Better patient engagement helps prevent health conditions from declining and supports their improvement. This is especially important when patients fail to adhere to medication schedules, lack a clear understanding of their situation, struggle to interpret lab results, or need more clarity about their treatment plan. Easier communication and access to information about their healthcare can motivate patients to become active participants in their wellness journey. In turn, encouraging patients to become more involved in their healthcare decisions helps improve outcomes and boost satisfaction. 

If your practice struggles to meet the challenges of patient engagement, use software and technology solutions to facilitate omnichannel engagement so they can communicate through their preferred channels. Patients can connect through voice, text or email, and access information through a patient portal using smartphones or computers instead of waiting on hold or driving to your office when an in-person visit is unnecessary.

And speaking of avoiding unnecessary visits to your physical office, allowing patients to access medical consultations or receive follow-up care through telehealth services should improve their satisfaction with your practice. It will also be easier for them to connect with specialists as you coordinate a comprehensive care plan that may involve multiple providers.

Keep reading for ways to demolish barriers to patient engagement and empower them on their healthcare journey.

Knowledge gaps

Patients with limited health literacy or insufficient education about their condition wind up growing disengaged from their care plan. They’ll need to rely on your information to become more invested in the treatment. Patients sometimes “do their own research,” visiting websites with misinformation, which you should discourage and then provide a suitable alternative.

Offer easily digestible information, such as authoritative videos with overviews of their condition and explanations of treatment, that you provide on your practice’s website. Offer health quizzes to reinforce what they’ve learned from your site. 

It’s helpful to involve caregivers and relatives in the healing process, to support the information you provide.

Minimal access to healthcare

Many patients find it challenging to access healthcare, for a variety of reasons. Some have limited financial resources or experience difficulty arranging transportation. Other patients live in distant locations with fewer medical facilities.

Telehealth services break down barriers to patient engagement when they find it difficult to take time off from work, school, or family duties to come into your office. Patients can connect with you online over HIPAA-protected communications. 

This is particularly useful for remote patients who must drive long distances to visit your physical office. Patients with mobility issues or who rely on public transportation appreciate a telehealth option.

Your team can meet with patients virtually from the practice or while on the go, such as when a doctor is out of the office visiting patients at a nearby hospital.

Miscommunication

Patients misunderstanding their medical situation or the doctor’s proposed treatment plan may wind up mistrusting your practice or experiencing suboptimal outcomes.

Address this barrier to engagement by practicing listening skills. It’s best to speak using simple, plain terminology for their condition and treatment. 

Ask patients for feedback and encourage them to contact staff whenever they have a question or need clarification. An omnichannel approach offers options for phone calls, texts, or emails. They can also use a patient portal to connect with your team.

Frustrations with burdensome paperwork

Who wants to come into the doctor’s office to fill out a stack of paperwork on a clipboard? Printed forms often request redundant information, which frustrates busy patients. 

Instead of making them deal with a stack of printed forms, utilize an in-office check-in kiosk or tablet. A digital means for check-in allows patients to engage with your practice conveniently.

It should connect with your electronic health record software, giving patients an automated check-in process without the need for staff to do this task manually.  

Technology challenges

Not all patients have experience using the latest software and technology. Patients may be unfamiliar with newer technologies or suspicious about technology they consider to be merely a “fad.” They may also not be able to afford at-home internet, or a smartphone.

Ensure your website and all forms of patient engagement tools are easy to navigate and user-friendly, especially for patients considered to have limited experience using online services.

For example, some ideas to implement on your website could include interactive games to support the gamification of learning about their healthcare. You could also offer AI chatbots to provide patients with access to information whenever they have questions. For patients needing help adjusting to a new medical situation, you could share online communities where they can connect with others experiencing similar conditions.

Difficulty requesting appointments

A major patient engagement challenge is an unwillingness to stay on hold, waiting to speak to staff to arrange appointments.

A technology-based solution let’s them schedule appointments online. Patients appreciate it when they can use a scheduling tool from the comfort of their home to arrange their next appointment if they didn’t set one at the end of their previous visit.

Failing to show up for medical appointments

Busy patients may lose the paper reminder they took home about their follow-up appointment. Or, they become distracted by pressing job or family duties, and fail to show up, without calling to inform your staff they can’t make it.

Implement a solution to remind patients about upcoming appointments automatically. Give them options to receive reminders by text, email, or a voice call, to support your efforts in providing omnichannel engagement.

Automated appointment reminders are an excellent way to reduce patient no-show rates, putting less stress on your staff since they don’t have to scramble to set up a new time slot. Staff time is better utilized when patients arrive as scheduled for their appointments.

Uninformed about lab results

Patients need to know the latest information about their condition. If they don’t get details promptly, it’s harder to understand their diagnosis or what treatment might be indicated. This is particularly the case when waiting for results from a staff member by calling them or sending a letter.

Instead of making them wait for printed lab results to arrive, and to avoid playing phone tag with patients, let them check their records online.

Give them access through a patient portal that allows them to view their records any day, and at any time. Improving access to clinical data gives patients more insight into their treatment, which is instrumental in optimizing engagement.

Letting prescriptions expire

Patients may run out of medication because a prescription expired, interfering with their chronic or acute condition treatment plan.

Make it easier by letting them request prescription refills or reauthorizations online. In this day and age, patients are accustomed to using computers and mobile devices to order products. It makes sense to enable them to request refills through a portal instead of calling in requests.

Challenges paying bills

Patients struggling to make ends meet and pay doctor bills will become less engaged. 

Address this by offering easier bill payments. With so many individuals familiar with making online payments using a phone or computer, you should offer convenient bill payment services to your patients. Flexible payment options remove another barrier to patient engagement while improving the practice’s revenue flow.

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