An engaged patient can greatly contribute to improved health outcomes. But how can your EHR support improved health outcomes through better patient engagement? Well, if you are using eClinicalWorks, it's quite simple — Messenger. With Messenger, eClinicalWorks users can communicate with patients in a number of ways. But, it doesn't stop there. Here are the 8 reasons your practice should be using eClinicalWorks Mesenger.
1. Patients would rather receive a text message.
It's true. 75% of patients would prefer appointment reminders, payment reminders, and surveys through text.1 And not only do patients prefer to hear from you via text message, they are also more responsive when you do text them.
Texting results in a 209% higher response rate than from phone calls.2 Texting is more convenient than a phone call and allows the patient to be more discreet with their communication to your practice.
With eClinicalWorks Messenger, you can send SMS text messages to stay connected. Messenger's two-way messaging capability can be used to remind patients of appointments, wellness activities, office hours, and more.
2. Texts are almost five times more likely to be read.
Don't take it personally but patients don't want your emails or your voicemails. In fact, 98% of text messages are read while only 22% of email messages are even opened.3,4
And, on top of that, 19% of people never even check their voicemail.5 Ever. Texting also takes less time than crafting an email or voicemail so you're increasing the odds of actually engaging with your patients and saving your staff a significant amount of time with placing phone calls.
3. It makes rescheduling no show appointments easier.
Are you facing a high no-show rate? Sure, some no-shows are inevitable but if you can send appointment reminders to patients then you are more likely to reduce the chance of them not showing up for an appointment.
In fact, Kaiser Permanente implemented automated reminders and increased their patient attendance rates by 1,837 appointments. Automated appointment reminders can also save your staff from having to make reminder calls which can take up a significant amount of time.
eClinicalWorks Messenger also gives you the ability to reach out to patients that don't show up for an appointment to have them reschedule at their convenience.
4. Promoting preventative health has never been easier.
Target a specific demographic to promote preventative health services or announce the beginning of flu season to your patients. You can use campaigns like the colon cancer screening reminder, flu season notification and confirmation, or the skin cancer prevention series to remind patients of the importance of particular visit types and encourage them to schedule an appointment.
5. You can get creative and customize your own campaign!
With eClinicalWorks Messenger you can also create your own customized campaign. Wish your patients a happy holiday season, welcome them as a new patient, send them an invite to one of your upcoming events, educate them on a health concern facing your community, tell them happy birthday, or ask them to review your practice on Facebook.
Messenger gives you the flexibility to create your own campaigns to engage your patients and makes it easy to track the success of your campaigns too (stay tuned for more on Messenger analytics).
6. eClinicalWorks Messenger assists you with MIPS
If you are participating in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), then eCW Messenger will assist you in avoiding a negative payment adjustment.
This performance category promotes patient engagement and electronic exchange of information using certified electronic health record technology (CEHRT). The Promoting Interoperability requirements are going to vary by performance year so to learn more about how to participate (and how eCW Messenger can help you with certain PI measures) head over to the CMS Quality Payment Program website.
7. Practices can increase reimbursement while improving care.
It's no secret that there is revenue to be made with Chronic Care Management services. There is also a huge opportunity to improve the health of patients that suffer from multiple chronic conditions.
CMS' Chronic Care Management Program is an initiative to help providers achieve and maintain the best possible overall health outcomes for their patients with multiple chronic conditions. Providers can also increase their reimbursement by focusing on providing CCM services.
Medicare covers an initial annual wellness visit that provides personalized prevention plan services for Medicare recipients who:
- Are not within the first 12 months of their first Medicare Part B coverage period
- Have not received an initial preventative physical examination or annual wellness visit within the past 12 months
In addition, the Annual Wellness Visit is well reimbursed. The 2017 Medicare allowances for HCPCS codes G0438 (initial AWV) and G0439 (subsequent AWV) are $173.70 and $117.71, respectively. By comparison, the rate for CPT code 99214 (level 4, established-patient office visit) is $108.74.
With eClinicalWorks Messenger, your practice can remind eligible medicare patients that it is time for their annual check-up and you can also use the pre-built Medicare Chronic Care Management Awareness campaign in Messenger. This campaign helps you recruit eligible Medicare patients for participation in the Medicare Chronic Care Management (CCM) program.
8. You can measure the effectiveness of your Messenger campaigns.
Sending text messages and emails to patients is great but how do you know if it's actually working in your favor? eClinicalWorks Messenger also gives you the in-depth insight into your patient population with Messenger Analytics.
Messenger Analytics helps you monitor your campaign performance and modify campaigns based on the responses you receive. You can configure your campaigns to be even more effective for your patients and more efficient for your practice by analyzing data points such as:
- Delivery success rate & failed delivery rate per delivery method
- Messages sent by voice, SMS, email, eMessage
- Monthly reach to unique patients and more
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