Are SMS Services a Modern Essential for Hospitals?
Poor communication with patients, along with missed appointments are a significant and costly problem in the healthcare sector.
DNA’s put a drain on already tight budgets with more than 5 million outpatient appointments missed each year, costing around £160 each. It’s reported that the NHS England Trust lost £750.000 in one year due to missed doctor appointments.
SMS messaging software provides an efficient solution to reducing DNA’s by automating appointment reminders.
SMS Messaging is one of the many digital solutions that has rapidly grown in popularity within the healthcare sector recently. A major factor in the rise of this technology is its proven effectiveness at improving appointment attendance. Research conducted by the NHS already shows a 20% drop in missed appointments when using SMS services. This shows that people are more likely to attend appointments when they receive a timely reminder or a friendly follow-up.
This service doesn’t just improve attendance however, it has benefits across the board; including for your administrative, patient care, internal communications, and marketing departments – Making it a must-have for your forward-thinking digital strategy.
Key benefits of SMS services in hospitals
Improves communication with patients. Recent figures show there is a higher link % open rate for texts than with the more traditional email communications. Conveying messages via SMS that contain important call-to-actions will generate better CTA engagement and an improved response rate.
Optimises on patient feedback. By utilising an integration such as Doctify with an SMS messaging service, hospitals can really benefit from proactively building on their positive feedback. The recent record highs in self-pay patients mean those all-important trusted reviews will set your hospital apart when competing for self-pay custom.
Improves internal communications. SMS Messaging is also used to automatically and securely send medical data to other departments. The service can notify clinicians of arriving patients and order reporting to keep providers in the loop. This speeds up decisions and provides more effective treatment of patients.
Saves money and reduces time spent on administrative tasks. The easiest and most efficient way to contact patients is via SMS technology. By automating correspondence, healthcare providers can eliminate administrative tasks. The time and expense saved can then be put to better use elsewhere within the hospital.
It’s clear the benefits of SMS Messaging are vast and hospitals should consider implementing a solution to stay ahead of the competition. This simple, yet effective, tool holds the key to improved patient loyalty and offers huge cost savings, allowing you to reinvest your time and money into more important areas.
Compucare 8 provides an in-built automated text service with its secure and powerful SMS Messaging module. Send appointment confirmation, appointment move and cancellation alerts, via the SMS service to cut down on DNAs and improve communication with patients. Find out more about the automated Compucare SMS Messaging service.