Learn how to improve your customer experience for every patient while improving your processes.

In decades past, a patient might arrive at their GP’s office at nine in the morning. The receptionist would recognize the patient on sight and check them in. By 9:15, they’d be seated across from the doctor and ready to discuss their health. An idealized experience, to be sure. But it’s a difficult one for modern healthcare providers to replicate.

Massive client loads and in-depth documentation make delivering personalized, friendly care challenging. Sometimes, it’s all you can do to get each appointment done before closing. But there are modern solutions to this modern problem. By delivering a more seamless customer experience, you can create more effective workflows. You can set your staff up for success while creating stronger relationships with patients. Here’s how to get started.

What customer experience means in healthcare

It may sound odd to talk about “customer experience” in a healthcare setting. You typically refer to the people you care for as patients. And you already work hard to deliver a great patient experience. You employ skilled staff. You purchase up-to-date medical equipment. You invest in training programs. These all work together to provide high caliber care.

However, patients are customers too. They often have a choice in where they go to receive care. They can shop around to find the best fit. In this respect, non-medical details can make a big difference. How long do patients have to sit in a waiting room? How many repetitive forms do they have to fill out? How often do they have to repeat pertinent medical details? How easy is it to interact with your office from home so that patients can minimize unnecessary trips?

Paying attention to these details does more than make patients feel like valued customers. It opens the way for more efficient working practices. Healthcare is one of the most demanding and stressful fields to work in today. Anything you can do to ease the many interstitial steps that employees must handle could have a big impact on satisfaction and retention.

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5 ways to improve your customer experience for better healthcare workflows

Building a better healthcare customer experience doesn’t have to mean more work. In truth, good customer experiences and more efficient workflows can be two sides of the same coin. Here are five examples of how it can work.

Streamline administrative tasks

One study found that administrative work takes up one-sixth of U.S. physicians’ working hours. The study also noted that spending all that time on paperwork lowered doctors’ career satisfaction. And doctors are far from the only ones who must contend with large amounts of recordkeeping.

Digitalization in healthcare is one of the best ways to address this issue. Digitized paper documents are available wherever and whenever employees need them. These digital records are also easier to keep updated. Digitalization helps healthcare businesses more effectively maintain a single source of truth for each patient. It also minimizes the need for time-consuming document reviews.

Reduce repetition and redundancies

It’s common to have to repeat yourself several times to several people when seeking medical care. While it’s important to get each detail right, this repetition can cause fatigue and frustration. Similarly, clients may have to write their names and contact information on a dozen different forms.

This doesn’t just mean busywork for patients. Administrators must process and store each of these forms. A mistake or missed detail on one document could mean billing issues, or worse. Digitized systems allow patients to handle much of the work long before their appointments. These systems can also auto-populate information collected in one source across multiple records. It’s less work on either end, while the results are more accurate and helpful.

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Expedite patient care

Information is a precious resource in medicine. Knowledge of symptoms and medical history can lead to quicker and more accurate diagnoses. It also lets practitioners tailor treatments to meet the needs of their patients. Prompt access to relevant information helps secure better patient outcomes.

Improved processes let your staff spend less time finding the right records and preparing treatment plans. Instead, you and your employees can spend more time in the room with each patient. You can also provide clearer, more effective treatment plans after their appointment is done.

Strengthen compliance and security posture

The average global cost of a data breach in 2023 was $4.45 million. That’s a startling number, and a 15% increase over the previous three years. When dealing with sensitive data, it’s always better to start from a position of security strength. That’s why it’s important to prioritize secured, automated workflows that minimize the margin for error.

In addition, healthcare businesses that deal with electronic protected health information are subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and other applicable laws and regulations. To ensure your business remains in compliance, start by working with partners that build solutions with HIPAA compliance in mind. This will start you on solid footing when it’s time to audit your own record keeping processes.

Deliver exceptional care

Locking in a superior customer experience means you can focus on an excellent patient experience. Employees don’t have to spend time doubling up on paperwork. Clients don’t come in irritated after sitting around in a waiting room. You can spend less time managing hectic schedules and more time helping.

Those in the market for ways to optimize their healthcare workflows have no shortage of options. We take great pride in having spent the last 50+ years researching, designing, and developing some of the most advanced and powerful electronics in the world, including our professional grade fi and SP series of scanners.

Built to purpose for the most demanding document handling jobs, fi and SP scanners are capable of processing tens of thousands of pages per day at the highest levels of accuracy. Their intuitive integration capabilities with all existing work suites minimize time-to-value for businesses looking to invest in tools that will pay dividends for years to come.

The RICOH fi-8170 was built to meet demanding workflows. Its innovative feeding technologies help process large batches of documents while minimizing errors. Its proprietary Clear Image Capture (CIC) technology makes each document easier to read. Its compact size makes it ideal for front offices and record rooms alike. Click here to learn more or shop the rest of our production scanner line.

Note: Information and external links are provided for your convenience and for educational purposes only, and shall not be construed, or relied upon, as legal or financial advice. PFU America, Inc. makes no representations about the contents, features, or specifications on such third-party sites, software, and/or offerings (collectively “Third-Party Offerings”) and shall not be responsible for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of such Third-Party Offerings. Please consult with a licensed professional regarding your specific situation as regulations may be subject to change.