Each and every day, hospital executives face intense competition and relentless pressure from stakeholders to improve revenue and profitability.
Fortunately, there's an affordable yet highly effective solution to help address these challenges. It's called voice-based marketing automation.
For the uninitiated, voice-based marketing automation streamlines hospital communications, tying together the most powerful elements of voice communications and Internet technology — including tracking phone calls, patient notifications, call forwarding, call automation, interactive voice response and facility location — into a single solution that builds better and more profitable patient-hospital relationships.
Driving better profitability through smarter marketing
When hospitals advertise, it's critical to know which marketing investments work and which are simply a waste of money. Knowing what works means you can invest more dollars in that particular marketing strategy and increase your good results. Knowing what doesn't work means you can cancel an ineffective marketing program and avoid throwing good money away.
However, many hospitals invest in marketing without a clear strategy, and with little understanding of what's working. "Half of my advertising works. If I only knew which half," was famously said by businessman John Wanamaker, who invested in marketing without any clarity on marketing ROI. Today, that's standard operating procedure for most hospitals, but it doesn't have to be that way.
One of the most powerful elements of voice-based marketing automation is that it lets you assign unique phone numbers to every marketing initiative and track results on a campaign-by-campaign basis. It offers visibility into marketing ROI that many hospitals simply don't have.
Do you know which ads are actually leading to new appointments? Is your radiation oncology radio campaign doing better than your robotic surgery campaign? Is it more effective to emphasize your hospital's ratings or do prospective patients respond better to messages that highlight same-day appointments with short wait times? To reach attractive patients, are you better off spending money on print ads, billboard ads or radio ads?
Assigning a unique phone number to each online and offline advertisement enables hospitals to answer questions like these and measure which marketing investments are generating appointments. As a result, you can focus ad spend on marketing and advertising strategies that are working best. This subtle fine-tuning on marketing spend can have a dramatic impact on overall hospital profitability.
Cutting costs and improving service through more efficient hospital operations
Beyond improving marketing ROI, voice-based marketing automation can lead to more efficient operations and improved service to patients.
Here are three key ways hospitals can use this powerful technology to automate their business processes, while still communicating with patients in a personalized way:
1. Automate reminder calls and bill collection inquiries. Current estimates are that five- to seven-percent of healthcare appointments are "no-shows." To help avoid these no-shows and keep the schedule fully booked, hospitals can easily automate reminder calls to alert patients of upcoming appointments. For example, a patient can be prompted with a phone call: "Say 'confirm' or press 1 to confirm this appointment, say 'reschedule' or press 2 to reschedule." If the patient asks to reschedule, their call is automatically transferred to the office to find a new available time slot. Of three reminder methods tested, automated telephone reminders "were the most effective and lowest in cost," according to a study published by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.
Automated calls can also be leveraged for bill collection. This tactic is more cost-effective and efficient than sending mail reminder notices and making individual phone calls.
2. Engage in pre- and post- visit communications. Providing a comforting and professional experience is often the largest differentiator among hospitals, and ultimately keeps patients coming back. It's important to extend that excellent service through pre- and post- visit communications as well. For instance, hospitals that serve multiple geographies should have an easy way to direct patients to the right branch and the right individual equipped to answer their questions. You can make it easier for patients to call the right office by providing them with one easy-to-remember phone number that A) geo-routes them to the nearest center or B) provides a phone menu to route them to the right department. Another option is to streamline the call distribution process through IVR technology, directing emergency calls to the hospital, urgent calls to a specific doctor, and general calls to a voicemail for next-day follow-up.
Streamlining patient communications throughout the hospital discharge process is also of critical importance, as the hospital discharge process is often cumbersome for both patients and physicians. And yet if hospitals neglect to maintain a stringent — and consistent — discharge process, they run the risk of adverse patient recovery post-hospitalization. Avoiding patient readmission is especially critical at a time when Medicare and Medicaid are looking closely at hospital readmission rates to determine how much reimbursement the hospital ultimately receives. Automated follow-up calls eliminate the need for nurses and administrators to diligently call each patient, as it's seamlessly integrated into the organized discharge checklist. During these calls, patients are asked simple questions about their health post-hospital visit, and provided reminders specific to their care and recovery. The goal: improve the overall quality and consistency of this critical information-sharing process, while at the same time ensure patients are automatically connected with the appropriate healthcare professional should a concern arise.
