Three ways SMS eases medical practice stress

Healthcare professionals are under increased stress, with more practice managers turning to technology to minimise staff burnout and improve productivity.

And while many practice managers already use SMS to manage appointments, did you know the simple text could do actually contribute to greater efficiency, productivity and a more fuss-free workflow?

In this article, we take a look at three key ways SMS can greatly reduce the burden of outbound calling on your practice team, resulting in improved patient communications and greater productivity within the practice.

1. Distribute test results via SMS in a secure environment

Distributing test results to patients via phone can add significantly to a practice team’s workload. Contacting each patient via phone can be labour-intensive, especially when you consider that some studies show over 60% of calls are either ignored or sent to voicemail.

While urgent or unexpected test results should generally warrant a phone call to a patient, other results simply require that the patient be notified, with no action needed. SMS is an excellent solution for communicating these types of results.

If sent from your MedicalDirector software using the integrated SMS solution provided by MessageNet, it’s also a very secure communication that doesn’t involve sharing patient data with any additional parties.

2. Attract more patients with SMS marketing campaigns

In the age of patient-centric care, SMS is a great way to engage with your patients and make them aware of your breadth of services and enhance the patient experience. This could be particularly useful during flu season, where traditionally, practices could spend a lot of time and money sending letters to their patient database to remind them that it’s time for their flu vaccination.

However SMS is a fantastic alternative – it’s 4.5 times cheaper than sending a letter, and it reaches patients immediately on their phones, making it easy for them to follow through with making an appointment.

3. Less invasive, more effective patient follow-ups

Did you know that 90% of SMS messages are read within the first three minutesof delivery? Using SMS to check in with patients and remind them to make additional appointments can greatly improve your patient engagement rate, as well as enabling your practice management team to remain more available to handle incoming calls and other essential tasks.

An innovative SMS system like MessageNet, is already proving to be an effective solution for delivering a private and secure communication channel to over 10,000 Australian health practices and hospitals. MessageNet integrates with MedicalDirector Clinical and Pracsoft to provide a highly secure SMS experience for your patients and staff.

For more information, contact MessageNet to discuss your SMS integration and start enjoying the benefits within your practice.