Patients today have a greater variety of healthcare options than at any previous time, with urgent care centers, health systems, retail clinics, telehealth platforms, and other competing medical practices all vying for patients’ attention.
When working on one’s own, competing doesn’t always lead to growth in size; on the contrary, one of their major advantages is the real, continuous relationship they maintain with the patient, a relationship that is difficult to scale.
Patient loyalty in healthcare isn’t achieved through traditional loyalty schemes. It’s the result of trust, familiarity, ease of access, good communication, and the sense that the practice knows the person behind the medical record.
Continuity Is a Competitive Advantage
A major advantage of running an independent practice is the continuity it provides. Greater continuity of care leads to increased trust between patients and doctors.
The longer the relationship between patient and physician, the greater the level of trust achieved. This is important because patients don’t always view physicians as interchangeable.
The more patients interact with the same doctor, the more trust they build in that doctor over time, especially if they believe the doctor is acting in their best interests. Individual practices ought to view that continuity as an advantage.
Where possible, patients should be scheduled with their existing provider, consistent care teams should be kept, and patients mustn’t be made to feel as if they are beginning all over again at each appointment.
Make Access Part of the Patient Experience
Even if patients like their doctor, it’s difficult to remain loyal if it’s frustrating to get an appointment, receive a slow response, or struggle with the office procedures. The patient experience frameworks focus on areas such as timely appointments, information provision, provider communication, courteous and helpful office staff, care coordination, and communication between visits.
This serves as a useful reminder to practice managers that the whole practice, not just the provider, affects patient loyalty. Efficiently answering phones, simplifying scheduling, responding quickly to messages, providing clear follow-up instructions, and creating a welcoming atmosphere at the front desk are basics that practices need to do.
Communicate Between Visits
The strong relationship with patients shouldn’t end the moment they leave the clinic. Messages sent through the patient portal, reminders about preventive care, follow-ups regarding medication, and appropriate outreach efforts keep patients connected to their care.
A study on the redesign of primary care finds that improvements in the patient-centered medical home experience, such as continuity, comprehensive care, and self-management support, are important. The approach involved strategies such as setting goals and providing after-visit summaries.
About practices, the aim isn’t to flood patients with communication but to make communication useful and relevant. It’s useful to receive a reminder that a screening is due, and it seems quite personal to receive a follow-up after a significant appointment.
These little touches convey that the practice is taking an active interest in the patient’s health.
Don’t Underestimate the Human Relationship
While technology may increase convenience, it doesn’t replace the relationship between patient and provider. A study examining patient satisfaction, trust, and loyalty finds that trust and strong interpersonal relationships with general practitioners are major determinants of satisfaction and loyalty.
Trust, customer satisfaction, and loyalty were also linked to people’s intention to stay with a physician and to recommend that physician to others. That shows human interactions are surprisingly important.
The way an independent practice distinguishes itself is by taking into account previous concerns, listening without rushing the appointment, clearly explaining the next step, and involving the patients in the decision-making process, something that expensive technology is sometimes unable to do.
Loyalty Matters to ACA and Medicare Organizations, Too
For ACA and Medicare health plans, it’s important to establish strong relationships between patients and their independent providers to achieve the broader aim of delivering a healthcare experience patients actually want to engage with. This is particularly true of those people who are managing chronic conditions or having complex care needs.
People who have a greater number of chronic conditions especially appreciated continuity of care since they usually have more medications and are covered by either Medicare or Medicaid, as well as having poorer self-reported health. Patients who value continuity and have a regular doctor also reported higher satisfaction.
This provides payers with yet another reason to consider the patient-provider relationship when assessing network performance, since access is as important as patients’ ability to develop long-term relationships with doctors they trust.
Independent Doesn’t Have to Mean Outmatched
Independent practices won’t have the advertising budgets, huge call centers, or technological infrastructure that national healthcare organizations do. However, that doesn’t mean they need them in order to build loyalty.
Their advantage is that they know their patients, which makes it easy for them to get care, ensures consistent communication, and, whenever possible, maintains continuity. In an increasingly competitive healthcare market, practices that offer a personal touch stand out precisely because much of healthcare isn’t personal.
People don’t become loyal by being told they shouldn’t leave; you earn loyalty by giving them good reasons to remain. Practices that concentrate on these areas are more likely to achieve long-term success, and Patient Care Health (PCH) collaborates with carriers and practices to help establish the mindset and systems needed for genuine growth.
The groups that achieve the greatest success are those whose networks actually produce results, not just those with well-thought-out plans. If you’d like to start, contact us and let PCH help you achieve your network objectives.
Phone: (866) 985-2010, Monday-Friday 9 A.M. – 5 P.M. CT
Email: info@patientcarehealth.com
