Did you know that for every 1% increase in retention, there is a 4% increase in your patients’ lifetime value? Effective patient retention not only keeps your staff’s schedule busy, but it also helps you run a growing and profitable practice.
Patient retention measures your ability to keep patients returning for services and care over the long term. For example, patient retention would focus on converting new patients into repeat patients.
Adopting a patient retention strategy in your practice serves as the foundation for long-term success. In this article, we’ll cover how you can develop a patient retention strategy to apply in your practice by outlining effective retention strategies, metrics to track success, and how to develop a retention system.
Identifying Effective Patient Retention Strategies
While every practice will have a different approach to patient retention, there are a few tried and trusted strategies to consider adopting. Let’s break down patient retention strategy best practices into three sections: the pre-visit, the visit, and the post-visit.
Pre-Visit
Before your patient steps foot in the door, your practice should be accommodating. Make it easy to register and schedule appointments, such as by having your forms online and available to complete before check-in, and having minimal questions to check in. Similarly, send frequent reminders about appointments. This can help reduce your risk of no-shows and last-minute cancellations.
Visit
Your patient experience needs to be excellent from the start of the visit. Once patients arrive, there should be no need to go through lengthy check-ins because they have already completed the pre-visit. If your staff is running behind, be upfront and honest with patients. After all, it can be frustrating for your patients to sit in the waiting room well past their appointment. Finally, schedule the next appointment before leaving.
Post-Visit
Post-visit retention strategies are also important because they’re as much a part of the patient’s experience as both the pre-visit and visit. Make it easy for patients to pay outstanding invoices. If a follow-up is promised, be sure your staff makes contact. This is especially important if a patient’s issue is larger than the standard care, such as a surgical procedure. Additionally, show your patients that you are going the extra mile, such as by collaborating with different providers the patients see when that’s needed. Patients are more likely to stay with your practice when they feel seen, heard, and taken care of.
Implementing Metrics to Evaluate Patient Retention Efforts
While your staff may be doing a great job at implementing effective patient retention strategies, it is important to track progress with metrics. On a regular basis, we recommend monthly, calculating metrics to gauge effectiveness. Here are some beneficial metrics to consider:
Churn
Churn measures the percentage of patients who discontinue their services during the time frame. To find this metric, divide the total number of patients at the beginning of the period by the number of patients lost during the period.
Repeat Visits
Repeat visits evaluate how many patients have returned for services. For certain practices, like dentist offices, it wouldn’t make sense to calculate repeat visits every month, as most patients visit every six months.
Patient Satisfaction
Patient satisfaction is a predictive indicator that tells you if patients will return. If patients had a poor experience, they are not likely to schedule another appointment. Track your public reviews and offer anonymous surveys to understand where your practice could improve in patient experience.
Patient Lifetime Value
Your patients’ lifetime value multiplies the average spend per patient by the average time a patient is with your practice. Ideally, you want this metric to increase, indicating that patients are staying with your practice long term.
Referral Sources
Referrals are a powerful tool in the healthcare industry; however, many practices fall short in fully leveraging potential referral sources. In fact, the National Library of Medicine found that only 34.8% of referrals resulted in complete appointments. By building collaborative relationships with different referral sources and improving your referral completion rates, you can increase the effectiveness of your patient retention by unlocking new patients.
Developing a Retention System
Implementing patient retention strategies and tracking progress rely on having a robust retention system in place. Take the time to outline clear policies and procedures for your patient retention strategy. This might look like assigning retention tasks to certain staff members, implementing accountability, and reviewing feedback from staff and patients. Start small – pick one or two parts of the strategy and start there. Once they’re up and running and effective, add more elements.
If you’re going to ask your staff members to take on the additional responsibility of retention, make it fun! Consider offering rewards and benefits when retention efforts are successful. For example, for every referral converted into a repeat patient, your staff gets entered into a drawing for a gift card or a prize. Making the process fun and rewarding can increase engagement and the overall success of your patient retention strategy.
Summary
Creating your patient retention strategy is an important component of running a successful practice. It helps you generate recurring revenue, boosts productivity, and creates a strong brand image. If you have questions about developing a patient retention strategy for long-term success, our team of experienced accountants and practice management advisors is ready to help. Please contact us to get started.