Features to Look for in an Integrated Patient Engagement Platform

Updated, May 2023 | By Blakely Roth

Patients are looking for convenience and connection from their healthcare providers. The most effective way for specialty practices to meet this demand is by applying comprehensive patient engagement solutions that benefit both patients and practice. 

While these solutions have a serious impact on raising patient satisfaction, they also streamline practice operations in the process and clean up manual tasks and workflow bottlenecks for better revenue and smooth growth.

Here are the features of an integrated patient engagement platform that can really make your organization stand out:

Improved Patient Check-in

Offering your patients a quick and easy check-in for their visit immediately puts your practice ahead of the competition. But with a digital engagement solution, check-in becomes contactless – which will be crucial again in flu season – and its speed allows greater throughput, bringing more patients back into exam rooms at a steady pace.

Patients like the efficiency of checking in by kiosk or tablet or even using their own phone to check in while seated comfortably in the office.

Your patients can complete check-in in minutes and quickly scan their driver’s license and insurance card. If they’ve already followed your instructions to pre-register online days in advance, they can check-in in under two minutes and spend less time in your waiting room. You’ll be able to tell patients to come in 5 minutes early instead of half an hour and optimize your schedule for more volume.

Scheduling Convenience

Look for a patient engagement platform that’s a one-stop-shop to be able to include and integrate patient scheduling. Self-scheduling online is a preferred method for patients, and your practice benefits from eliminating the many staff hours spent each week on scheduling and confirming appointments.

When patients can book appointments with your providers without having to wait for the office to open or dealing with a tedious call routing system, they’ll have a better experience and wholeheartedly recommend your practice to others.

A scheduling solution that can also integrate with your call center provides that same first-rate experience across the board. Regardless of appointment complexity, an integrated solution will simplify each call and shorten average call time while creating ideal agent workloads.

Automated Insurance Eligibility Verification

Automated insurance eligibility verification is a game-changer. If your practice had, days in advance, an overview of each appointment’s insurance pre-verified, you would eliminate so many extra hours of staff effort. 

When a patient engagement platform integrates eligibility verification with scheduling and check-in, your practice reaches new levels of improved performance.

If you can flag any discrepancies for updates – maybe a patient has an insurance change or new address – you can correct them early, and patients can arrive at the office and check in with ease.

Pre-verified insurance can also offer patients financial transparency. They’ll know their co-pay and payment responsibility upfront. With integrated patient collections, can get that financial transparency at check-in and make their payment at the point of service.

Look for a patient engagement solution that combines eligibility verification with intake, self-scheduling and patient collections for a real difference in your revenue and ROI.

Embracing Mobile Technology

Patients rely on their smartphones to manage their lives and centralize their commitments. Healthcare that operates collaboratively with mobile technology is much easier for your patients to engage with and handle.

Patient engagement solutions can integrate with mobile technology to schedule appointments and send reminders and confirmations. It can also support virtual waiting rooms, when patients or their companions are required to wait outside before their appointment time. It can enable pre-registration for appointments to ready patients for their visit ahead of the actual day. It can also allow patients to check in for a visit, using texted links or QR codes when patients arrive at the office. 

Choose a patient engagement platform that integrates with your patients’ preferred device, and which they already carry with them!

Smart Integration for Better Data Delivery

Patient engagement, on the patient’s side, offers technology to improve the patient experience. On the backend, improved integration will allow your practice to engineer the fast flow of data between the patient-facing points and your EMR and Practice Management system.

Platforms that are able to update data in real-time have mapped pathways between each checkpoint, and can offer speed and accuracy on the front and back ends.

Look for a patient engagement platform with established relationships and connections, dedicated compliance and security team members and strong success stories in implementation and support.

Improve your Patient Journey using Clearwave

The right platform will make all the difference. 

Want to learn more about choosing an integrated patient engagement platform for your practice? Schedule a quick 30-minute demo now!