5 Reasons Patient Engagement is Important to the Healthcare Industry

To say that patient engagement is important to the healthcare industry is nearly an understatement. It is absolutely in the industry’s best interest to engage patients at every opportunity. Like most other markets and industries of today’s business world, engaging the party receiving the service is immeasurably important.

Such patient engagement can take place in many venues and forms. It can be seen in hospitals asking for patients to fill-out surveys based on their experiences therein. It takes place through external social networking instruments such as Facebook and Twitter. Patient engagement can even make its unmistakable mark at the most basic levels of doctor-patient interaction.

We’re aware of its importance. We can also see where it often takes place and by what means. But why exactly is it so important? What are the biggest reasons that patient engagement is important to the healthcare industry? Here are five, distinct reasons engaging the patient is of such importance to this massive industry.

Credibility

Credibility is gained through a number of routes. Professionalism, accuracy, and an organized method of business operation all contribute to the overall credibility of the modern healthcare facility. To be direct, credibility is the glue that holds everything together.

Every active segment of the healthcare industry relies on credibility for a multitude of reasons. Loss in credibility usually translates directly to loss in revenue. In cases of the best achieved credibility, business interests and goals are easily exceeded. In the worst cases of credibility-rebuke, business licenses can be confiscated and criminal and civil matters of law can ensue. Credibility is a big reason to stay engaged with the patient.

Increased Access

Patient outreach and engagement efforts also lead directly to increased access for those in need of services. Using our Facebook example above, a healthcare center’s use of the networking site is going to undoubtedly provide patients and those in need of care with more information, resources, and overall direction in their efforts toward health and treatment. Easy conveyance of phone numbers, hours, services provided, insurance details, medicaid services, financial assistance, specialty medicine, and many other matters of access help the patent and medical practice alike. The resulting range of public access is directly proportionate to its dictating variable – overall patient engagement.

Likability

The achievement of likability is another, prime reason that patient engagement is important to the healthcare industry. Matters in likability could also be accurately viewed as matters in preference, eligibility, favor, and opinion. These are certainly matters of importance for any business model.

When a facet of the healthcare industry has become likable, it has gained favor with those around it. This can include investors, suppliers, and even regulatory bodies. The brand image is always at-stake. Patient engagement is important to the healthcare industry in maintaining this image with favorable likability.

Increased Customer Retention

As voiced by the Forbes article “Five Customer Retention Tips for Entrepreneurs,” it is twice as easy to sell to current customers than new ones. Another telling tidbit mentioned by Forbes here: as little as a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to as much as a 75% increase in profits. This is huge.

When workers in the medical field actively engage the patients they serve, a message of sincere interest is conveyed. It is much like an advertisement of sorts. “We care, and look forward to an ongoing and very much engaged and attentive relationship with you.” In the end, through engagement, a connection is made, and return business is then far more likely to occur.

Increased Public and Private Health

Finally, the importance of patient engagement is shown to us by the resulting and very much related improvements seen in the areas of public and private health. Individuals exposed to highly engaging healthcare outlets are much more likely to be more informed, engaged themselves, and subsequently healthier as a result. Collectively, the public health state is no different, with the masses seeing a better, overall health grade when subjected to an engaged healthcare industry.

We all benefit greatly when our healthcare providers are engaged with us and our health. The industry itself benefits as a consequence as well. For these five, aforementioned reasons and many others, patient engagement is exceedingly important to the healthcare industry and greater society alike.