Telemedicine Marketing Strategies for Medical Practices

Inform your patients about using the telemedicine app and other options through patient engagement.

Over the last few years, medical practices have been increasingly adopting telemedicine solutions for the convenience and flexibility it gives to doctors and patients alike. With the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in telemedicine has surged as physicians consider the benefits of telemedicine software for seeing patients while minimizing risk of exposure to the virus.

Many patients are excited about telemedicine too, and may want to know if their doctors offer it. For practices that have recently acquired telemedicine solutions, such as a telemedicine app, it’s important to make the announcement to your patients. For physicians that have been offering a telemedicine app option for a while, now is a good time to remind them.

To help you get more use out of your telemedicine software, here are some ways your practice can use telemedicine patient engagement to market virtual appointment options to your patients.

Send Emails to Patients About Your Telemedicine App or Website

To be seen virtually, your patients will need to be able to access the telemedicine platform you are using. Your telemedicine software may be accessible through a website or conveniently through a mobile app provided by your telemedicine solution, which is easy to download and install from a smartphone app store.

One easy telemedicine marketing method is to email your patients and inform them about the website and the app. Details to mention in the email include:

• The URL for the website version and how to get login information
• The technology needed to use the solution, such as an iPhone or Android smartphone or PC with webcam
• Where to download the telemedicine app
• How to set up the app on their device
• How to make a telemedicine appointment

It’s also helpful to include information like what patients should expect from their telemedicine experience and ways they can help improve the quality of their virtual appointment.

If your practice offers access to a patient portal, you can also post a guide on your portal to help patients download and use the telemedicine mobile app.

It is also important to keep in mind that some of your patients may not be tech-savvy or may not own a smartphone. Be ready to address these issues by making sure your office staff is able to provide some level of support when patients have questions. Also make sure patients know about other ways to use the telemedicine platform, like a PC with a webcam and microphone.

Telemedicine Patient Engagement With Automated Appointment Reminders

When you see patients virtually, reducing no-shows can come with extra challenges. It may be easier for patients to forget about an upcoming appointment when they don’t have to plan to physically travel to your office. But modern technology and patient engagement tools can help you stay connected with your telemedicine patients.

You can help keep telemedicine patients engaged and aware of upcoming virtual visits while also reducing the workload of your front office staff with automated appointment reminders. Some benefits include:

• Voice, email and text reminders can be sent to your patients anywhere from months to days to hours before their appointments
• Messaging can be customized based on provider or appointment type
• If your practice experiences delays or schedule changes, you can message many patients at the same time

If your practice uses a self-scheduling tool, you can help enable patients to easily reschedule telemedicine appointments without calling your front office staff. Instead, they can click a link in their appointment reminder email or text and reschedule their appointment at any time, even if your office is closed.

There still may be patients who don’t show for their appointment despite your telemedicine patient engagement efforts. Some patient reminder tools can be configured to automatically send these patients a text or email from your practice asking if they’d like to reschedule after a missed appointment.

The Importance of Patient Surveys for Telemedicine Marketing

Patient surveys are important for medical practices that utilize telemedicine solutions. Offering surveys after virtual appointments can help keep patients engaged in their care, provide learning opportunities for healthcare providers to improve the telemedicine experience and can even result in patient-generated marketing for your practice.

When patients have great experiences with telemedicine they can become strong advocates for your practice. Encourage patients who provide positive feedback to leave reviews for your practice online. Potential patients may find these reviews helpful when looking for a doctor, and may choose your practice because they’re looking for a doctor that offers a convenient, easy-to-use telemedicine option.

It is likely that telemedicine will play a greater role in how medicine is practiced today during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as in the future. Offering patients access to a telemedicine solution, such as a telemedicine app, could be a game-changer when it comes to the success of your practice.

That’s why patient engagement and marketing is critical to spread awareness of your telemedicine offerings to current patients. It’s also important to help make sure they have satisfying and convenient experiences with their virtual appointments, so that patients can help spread the word and bring in more patients to your practice that want to use telemedicine solutions.

Want to know more? Explore our patient engagement tools that you can use together with our telehealth-enabled electronic health records (EHR) software to help you continue to care for your patients, both virtually and face-to-face.

Disclosure:

This blog is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or medical advice. Please consult with your legal counsel and other qualified advisors to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and standards. It is each provider’s responsibility to determine that any telemedicine visit meets medical necessity for a given patient. Not all clinical scenarios may be appropriate for telemedicine visits, and the provider may need to evaluate the patient in person to establish a diagnosis or initiate treatment.