A stable patient retention strategy starts with a solid plan. Patient retention is a huge variable for the success of your practice, but many healthcare businesses are not sure how to set up a system that will help them retain their patients.
“Break-ups” between a patient and practice can and will happen due to various reasons and will always be a challenge for healthcare businesses to retain existing patients and keep them happy.
It has been proven that the cost of acquiring a new patient is much higher than the price of keeping existing patients happy and satisfied. A practical scenario costs healthcare businesses five times more to attract a new patient than keeping a current patient satisfied.
4 Top Reasons Why Patients Leave A Practice:
1. Unprofessional Office Staff
An unprofessional and unfriendly environment are some of the top negatives which can create problems in patient retention.
Long times spent in the waiting room before an appointment promotes the feeling that no one is interested in helping the patients. If the staff isn’t engaging the patients positively, that only compounds a negative first impression in the patients’ minds.
2. Inconvenient and Complicated Processes
Inconvenient and complicated processes in a healthcare business can prove to be a patient loyalty killer.
Delaying in setting appointments; not being able to book an appointment, unhelpful behavior from the employees; inability to contact the person or persons they need when calling; not receiving proper guidance from the healthcare staff; these are all issues that hamper patient retention. No patient wants to face difficulties when trying to see a doctor.
3. Communication Gap
To maintain a stable ongoing relationship requires proper communication and a persistent approach to keep connected with patients.
A gap in communication affects patient retention because it breeds a feeling of disconnect and distance between the patients and the healthcare service providers. A long gap in communication allows the patient to forget about your brand.
4. Tough Competition and Negative Reviews
There is tough competition in today’s world, especially in the healthcare arena. If you make a minor mistake and the patients dislike it, they will start looking for better options elsewhere.
It’s a natural phenomenon to search for better treatments, and unless you can convince patients that you’re the practice them, there is always a chance to lose the patient’s loyalty.
With the proliferation of online review sites for healthcare practices, patients can quickly check which healthcare business has received what kind of reviews.
To conclude, it is essential to take the necessary steps to meet a successful patient retention strategy’s requirements. That starts when you take action to define a plan to help patient retention and build patient loyalty.
NextBee is one of the prominent providers of Patient Loyalty Programs that boost loyalty and help retain patients. To have a detailed overview of our solutions, please contact NextBee and arrange a live demo for you.