Post-visit, hospitals can also set up a system where patients are automatically called when their lab results become available. Alternatively, those results can be easily accessible via a medical hotline, which should be available off-hours in case of urgent medical questions. This lets patients know the hospital supports them, even in the middle of the night.
3. Streamline process of finding a shift replacement. Hospitals can configure a hotline where nurses and staff can call in sick, then automate the process of finding another person to take their shift. The system will automatically call a list of available nurses until one confirms he or she is available. It's similar to a phone tree, only automated, and eliminates the need for supervisors to scramble to find a shift replacement.
Using voice-based marketing to drive operational efficiencies is a winning solution for hospital administrators. Costs decrease because automation takes care of mundane and time-consuming tasks, freeing up staff to focus on more important things. At the same time, revenues increase because there are fewer missed patient visits and more timely collections. Finally, hospital patients appreciate the improved service that is part and parcel of voice communications.
It's a reality that healthcare communications is a fast-evolving field. Streamlining communication and marketing, whether internally or externally focused, can help improve patient and employee satisfaction while driving increased profitability at the same time.
The bottom line? Voice-based marketing automation solutions help executives run their hospitals more efficiently — improving everything from the appointment setting to accounts receivable to patient satisfaction to marketing ROI.
As CEO and CTO of Ifbyphone®, Irv Shapiro is responsible for overall business strategy and corporate leadership. Irv’s successful entrepreneurial experience includes founding Metamor Technologies in 1985 and Edventions in 1999. Under Mr. Shapiro's leadership, Metamor was named an Inc. 500 company for two consecutive years, growing to over 500 employees and $32 million in revenues. His business success earned him inductee status with the "Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame."
Fortunately, there's an affordable yet highly effective solution to help address these challenges. It's called voice-based marketing automation.
For the uninitiated, voice-based marketing automation streamlines hospital communications, tying together the most powerful elements of voice communications and Internet technology — including tracking phone calls, patient notifications, call forwarding, call automation, interactive voice response and facility location — into a single solution that builds better and more profitable patient-hospital relationships.
Driving better profitability through smarter marketing
When hospitals advertise, it's critical to know which marketing investments work and which are simply a waste of money. Knowing what works means you can invest more dollars in that particular marketing strategy and increase your good results. Knowing what doesn't work means you can cancel an ineffective marketing program and avoid throwing good money away.
However, many hospitals invest in marketing without a clear strategy, and with little understanding of what's working. "Half of my advertising works. If I only knew which half," was famously said by businessman John Wanamaker, who invested in marketing without any clarity on marketing ROI. Today, that's standard operating procedure for most hospitals, but it doesn't have to be that way.
One of the most powerful elements of voice-based marketing automation is that it lets you assign unique phone numbers to every marketing initiative and track results on a campaign-by-campaign basis. It offers visibility into marketing ROI that many hospitals simply don't have.
Do you know which ads are actually leading to new appointments? Is your radiation oncology radio campaign doing better than your robotic surgery campaign? Is it more effective to emphasize your hospital's ratings or do prospective patients respond better to messages that highlight same-day appointments with short wait times? To reach attractive patients, are you better off spending money on print ads, billboard ads or radio ads?
Assigning a unique phone number to each online and offline advertisement enables hospitals to answer questions like these and measure which marketing investments are generating appointments. As a result, you can focus ad spend on marketing and advertising strategies that are working best. This subtle fine-tuning on marketing spend can have a dramatic impact on overall hospital profitability.
Cutting costs and improving service through more efficient hospital operations
Beyond improving marketing ROI, voice-based marketing automation can lead to more efficient operations and improved service to patients.
