{"id":1156,"date":"2017-09-11T12:32:24","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T19:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.sprucehealth.com\/?p=1156"},"modified":"2023-10-31T05:34:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T12:34:01","slug":"modern-communication-patterns-expectations-affect-medical-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/modern-communication-patterns-expectations-affect-medical-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"How Modern Communication Patterns and Expectations Affect Medical Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

When communication technology changes, medicine changes. The telephone, for instance, was already being used for medical care just three years after its invention, and practice today would be unimaginable without it.1<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

Now, with the rise of the Internet, text-based messaging, and digital telephony, a communications sea change is upon us once again, but this time, medicine has fallen behind. The modern patient is developing needs and expectations that the typical healthcare organization isn’t meeting, and it’s time to understand them or risk losing the connection altogether.<\/p>\n

Don’t take our word for it, though; check out the key stats below for the high-yield numbers on how modern communication patterns and expectations are inescapably impacting medical practice. Then download our full ebook on the subject for free and complete the whole story, including a straightforward way out of the mess.<\/p>\n

The Mind-Bending Stats Behind Modern Communication and Medical Practice<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Rise of Mobile and Texting<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n
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  • Less than 25 years ago, nobody on Earth had ever sent a text message. Now, we send more than <\/span>6 billion every day<\/b> in the U.S. alone, and that’s not a typo.2,3<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
  • 95% of Americans<\/b> now own a cell phone.4<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
  • 30% of people<\/b> no longer listen to their voicemail.5<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
  • 75% of millennials would rather text<\/b> than talk with customer support.5<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
  • 82% of people want to contact companies <\/span>through means other than phone or email<\/b>.6<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
  • 4 out of 5 people find it frustrating<\/b> or worse to be stuck by a phone or computer while waiting for customer support.5<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
  • A third of people don’t ever want to be put on hold<\/b>, and another quarter are unwilling to wait there even 1 minute.7<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
  • 84% of people<\/b> use online self-service resources to solve their customer support issues, more than choose the phone or any other channel.8<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    New Expectations: On-Demand, Self-Service, and Well-Vetted<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n
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    • The average wait time is now <\/span>more than 18 days<\/b> for a new patient to see a physician.9<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
    • Patients rank the ability to be seen quickly and without an appointment <\/span>1st on a list of more than 50<\/b> possible features of a medical clinic.10<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
    • 67% of patients<\/b> might consider a virtual visit when their regular provider is not available within 1 day.11<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
    • 7% of patients will switch<\/b> providers to get access to virtual visits.12<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
    • 2 out of 3 people would choose<\/b> a physician who offers a patient app over one who does not.13<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
    • Medical record <\/span>portal sites struggle to break 30% adoption<\/b> among patients, despite wide availability and reimbursement incentives.14,15<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
    • Nearly 20% of patients<\/b> report contacting their physicians via social media, often despite physician resistance or institutional policies forbidding it.16<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
    • 2 out of 3 patient calls involve an administrative task<\/b>, such as appointment scheduling or medication paperwork.17<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
    • A 1-star increase in a restaurant’s Yelp rating leads to a <\/span>5\u20139% increase in its revenue<\/b>.18<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n
    • 25% of the American population<\/b> uses a physician review site in any given year, with 59% of people considering them important in selecting a doctor.19<\/sup><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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      Download the Full eBook to Complete the Story<\/strong><\/h2>\n

      You know intuitively that the phone call is no longer the only game in town and that the demands of human health don’t respect business hours or busy signals. Now you’ve seen some of the data supporting those thoughts.<\/span><\/p>\n

      It’s time to act on this new reality and take your practice where it needs to be to continue reaching patients effectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

      To see the full story, including some immediate and simple solutions to the problem, download our full ebook right now for free:<\/span><\/p>\n