Patient engagement and patient experience are more than just the latest buzzwords in healthcare. With the continued shift to patient-centered, value-based care, they directly impact patient outcomes. Patients connected to the right care at the right time spend less time navigating complex care systems, draining already limited and strained care team resources and more time healing and living their best lives. 

To provide the right care at the right time, care teams need to be agile enough to meet patients where they prefer. This doesn’t mean sending them to another portal or having them download another app where they’ll inevitably end up on the outside looking in at their care team desperately trying to remember another unique 16+ character password. They also aren’t waiting on hold after being transferred from operator to team explaining their situation for the third time as they become increasingly more agitated.

Portals, apps, call-trees, these are all gateways to care, and gateways introduce friction in the overall patient experience. Patients bogged down by a disjointed experience struggle to get the right care at the right time. Small medical issues snowball and seemingly straightforward questions become complex problems, resulting in more time and more money for all parties. 

Patients aren’t the only ones who struggle when gateways restrict access to the right care at the right time. Care teams, who are already short on time and resources, also suffer. Communicating with patients has become dramatically more challenging as smart phones move to weed out more and more scam/robocalls by sending unknown numbers to voicemail. This results in full inboxes, or inboxes that maybe never get set up in the first place, and care teams wasting hours/days playing phone tag hoping to reach a patient. 

How do we remove these barriers to accessing the right care at the right time and create a frictionless channel for patient-provider communication?

Simple answer - texting. Every compliance officer just shuttered as internal alarms started blaring at the mention of the words patient texting. Yes, it is possible to have real conversations via traditional SMS with patients - not simply texting them to tell them they have a message in some other app/portal. 

Here are a few considerations when thinking about incorporating texting into patient communication:

1. HIPAA Compliant

This is far and away the most important consideration when evaluating options for texting. Collaborate with a platform who has a deep understanding of HIPAA, TCPA, and the myriad of other laws that govern the realm of sending text messages. How is consent captured and stored? What does that process look like both for the patient and the care team? Don’t hesitate to ask how they can help educate along the way as well!

2. Two-way Communication

Give your patients a voice. Broadcasting one-way messages helps eliminate reminder calls, but it doesn’t truly connect patients with their care team. Empowering patients with the ability to ask questions and engage in conversations with their care team helps ensure they are connected to the right care at the right time. 

3. Download/Login Free 

Connect with patients via the same messaging app they use to communicate with their loved ones. Nobody wants to install another app or login to another site to communicate. Frictionless patient communication begins with meeting patients where they are.

Whether it’s collecting information like medical clearance or vaccination status before a procedure or verifying adherence to their appointments/prescriptions, texting can alleviate barriers around patient communication for both the patients and their care teams. Texting is a powerful medium of communication that bridges the communication gap in healthcare. Collaborating with the right partner who has a deep understanding of the nuances of HIPAA while providing a frictionless two-way messaging platform ensures your patients are connected to the right care at the right time.