According to a recent JD Power survey the majority of their respondents have accessed telehealth services and for many services it is the preferred method of interaction. 80% of their respondents report that telehealth is the preferred method for prescription refills. 51% of providers offer an online scheduling option according to a recent survey from Optum. It doesn’t stop there, the digital front door is the modern gateway for health systems to welcome patients.
Imagine walking into a hospital or doctors office and finding a void or blank wall. Sounds a little dystopian, but it is quite possible this can be the experience of customers coming to a website and trying to enter an appointment.
A digital front door is the modern access point for healthcare, and it’s more than just a front a door. Digital strategies require a seamless digital experience for all services offered by the organization. A seamless transition from the digital to the physical front door if needed. Consider all the options available for enhancing the digital experience beyond the front door.
Is the health system going to be offering online appointment scheduling?
Want to steer patients away from the ER and towards Urgent Care with chatbots and digital symptom checkers connected to the first available appointment for telehealth or virtual urgent care?
Customers and the Federal Government clamoring for price transparency, is your system connected to health insurance and billing to offer price estimates?
SMS options offer easy appointment reminders and many other opportunities for engagement, are the messages going through?
Are you offering SMS or online intake questions to speed registration? Are they feeding over to the EHR for the receptionist to see?
Few would argue that the customer’s digital health experience should be as seamless and reliable possible, providing an early opportunity to build engagement and trust. The digital front door may be the first experience a customer has with the organization, if the digital experience is not seamless, doubt starts to creep in about the rest of the experience. Systems that have disrupted connections can lead to a rocky experience for the customer. If they’ve already filled out the registration information online, why do they need to do it again?
High reliability organizations require high reliability systems. While most networks are stable and function as expected, even a small glitch can have large consequences and disrupt the customer relationship. If the patient and clinician experience is that none of these systems work, or do not work consistently, why should they keep using them? Customers place a lot of trust with clinical staff, if the staff doesn’t have faith in the systems, they will steer customers away from digital solutions, negating the time and investment spent on these solutions.
Are you pro-actively monitoring for network disruptions? Is the IT system meeting the expectation of clinicians and staff? Pro-active monitoring, reporting and resolution of disruptions builds faith in the systems that support clinical staff and customers.
Healthcare should be welcoming, are you slamming your digital front door in the face of customers? Check out Tido’s end to end monitoring and digital apps test automation solutions, ensure your digital front door leads to the services your customers want and need.