Exploring How To Get There
Managing the patient experience across multiple locations can be a challenge. However, with the right intentions and the right tools, it is a challenge that can be overcome!
In this blog, we explore some of the different elements that can contribute to a successful patient experience for dental service organizations.
Let’s dive in.
How Values Influence the Patient Experience
The challenge of any dental practice is to balance offering great healthcare with being a business. And, identifying and leading from core values is an essential part of any business.
It may not be immediately obvious why this affects the patient experience. What we know, however, is that patients benefit from their dental practice’s values. In fact, what we know is that patients prioritize values such as respect and dedication in their healthcare providers. Taking the time to build those core values for your practice will support greater patient satisfaction, because the patient will feel that in the interactions with your practice.
When you are proceeding from the same values, the same experience is more likely to follow! Bringing all of the practices in your DSO into alignment will support his outcome.
Managing Patient Expectations
What about the logistical side of the patient experience, the day-to-day delivery? Often, DSOs utilize different patient engagement tools at different practices. To a certain extent, this makes sense, because each team is selecting software or another solution based on their practice’s specific needs.
However, consider the difference this can make in delivering care. Let’s consider a hypothetical practice, Patients First Dental Group. Their practice in Sunny Hill may offer patients the ability to choose their preferred communication medium (text, phone, or email). One of their patients may write a review stating how much they valued this, praising the dental practice for offering that flexibility. A potential patient reads that review, and finds that Patients First Dental Group has a location in their neighborhood of Forest Hill. This practice does all of their reminders by phone. This second patient misses the call with pre-appointment instructions and, when they arrive, they are unable to complete their appointment. Naturally, confusion and frustration would arise if they had been expecting a text message.
In this way, unifying the delivery of engagement creates a cohesive experience, regardless of what practice your patients and potential patients come to. Using the same values and the same tools will bring that into alignment. There will be an association with the DSO’s name and what kind of experience your patients can expect.
How Software Fits In
However, managing expectations is not the only thing to consider! Using the same patient engagement solution across different locations is also more impactful for your staff.
Common sense tells us that when we find an efficient way of completing a task, we will always complete it that way. If you have a patient engagement solution that’s working well at one practice, odds are that it will work well at all of them.
One of the ways to bring everything into alignment is by looking at the numbers. Ask yourself:
- Which practice within your DSO has the highest rate of successful appointment outcomes?
- Which practice has the highest rate of reviews?
- Which practice has the most satisfied staff? Do they feel that they are able to complete their tasks efficiently? Do they feel that the tools they have at their disposal allow them to streamline their work?
Once you have identified which practice is the most successful, you can find ways to replicate their success at the other practices within your DSO.
The Value of Engaged Customer Support
But how can you really know if one patient engagement solution will work at multiple practices? After all, it can be a risk to assume that one thing will work at every practice.
This is where an engaged customer support team can help. Often, an engaged customer support team can test messaging, including frequency. Using the results this testing can help determine if it will be successful at every practice. They can identify the appropriate, effective communication strategies that will elevate each DSO.
We can speak on this at Intiveo since this is a function that our customer team performs. Finding the right messaging and frequency then allows your practice to replicate that success. With customization and automation options. Intiveo’s patient engagement solution offers the ability to manage operations and messaging from a single account. Our DSO clients have seen great results after switching to Intiveo.
Curious to learn more? Book a meeting today!
Happy Patients, Happy Practices
Through managing patient expectations, proceeding from your core values, and utilizing the right tools, DSOs can truly elevate each practice they are responsible for.
Need resources to strategize for your DSO? Intiveo has a resource library with a number of source, including:
- Free messaging templates
- On-demand webinars
- Guides
- Case studies
Have a browse and see if there’s anything that’s right for you.
