How This Psychiatrist Uses Spruce for Integrated Communication

Meet Dr. Kira Stein

Dr. Stein has worked in medicine for 23 years and currently runs an adult psychiatry practice in Los Angeles. She specializes in mood and anxiety disorders for men and women, as well as perinatal psychiatry, helping her clients to maintain mental health and balance.

Dr. Stein has worked in practices of various sizes, but she has ultimately found that having too many staff members can reduce the connection she has with patients. Now, she has a solo practice and feels that the best way to solve clients’ problems is to directly communicate with them. For this reason, it is crucial for Dr. Stein to stay in touch with clients outside of the office, and she uses Spruce to power all of the communication in her practice.

Challenge

Dr. Stein is committed to being available for her clients, but before implementing Spruce, she struggled to manage all of her communication. She used to carry around three cell phones — a personal phone, an office phone, and a client emergency phone — to ensure her clients could reach her in times of need.

Dr. Stein also had a virtual assistant to help manage her disparate communication channels. This assistant checked Dr. Stein’s messages, transcribed them, and sent the transcriptions to her through a provider portal. Dr. Stein would then switch to a separate platform to securely email her clients. This email was clunky for clients, and Dr. Stein was frustrated by all of the hoops she had to go through to provide a mediocre messaging experience. “It just seemed silly.”

Dr. Stein had thought about transitioning to Spruce for a while but was worried about the risks involved in changing messaging systems. Once she switched, though, she was impressed with how Spruce helped her consolidate her messaging and improve efficiency in her practice.

Solution

As an integrated communication platform, Spruce powers Dr. Stein’s business phone number and all of the associated communication on her personal phone, so she can stick to carrying just one phone.

She utilizes Spruce’s features to create a comprehensive client communication platform. She loves using scheduled messages. For example, if a client leaves her office without a follow-up appointment, she immediately schedules a saved message that invites them to set up an appointment. She also uses Spruce Visits, which are virtual clinical questionnaires, which let her gather information before sessions and make the best use of in-person time.

Benefits to Dr. Stein’s Practice

Client Messaging

“People don’t answer their phones, they don’t check their emails because they get inundated, they don’t even listen to their voicemail!” Dr. Stein accommodates her clients’ preferred methods of communication by offering both SMS and secure messaging through Spruce.

HIPAA Compliance

Client messaging is only made possible due to Spruce’s HIPAA-compliant platform. Dr. Stein invites all clients to download Spruce’s secure app so that she can update patients on sensitive and private issues over secure messaging.

Effortless Documentation 

Spruce automatically documents all phone calls, voicemails, and messages. Dr. Stein has an immediate record of all of her patient interactions outside of her office, allowing her to focus on what happens inside her office.

Experiencing similar challenges to Dr. Stein and interested in how Spruce can help improve your practice’s workflows? Sign up for a free trial today or chat with our team at sales@sprucehealth.com