Patient engagement is integral to the success of a clinic or hospital. The aim of effective engagement with patients should be – (1) active collaboration between provider and patient (2) the willingness and capability of patients to manage their own health and that of their family members’ (3) promotion of services within your health organization that supports engagement.

While it does result in better health outcomes, reduced costs, patient satisfaction and preventive care, engaging with patients also hold multiple benefits for clinics and hospitals. Increased referrals, additional revenue streams, reduced readmissions and costs are some of the benefits to a medical practice that has an effective patient engagement strategy.

Whether you are a clinic, hospital or a large healthcare establishment, aligning your patient engagement strategies effectively is strongly recommended to grow your practice.

Define your vision

Define how you envision your practice growing with a patient engagement strategy. This may be different for different-sized practices, departments or specialties. This will help define goals, steps and expected outcomes of your efforts.

Create a culture of engagement

Strong patient engagement requires the active participation of staff and patients. Your staff is an integral and valuable part of the engagement strategy and it is important to drive this message to your clinic or hospital.

Align physicians and care teams

Get your staff to work together effectively to service the needs of the patient. Collaborative care between care teams ensures fewer errors and better health outcomes.

Invest in the right technology

Merely having a website or patient portal may not work for your practice. Consider an integrated patient engagement platform with services that your patients can use. Ensure it is secure and robust to handle the needs of your practice.

Tell patients what they need to know

Patient education is an effective strategy to get patients to adhere to treatments, grow loyalty and grow opportunities for continuous engagement with their providers.

Be consistent

Consistently delivering quality care through continuous monitoring or communication is key to getting patients involved and engaged. Engagement needs to happen on a regular basis, driven both by the needs of the provider and patient.