How to Get Higher Clearwave Utilization with Your Patients

Want to know how to drive patient engagement and help your patients get the most use out of your digital patient engagement tools? We have a few strategies to get you started!

Step 1: Map Your Patient Journey

 

 
As your starting point, map out your patients’ points of interaction, from where they begin by scheduling an appointment to just before they’re brought into an exam room for their visit.

• Are they self-scheduling, contacting a call center, or booking through a referring physician? What’s the next step?
• Know when an appointment confirmation will be sent to them, and that it will include an invitation to pre-register for their visit.
• As automatic eligibility verification provides them with the estimated co-pay for their visit, know what that looks like from the patient’s view.
• Will they be able to use a card on file to pay for their visit at check-in? And when they arrive for their visit, what are the different ways they can check in?

Step 2: Staff Training

Use the information from your patient journey mapping to prepare and train staff. Go through each step to build awareness of how and when patients receive information.

Call center staff and scheduling personnel can tell patients when to expect a text or email and encourage them to complete pre-check days in advance of the visit.

When patients use the digital tools available, not only are they more involved and better informed about their appointment and care, but they save significant time for themselves and staff. They also drop the daily percentage of no-shows and keep patient volume at a smooth flow.

Their engagement triggers automated eligibility verification, which frees staff from hours of work, creates clean claims and can decrease claim denials and penalties by up to 90%. And by collecting co-pays and open balances as the patient interacts, collection rates improve by 65% and increase practice cash flow.

But the clearest advantage to patients is that when they connect in advance of an appointment, they’re ready to be seen less than 3 minutes after arriving!

Armed with a solid understanding of the process and benefits, staff will be ready to prepare each patient and guide them through their visit.

 

“The emphasis here is usually on the WHY and not the HOW. Typically, the WHY behind each point of patient engagement is helpful and motivates patients to complete the task.”

Trisha Lefert, a Client Success Manager at Clearwave

Step 3: Communication is a Strength

Keep patients interested and informed with great communication! Use your website, social media accounts and email campaigns to outline new access and patient best practices. Place simple, attractive signage in the office so patients know the different ways to do things like schedule appointments, keep a form of payment on file, receive reminders or check in. Place large QR codes for mobile check-in close to entrances, where patients will see them immediately.

One of our customers printed cards for referring physicians that are handed to patients with the referral. The card tells them how and where to easily schedule an appointment — making the connection seamless.

Having staff direct patients to kiosk, tablet or mobile check-in will enforce self-led patient engagement and reassure new patients walking in. It’s also nice to have a relaxed, smiling face that guides patients to efficient solutions, replacing the former model of patients coming in silently and joining the end of a long line.
 

Step 4: Client Success Check-in

Clearwave’s Client Success Team is always ready to help.

To ensure optimal operations for patient engagement, schedule time with your Clearwave client team to review the kiosk workflow. See if any adjustments should be made, like removing outdated custom fields to streamline flow.

Also, ask about reviewing reminder email templates to check language and formatting that might make it easier for patients to engage.

With a great foundation of knowledge and communication, you can create a strong environment for successful patient engagement.