Top 5 Reasons Your Practice Is Losing Patients

For any industry, customers are the foundation of success. And the healthcare industry is no exception. It has been seen that sometimes it is a small mistake for which practice doctors start losing their patients.

If you are also observing a sudden drop in a number of your patients, it is definitely a time to take a look at your practices and your relationship with patients.

In our today’s post, we will shed light on some reasons that could be the biggest culprit behind your situation. We hope, the post will help you audit your current process and overcome the problem points.

So, without any further ado, let’s get started.

1. Patients Don’t Feel They’re Improving:

No patient wants to feel like his/her money and time is being wasted. Everyone looks for results and improvement in their health condition. And if someone doesn’t see any improvement, there is a good chance that he will leave your practice and switch to other options.

Well, you can overcome this situation by having a conversation with your patient, which is the primary step for doctor-patient relationship trust.

Try to uncover patients’ actual requirements. The situation of every patient is different, but you may tell your patient what treatment procedure you are following to treat his specific condition and how much time it may take to be fully recovered.

2. Front Office Blunders:

Sometimes, it is your staff on the fault. If your front office staff is not well-trained, you may lose millions of dollars.

Gone are the days when the duties of a front office were limited to administrative activities only. Today, front office plays an important role in the success of your profession. They can show a different image of you and your hospital.

The following front office blunders can be primary reasons you’re losing your patients.

Poor Phone Skills and Long Hold Times:

If your patients find your front desk staff rude, there is a good chance they will never ever contact you or your hospital. And why not? They have the option to simply call some other doctors.

Every patient hates waiting for doctor appointments. So, imagine if your front desk staff puts your patients on hold for 15 minutes and more. How would they react?

Your patients may take this situation as a reflection of how you are going to treat them at the time of treatment. Long hold times shouldn’t be an acceptable practice in the healthcare industry.

Misinformation:

There are a plenty of questions that your front desk staff can’t simply answer, whether due to the question involves medical advice or because of patient-doctor confidentiality.

No matter what the reason is, when a patient doesn’t get an answer to his/her question, it may make him switch to other doctors.

Therefore, make sure your staff can redirect the question properly so that the patient doesn’t feel that he has not been answered.

Billing Issues:

It is one of the most common reasons that can turn your happy patients into unhappy patients. If your patients feel they are overcharged or given misinformation about billing, you will lose them for sure. Your staff should explain your fees prior to treatment. It will avoid confusion for both parties.

So, keep checking on these things as they can play a significant role in maintaining a healthy relationship between doctor and patient.

3. Poor Relationship with Patients:

When it comes to patient retention, nurturing a patient relationship is the easiest way that you can try. Remember the good doctor-patient relationship is not only beneficial for patients but also for doctors. When patients get better health care from you they are able to recall your name.

In addition to this, make sure you and your team have some outreach strategy to show patients how much you care. You should display genuine concern toward your patients that should go beyond just sending out appointment reminder.

You shouldn’t hesitate to go that extra mile for your patients. If possible, you can give your loyal patients free appointments or concession.

Today, every business is admiring the power of social media, you may try them as well. You should try building your brand using different social media services. An automated email campaign can be a good option for you to update your existing patients so that they can come back to you whenever they need you. This way they can also recommend you to their friends and family members.

4. You’re Ignoring Your Patient’s Concern:

Most of your patients will visit you once in a six month. And when they will come, they will take it as an opportunity to bring up every health concern they have had in the last 6 months. We know it is not easy for you to take care of the each and every concern of your patient, especially when you have a full schedule of patients.

However, you can tackle this situation by rescheduling some of your patient for another visit to discuss other issues they might be having.

5. Bad Experience:

Maybe you never thought of it, but one bad experience can make your patient feel bad about your services. Though you can’t bounce back the bad experience of your patient, you can try to avoid it from happening again in the future.

On a regular interval, check your online reviews. It will help you find out what people are saying about you and your practice. If you find something negative you, learn from it and try not to repeat in the future.

If you don’t want your practice to experience ‘No’. Take a regular check on the things we mentioned above. We hope our post will help you form better doctor-patient communication and improve patient retention.