Creating Successful Patient Engagement with Virtual Care

Patients who remain actively involved in their care and wellness typically enjoy better outcomes and have a more positive care experience. The growth of virtual care has opened new opportunities for patients to engage with their care—however, there are important steps that healthcare organizations must take to encourage greater and more effective engagement with their patients.

The Key Elements of Patient Engagement 

There are three main areas of focus needed for patients to be active participants in their care and wellness journey:

  • Awareness: Clear communications about the resources that are available to patients, with a call to action and clearly articulated benefits of taking action.
  • Motivation: For patients to take action, they must be motivated—willing, able, and ready—to take the requested action.
  • Credibility: Trust is a key component of healthcare. For a patient to take an active role in their care, they must trust that the information they receive is credible and relevant to them.

Breaking Down Patient Engagement Channels 

As technology continually evolves, a wider array of communication channels can be used for consistent engagement between healthcare organizations and their patients. In order to successfully interact with patients wherever they are, organizations should leverage a multi-channel, multi-touch strategy using:

  • Phone: Reach rate at 6% and decreasing
  • Email: Open rate at 20% with a 6% response rate
  • Text: 98% open rate with a 45% general response rate
  • In-Person: 74% favorable view due to a trusted relationship

While each patient engagement channel possesses individual benefits and challenges, an effective blend of multiple modalities can create a successful strategy for eliciting engagement and response from patients.

Creating an Effective Patient Engagement Strategy with Synzi 

If the intent of an engagement strategy is to create awareness and credibility, the goal is to prompt action. Implementing a combination of the four communication channels should be conducted tactfully to achieve the intended effectiveness of patient engagement.

Working with Synzi, your organization can carefully determine the current state of communications, target program outcomes, and what elements of patient engagement your organization can influence to allow for the design and implementation of an effective approach. Then, with our user-friendly platform, you can effectively execute the engagement plan that best fits your patients’ needs and encourages active participation throughout the care process.

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