Imagine a scenario in which you easily and simultaneously get two different patients to come in and get their flu shots.

The first patient is a college sophomore who goes to school in the area. You send them a quick text message to remind them that it’s flu season and also include a link they can click to easily schedule an appointment.

The other patient is an elderly person who lives at the retirement home down the street and doesn’t use a cellphone. You send them physical mail with a flu shot reminder and include a phone number they can call to schedule their appointment.

Both patients receive their flu shot reminders via channels that they are the most comfortable communicating through and are given simple ways to schedule their appointments. All of it was sent from one application: a customer relationship management (CRM) system.

CRMs are software platforms that take data about customers from a variety of different systems and communication channels to help the company manage its interactions with those (and other potential) customers.

This data can then be analyzed and used to improve customer relationships and drive sales.

Healthcare CRMs more specifically assist healthcare companies with patient management and interactions. Whether that is by finding new patients or increasing the quality of care for existing patients, healthcare CRMs help medical companies focus on the customer.

Why use healthcare CRM tools?

If you’re on the fence about whether CRM tools will help your business, then you’re in the right place. This comprehensive list will help you understand why implementing a CRM system will boost your healthcare organization to the next level.

1. CRMs make it easier to find new patients.

CRMs are traditionally marketing platforms. This means that their strength lies in the fact that they can help your business find new customers through advertising, direct mail marketing, and data collection on websites.

For example, if someone is shopping around for a new doctor and visits your company’s website, you can then use the data collected about them in the CRM when they visited your site to send them a “Get to know our doctors” welcome email. Engaging interested people is a great way to find new patients.

2. CRM systems help you increase the quality of care for your existing patients.

Not only can a CRM system help you maintain relationships with your existing patients but it can also increase the quality of care for them by helping to personalize their patient experience.

Since the CRM software can integrate with existing data systems, it provides a full 360-degree view of each patient. That means data from electronic health records (EHRs), past and future appointments, and medications can all be a part of the customer’s profile. This data (kept secure and confidential according to HIPAA) can then be used to enhance the patient experience.

For example, a CRM can be configured to notify families with small children when it’s time for flu shots and provide a link for easy appointment scheduling right from the reminder. To go even further, the CRM can analyze data about the families to try and determine if they would be more responsive to text messages, email, or physical mail.

The CRM could also be set up to automatically send reminders to patients 24 hours before their next scheduled appointment, or messages can be sent to patients who haven’t been in for a check-up in a long time. The CRM might look into a patient’s age and sex in order to message women over the age of 50 that they should schedule a mammogram, then follow up. It’s a form of marketing automation, redeployed to aid in caring for people and their health.

The options for healthcare providers are endless.

3. CRMs give you a bird’s eye view of your healthcare company as a business.

CRMs are able to integrate with multiple systems to give you an overall view of not only your patients but your business as a whole. Through a combination of robust data analysis, machine learning, and customizable reports you can easily identify weak points in your current processes and automate tasks so that medical staff can focus on providing care to patients. All customer data that is collected can also be used to make smart predictions about patient behavior in the future and to innovate your service.

If you can provide better care to your patients, remind them to get preventative care more often, and make the process of getting care easier for patients (so that they’ll actually do it), the overall population will be healthier—leading to fewer long-term medical issues. You’ll also enjoy increased patient satisfaction, a rewarding result for most healthcare providers.

4. CRM software can save you money in the long run.

If you don’t closely track data about marketing campaigns and work with your finance department to determine return on investment (ROI), then you’re missing valuable information about whether or not your marketing efforts are successful.

CRMs are able to carefully track customer engagement that happens through the direct efforts of your marketing strategies and attach that to financial data. With these customized reports you can figure out which campaigns are working and which ones need to be changed, saving you money in the future.

The automation features that are included in most CRMs can also help in cutting HR costs, by taking over (to a degree) tasks such as appointment reminders, appointment scheduling, and billing.

Without these day-to-day administrative tasks, staff can focus more on patient care. Automation also reduces human error which can cost money.

5. CRMs keep your healthcare company relevant and competitive.

A healthcare CRM solution helps your company stay competitive in the marketplace. It does this through providing a seamless customer experience and valuable patient information and data collected from many integrated systems.

Healthcare companies that stay current with technology can provide the best care for their patients. That’s because technology like customer relationship management systems can automate menial labor and make these processes more efficient, allowing the companies to focus just on providing the best healthcare services and customer care possible.

These days, people have many options when it comes to the healthcare industry. It’s rare that anyone just walks by a doctor’s office and decides to go there. People search online for reviews and talk to their friends and colleagues when they are figuring out where to go.

The best way to find and keep new patients is to provide the best care possible to your patients so that they leave good reviews and recommend your business to their friends and family.

Getting started with a CRM

The best way to stay ahead of your competitors is with a custom software CRM solution. With a custom solution, the CRM platform can be built to perfectly match your company’s business goals while reducing unnecessary features that bloat the application and make it harder to use.

Zibtek specializes in budget-friendly CRM development and integration to provide completely automated workflows and easy-to-manage customer data.

Reach out to get a free consultation for your healthcare CRM system.