begs the question, why are your patient engagement efforts not all the time? Secondary to that question is, are healthcare organizations prepared for that new marketing reality?

Like anything in life and business, some are, and the majority are not.   But be that as it may, it would seem that healthcare consumer and patient engagement is not a part-time or some of the time activity. It should be viewed as the opportunity to create, engage, foster, and nourish an enduring relationship with those individuals and families.

That is a scary proposition for some healthcare organizations. It means being accountable and responsible to those you serve and meeting their needs by delivering on the brand promises day in and day out.  I would also suggest that this extends to area employers as well.  Otherwise, you will see more outmigration from your community for care because others can do it better, faster, and more cost-effectively.  

Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay

Provider market leadership today means meaningful 24/7 patient engagement and delivering on the provider brand promise daily.

After all, healthcare is a multi-trillion dollars business, and the competition in the healthcare ecosystem driven by pandemic innovation and technological care delivery changes will only get more intense at the hospital’s expense. More convenient, accessible, and affordable providers are becoming the go-to destinations for healthcare using effective “all the time” engagement strategies.

So what to do?

Here are nine engagement strategies you need to employ:

1. Integrate your engagement solutions. Content to drive engagement has value t the patient and is delivered in the manner the patient desires on the device of their choice.

2.  Marketing should be using both push and pull messaging.  Content needs to be relevant with the following characteristics – answering why you, personalized, customized to the device in use to receive the content, and is culturally appropriate. 

3. Incentives and motivational techniques will keep patients engaged. That doesn’t mean cash. Look to the gaming industry for gaming technology and gaming prediction to engage without money. Be creative.  Look outside healthcare for ideas, tools, and techniques to employ.  

4. Create a sense of community.  People like to belong to communities real and virtual. You have to compete, and one needs to feed the beast. The hospital has not yet tipped from performing as a revenue center to a cost center. That day will come, but not for a while yet.  Get into the inner circle of the audience and become the trusted advisor. It’s not just about loyalty. Shape the behaviors to the point where they will recommend unconditionally. 

5. Know the audience and with whom one is speaking too. Get back to detailed analytics by using a CRM and mining data.   One cannot engage the individual meaningfully unless there is intimate knowledge about their needs and tailor the information they need to engage them. 

6. Test and measure. The only way to figure out if it’s working is to test and measure very methodically. 

7. Use technology.  We live in a world of technology, and you need to run a multifaceted, highly integrated campaign. With social media, smartphones, web, text messaging, mobile messaging, etc., eighty percent of consumers want the option of interacting with a healthcare provider via their smartphones. Patients are inviting healthcare organizations to engage them and engage them all the time. 

8. Know the influencers in the community and the influence of culture on behavior to engage. 

9. Time it right, and add value.  If your health messaging is not resonating with the patient when they receive it, one has lost them. Communicate relevant messages before healthcare decisions are made. For example, a patient or healthcare consumer, going to a restaurant to eat or a supermarket to purchase groceries means sending them health messages at that time to enable them to make the right food choices. It’s not impossible.

Image by wal 712619 from Pixabay.

Patients are transitioning from passive healthcare utilizers to active participants by making choices and expecting to be engaged not part of the time but all of the time.

That’s why you engage them 24/7. 

Michael is a healthcare business, marketing, communications strategist, and thought leader. As an internationally followed healthcare strategy blogger, his blog, Healthcare Business & Marketing Matters, is read in 52 countries and ranked No. 3 on 100 Top Healthcare Marketing Blogs & Websites to follow by Feedspot.com. Michael is a Life Fellow American College of Healthcare Executives.  For inquiries regarding strategic consulting engagements, you can email me at michael@themichaeljgroup.com. 

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The opinions expressed are my own.