Emerging healthcare technologies to ace practice management

The likelihood is high that an EHR or EMR system is being used by your medical practice to better manage patient data and raise the standard of care. If appropriate, you might even provide a patient portal. The majority of healthcare organizations, however, are under-equipped when it comes to utilizing the available technology intended to make them function more efficiently and expand. 

Recent years have seen the emergence of an innovative new lineup of medical technology advancements. Here are six cutting-edge technologies that will support the success of your practice management. 

5 emerging healthcare technologies for independent practices 

1. Practice growth strategies 

Investing in technology that directly advances your goals is necessary if you're ready to expand your practice. Software for expanding practices, such as Practice Crown, is essential for drawing clients. The following features are part of this kind of healthcare technology solution's multifaceted strategy to market your practice. 

effective search engine optimization (SEO) 

Your distinctive search engine optimization (SEO) plan, developed especially for your practice by top industry professionals, targets nearby patients and raises your search engine ranking. 

improved online presence 

You can make sure your practice and provider profiles are noticeable, accurate, and consistent across directories by using a practice growth solution. Your profiles can incorporate online scheduling so that clients can make appointments whenever they want.  

appointment confirmations and reminders are sent automatically 

Although it's a necessary task, manually verifying appointments can take a lot of time. You can send well-timed emails and texts using a practice growth solution, which makes the procedure quick, simple, and efficient. 

Patient satisfaction surveys that are automated 

With the help of a practice growth solution, you can send automated, carefully timed patient satisfaction surveys to encourage online reviews and collect insightful patient feedback. Your practice staff and patients will be able to communicate with each other more easily thanks to the consistent flow of feedback.  

2. Medical time management strategies 

Patients appreciate the flexibility of being able to book appointments online at their convenience. Results of a recent study showed that they clearly value this feature. 

If they could, 81 percent of patients would book doctor appointments online, and 40 percent said they would switch healthcare providers for this feature. 

You can incorporate medical scheduling software into your practice website to give patients the self-service capabilities they want. There are plenty of options available, so research the various advantages provided by each service to determine which one is best for your business.  

 Additionally, patients can book appointments on third-party websites with call-to-action (CTA) functionality, including Yelp, Google, and others. 

3. Alternatives for electronic forms 

It's time to switch to a paperless office if you haven't already. Because they provide advantages like those listed here, electronic forms are the way of the future of healthcare. 

Boost performance 

Patients filling out paper forms adds to the workload of your office staff because they must manually enter the data into the computer. By using electronic forms that send data from completed forms into your system automatically, you can cut the time it takes to complete this process in half. 

Cut expenses 

Your practice will incur more costs as you use more paper. The cost of paper, toner, and other printing supplies can be high, especially if you use them frequently. You can quickly see the financial impact that paper forms have by factoring in the time it takes to scan documents and the cost of storing them. 

Become more environmentally conscious Fun Fact 22.4 million tons of paper were dumped in landfills in 2017. 

Join the movement by transitioning your practice to being paperless. Every business can make a difference.  

saving space  

You require as much space as you can get in your office. Making forms digital will free up space for you to serve patients by allowing you to get rid of extra file cabinets and the rooms needed to store them. 

Avoid losing documents 

Patient forms frequently get mixed up in a busy medical office because of the nature of the work. Not only does this violate patients' privacy, but it is also inconvenient to require them to fill out the same paperwork twice.  

4. Online chat services

Businesses outside of retail can also profit from chat tools. Many patients don't want to pick up the phone and call your practice with questions in today's digital world. Instead, they would choose to go online and have a brief chat. 

The most common form of website chat solutions is a widget that you can add to the website of your practice. Everyone can gain from this method of communication because patients get their questions answered quickly and practice staff can typically handle multiple conversations at once. 

90 percent of customers rated an immediate response as "important" or "very important" when they had a customer service question, demonstrating the importance of speed. 

You can benefit from using social media chat applications like Facebook Messenger. More than 10 billion communications between individuals and organizations are sent each month via Messenger. As a result, it's likely that your patients are already utilizing this service for communication. 

5. Patient involvement strategies 

In 2022, the market for patient engagement solutions is anticipated to grow to $18.7 billion. 

This is largely attributable to the rise of cutting-edge medical technology, such as Fitbit, which had more than 25 million active users in 20175. Fitbit has encouraged patients to take a more active approach to their health. 

Of course, using technology isn't the only way to motivate patients to become more engaged in their healthcare. Patients can now more easily receive care remotely thanks to the growing number of practices that are now providing telehealth services.

Currently, telehealth services are used or implemented in 65 percent of U.S. hospitals. Furthermore, almost all Medicaid programs in states provide some kind of coverage for telehealth services. Another method of engagement that many practices have adopted is the patient portal. Even though the feature isn't particularly ground-breaking, it is constantly changing to better serve patients. The ability to make appointments, ask for prescription refills, pay bills, and view lab results are common features. 

Conclusion  

The way healthcare is provided will soon change as a result of a number of innovative technologies. Practices will find it simpler to connect with both new and existing patients thanks to innovations like practice growth software, medical scheduling software, electronic forms, online chat features, patient engagement tools, and creative patient retention strategies. You have access to a world of technology; use it to serve your patient base more effectively.