COVID has turned the world upside down, especially the healthcare world. The balance of relying on the healthcare world for information and patients reluctances to come into appointments is walking a fine line. Bringing patients back into the office has been a struggle for physicians all over the country, so how does one recall their patients back into their office to make sure their healthcare isn’t put on hold?
Follow these guidelines to work to recall patients back into your office:
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Measure- A common theme during this time of COVID is knowing the efforts to keep the public safe by healthcare offices. Being able to measure the efforts going on within your office then provide that to your patients will go a long way. Some things to consider to measure are:
- Social Distance in the office
- Sanitation efforts
- Separate areas for the immunocompromised
Being able to measure these efforts above will subside some of the worries that burden your patients and prevent them from coming in. Putting a clarification of the actual efforts going on within the office to keep the patients safe, will allow them to feel secure coming in.
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Survey-While COVID seems to be the common denominator for why most patients are not coming back into the office there is still room to run a more specific survey to address other issues patients may experience as well.
Gather data on other reasons that may be affecting your patients’ experience to discover what hesitations they may have about recall. Cover all your bases to make coming into your office a great experience for all patients.
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Communication- While you can survey the concern of your patients and measure the efforts of safety in your office, patients will not know about these efforts unless you communicate it to them. The mode of communication can vary depending on the office.
Text messages are a direct way to reach your patients, as well as direct mail. Another option could be social media posting, such as a Facebook post. In this manner, patients can see the news while scrolling through there feeds. For some patients, social media may be a more effective communication tool than traditional platforms. Being able to convey your message is vital to bringing patients back into your office.
A patient’s healthcare shouldn’t be put on hold- making them feel comfortable is essential to bringing them back into your office and putting their health back as a priority.
