Have you ever tried speaking to a healthcare or dental receptionist about your private medical insurance eligibility and had to wait unnecessarily?
The goal of an omnichannel experience is to put patients first in the healthcare sector. This approach improves the patient's journey, increases appointment requests, enhances retention, and builds the medical practice's reputation.
In this guide, we will explore the omnichannel goal in the healthcare industry.
What are omnichannel goals?
Today's healthcare consumers demand and expect the industry to deploy digital strategies that can meet their personal preferences and take account of their dependency on mobile devices. As patients shift their healthcare habits to online-friendly approaches, they expect a seamless experience across multiple channels. This means that providers in the healthcare sector must adopt an omnichannel approach.
The healthcare industry is highly data-centric and generates around 30% of the world's data volume; by 2025, it will be about 36%. With a proper omnichannel data inventory, a doctor can review a patient's medical history, current medications, and drug allergies. This becomes particularly important when a patient is unable or unwilling to say anything during a medical emergency.
Customers want to move seamlessly between online and offline channels as a unified system. An omnichannel strategy gives patients a holistic healthcare journey across multiple touch points, from inpatient care to outpatient facilities, retail pharmacies, and specialist doctor visits.
Omnichannel goals in healthcare are to meet patients precisely where they are. Some of the use cases are:
- A patient develops a new symptom in the middle of the night: they can book an appointment outside working hours with online scheduling.
- A patient is travelling and needs immediate medical assistance: the patient can access their data and share it with healthcare professionals from anywhere with a single click.
- A patient needs urgent medical help but is strapped for time: the patient can find waiting time estimates integrated into a healthcare provider's website so they can time their visit accordingly.
What's an example of an omnichannel goal?
An excellent example of an omnichannel goal in healthcare is introducing an optimised patient administration process. Patients can register on your healthcare portal and check bills and insurance eligibility. This reduces the need for assistance from a clinic receptionist and reduces waiting hours. Improving customer satisfaction is one of the primary goals of an omnichannel strategy, especially in today's competitive landscape.
A medical team can also manage patient discharge workflows via a self-service kiosk. They can issue discharge letters, collate patient survey feedback and schedule patient's follow-up appointments, reducing the care team's workload.
What are the main goals of an omnichannel strategy?
The healthcare industry takes an omnichannel approach these days as it can improve the workflow and elevate patient satisfaction levels.
Some of the omnichannel goals that indicate a successful omnichannel strategy are:
- The patient gets a choice and convenient solutions when choosing how to interact with the healthcare provider.
- Patients enjoy a seamless experience regardless of the channel they are using.
- Healthcare providers build good relationships with patients by offering a more personalised healthcare experience.
When establishing healthcare omnichannel goals, remember these key principles to make the strategy successful:
- Think patient first
A satisfied patient is a brand ambassador for your healthcare business. Your omnichannel goals must be committed to nurturing patients' comfort and convenience throughout their journey.
- Use the right healthcare marketing tools
To implement omnichannel goals for success, you need the right digital tools and tactics. This could include online scheduling tools, automated and personalised email services, fully responsive websites, customised apps, relevant content across websites, apps, and social media channels, and marketing analytics.
- Audience segmentation
You must break down your market into audience segments depending on distinct commonalities. Each segment will have different needs, and your omnichannel goal is to provide customised support for each that delivers the ideal consumer experience.
- Personalised experience
Your omnichannel goal must be to use software to collect data from multiple channels and offer personalised experiences to patients.
- Self-service features
Your offering should allow patients to book appointments online, check appointment timings, check the status of insurance claims etc without reliance on administrative personnel.
With growing digital sophistication, healthcare practitioners and life science companies are adopting omnichannel goals to offer patients a tailored and engaging experience with their drugs and services. The omnichannel approach in the industry ensures you have more happy and satisfied patients.
Copyright 2023. Guest post.