How to retain patients? - Practice Builders

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How to retain patients?

• Many medical practices do an excellent job
  attracting patients and then become complacent
  with patient service as they get busy attracting
  new patients. However, the truth is when a
  patient makes the first appointment in your
  medical practice your efforts to retain the
  patient should begin. The most significant
  medical practice goal of your medical practice is
  to retain patients. Herere the top six ways to
  retain patients
• Set patient expectations Failing to set
  expectations early on will only damage your
  relationship with your patients in the long run.
  When patients know what they can expect from you,
  it will build trust and put their minds at ease.
  This way, if you exceeded a patients
  expectations ten times but failed to deliver one
  time, that one experience will stick out in your
  patients mind. While the upset patient may not
  mention it to you, chances are he or she will
  share the bad experience with others.
• Stay in constant contact with patients One of
  the best ways to build relationships with
  patients is frequent communication. You can
  communicate with patients through phone calls,
  emails, texts, and a thoughtful card. Consistent
  contact is important because it makes patients
  feel appreciated and valued. Informed and valued
  patients will have more reasons to stick to your
  medical practice.
• Implement patient feedback surveys Encouraging
  your existing patients to give feedback will go a
  long way in helping you retain patients. Feedback
  is crucial because it gives insight into how
  patients perceive your services. Simply put,
  treat every feedback as a gift because it will
  provide valuable information for areas in your
  medical practice that may be missing the mark.
• Ensure proactive service Delivering proactive
  service means that instead of just waiting for
  problems to happen, medical practices can
  anticipate and develop solutions to prevent them
  from occurring. This

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• involves becoming aware of the patients need to
  be informed. By proactively approaching a patient
  satisfaction problem, you can stop the problem
  before it even happens.
• Strengthen your online presence The rise of
  social networks has made it easier to build
  relationships with patients online. You can
  create an account on major sites like Facebook
  and Twitter as most of your patients are likely
  to be active on one of these sites. Begin
  building relationships with patients by providing
  generic, valuable content and engaging with
  people who comment and leave feedback.
• Go the extra mile Going the extra mile is a
  great way to build relationships and show your
  patients you have value to offer them. This will
  build loyalty and help them choose to stick with
  you, even when competitors approach them.