Here are three key ways hospitals can use this powerful technology to automate their business processes, while still communicating with patients in a personalized way:
1. Automate reminder calls and bill collection inquiries. Current estimates are that five- to seven-percent of healthcare appointments are "no-shows." To help avoid these no-shows and keep the schedule fully booked, hospitals can easily automate reminder calls to alert patients of upcoming appointments. For example, a patient can be prompted with a phone call: "Say 'confirm' or press 1 to confirm this appointment, say 'reschedule' or press 2 to reschedule." If the patient asks to reschedule, their call is automatically transferred to the office to find a new available time slot. Of three reminder methods tested, automated telephone reminders "were the most effective and lowest in cost," according to a study published by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.
Automated calls can also be leveraged for bill collection. This tactic is more cost-effective and efficient than sending mail reminder notices and making individual phone calls.
2. Engage in pre- and post- visit communications. Providing a comforting and professional experience is often the largest differentiator among hospitals, and ultimately keeps patients coming back. It's important to extend that excellent service through pre- and post- visit communications as well. For instance, hospitals that serve multiple geographies should have an easy way to direct patients to the right branch and the right individual equipped to answer their questions. You can make it easier for patients to call the right office by providing them with one easy-to-remember phone number that A) geo-routes them to the nearest center or B) provides a phone menu to route them to the right department. Another option is to streamline the call distribution process through IVR technology, directing emergency calls to the hospital, urgent calls to a specific doctor, and general calls to a voicemail for next-day follow-up.
Streamlining patient communications throughout the hospital discharge process is also of critical importance, as the hospital discharge process is often cumbersome for both patients and physicians. And yet if hospitals neglect to maintain a stringent — and consistent — discharge process, they run the risk of adverse patient recovery post-hospitalization. Avoiding patient readmission is especially critical at a time when Medicare and Medicaid are looking closely at hospital readmission rates to determine how much reimbursement the hospital ultimately receives. Automated follow-up calls eliminate the need for nurses and administrators to diligently call each patient, as it's seamlessly integrated into the organized discharge checklist. During these calls, patients are asked simple questions about their health post-hospital visit, and provided reminders specific to their care and recovery. The goal: improve the overall quality and consistency of this critical information-sharing process, while at the same time ensure patients are automatically connected with the appropriate healthcare professional should a concern arise.
Post-visit, hospitals can also set up a system where patients are automatically called when their lab results become available. Alternatively, those results can be easily accessible via a medical hotline, which should be available off-hours in case of urgent medical questions. This lets patients know the hospital supports them, even in the middle of the night.
3. Streamline process of finding a shift replacement. Hospitals can configure a hotline where nurses and staff can call in sick, then automate the process of finding another person to take their shift. The system will automatically call a list of available nurses until one confirms he or she is available. It's similar to a phone tree, only automated, and eliminates the need for supervisors to scramble to find a shift replacement.
Using voice-based marketing to drive operational efficiencies is a winning solution for hospital administrators. Costs decrease because automation takes care of mundane and time-consuming tasks, freeing up staff to focus on more important things. At the same time, revenues increase because there are fewer missed patient visits and more timely collections. Finally, hospital patients appreciate the improved service that is part and parcel of voice communications.
It's a reality that healthcare communications is a fast-evolving field. Streamlining communication and marketing, whether internally or externally focused, can help improve patient and employee satisfaction while driving increased profitability at the same time.
The bottom line? Voice-based marketing automation solutions help executives run their hospitals more efficiently — improving everything from the appointment setting to accounts receivable to patient satisfaction to marketing ROI.
As CEO and CTO of Ifbyphone®, Irv Shapiro is responsible for overall business strategy and corporate leadership. Irv’s successful entrepreneurial experience includes founding Metamor Technologies in 1985 and Edventions in 1999. Under Mr. Shapiro's leadership, Metamor was named an Inc. 500 company for two consecutive years, growing to over 500 employees and $32 million in revenues. His business success earned him inductee status with the "Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame."