Find out how your patients want to communicate and then…communicate with them that way.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It sounds simple, but most practices aren’t doing it! Patients have definite communication preferences, and ignoring them sets you up for HIPAA violations, malpractice lawsuits, lower satisfaction scores, worse health outcomes, and probably several other types of medical evil. Let’s go through the evidence.<\/p>\n
Good Communication Improves Patient Satisfaction and Health Outcomes While Reducing Malpractice Lawsuits<\/h2>\n
Studies have linked\u00a0many communication-related\u00a0topics\u00a0to\u00a0eventual patient satisfaction<\/a>. Patients like to feel, for instance, that you’re spending time\u00a0on them, that you understand their expectations clearly, and that you’re\u00a0discussing important subjects, such as the likely causes of their symptoms and how long they can expect to be sick.1,2<\/sup>\u00a0Every therapeutic relationship is unique, but your patient’s underlying perception of how well you communicate will certainly impact their satisfaction.<\/p>\n Patient satisfaction also has consequences that extend beyond\u00a0just\u00a0Press Ganey scores, with meta-analysis indicating\u00a0that the\u00a0doctor-patient relationship has a small but\u00a0statistically significant effect on actual healthcare outcomes.3<\/sup> Other studies are suggestive, too, including\u00a0one\u00a0that showed\u00a0reductions in symptom length and severity\u00a0among patients with the common cold when they felt that their clinician was maximally empathetic in their interactions.4<\/sup><\/p>\n Increased satisfaction also\u00a0prevents medical lawsuits. In one large study, 75% of patient complaints were\u00a0related to “communication” problems\u00a0rather than “care” issues,\u00a0and the authors noted a 6% increase in complaint rate for each one-point drop in satisfaction score (on a scale of five).5<\/sup> The authors\u00a0then\u00a0correlated satisfaction scores to eventual risk management cases and found that each one-point decrement in satisfaction was associated with a 5% increase in the probability\u00a0of a risk management episode.<\/p>\n For illustration, here are the risk management episodes among the top third, middle third, and bottom third of physicians by patient satisfaction score:<\/p>\n Society in general has\u00a0undergone a recent sea change in communication patterns, with new modalities\u00a0like\u00a0texting, email, online messaging, and social media becoming increasingly popular, and medicine is not exempt from this trend.<\/p>\n Nearly\u00a020% of patients, for instance,\u00a0report contacting their\u00a0physicians via social media, often despite\u00a0provider resistance or institutional policies forbidding it.6<\/sup> Two-thirds of patients would also choose a physician who offers a patient app over one who does not, and approximately 50% of\u00a0patients\u00a0now either\u00a0use or want to use email to contact their healthcare providers.6,7<\/sup>\u00a0Meanwhile, traditional medical record portal sites\u00a0have struggled to break 30% adoption among patients, despite wide availability and reimbursement incentives.8,9<\/sup><\/p>\n In\u00a0fields outside of medicine,\u00a0reports now\u00a0suggest that\u00a030% of people no longer listen to their voicemail,\u00a082% of people want to contact companies through means other than the phone, and\u00a097% of smartphone owners regularly use their phone for text messaging, making it the most common activity on the devices, even above voice calling.10-12<\/sup><\/p>\n If most of your medical communication\u00a0is occurring over\u00a0typical phone calls, you’re probably not meeting\u00a0your patients\u00a0where they want to be\u00a0or in the way that\u00a0would be best\u00a0for their satisfaction and health. Check out our full ebook on the subject<\/a> if you’re still unconvinced; I promise you these trends are real.<\/p>\n Healthcare has been slow to adopt new communication channels in part because HIPAA has strong requirements for privacy and electronic information security. Technologies like email and texting often appear\u00a0to fall short of what the law demands, as they lack\u00a0support for encryption\u00a0and other important technical features, but this interpretation of the regulations is only partially accurate.<\/p>\n According to repeated guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),\u00a0the regulatory body that administers HIPAA, patient preference can\u00a0overrule technical considerations.\u00a0In the HIPAA Omnibus Rule commentary, for instance, HHS states, “We clarify that covered entities are permitted to send individuals unencrypted emails if they have advised the individual of the risk, and the individual still prefers the unencrypted email.”13<\/sup><\/p>\n HHS also separately notes that “an individual has the right under the Privacy Rule to request and have a covered health care provider communicate with him or her by alternative means or at alternative locations, if reasonable,” so there may actually be an\u00a0obligation\u00a0in some cases to use\u00a0modern communication channels with your patients.14<\/sup><\/p>\n The government’s position is clear: Informed patient preference can be protective against what might otherwise be a HIPAA violation. We’ve\u00a0discussed this in greater detail<\/a>\u00a0before, too, if you’re curious about\u00a0the\u00a0full story.<\/p>\n What you should do with all of this information is actually pretty straightforward, and both you and your patients are likely to love the outcome.\u00a0Let’s run through the steps:<\/p>\n See? Pretty simple. Good communication can increase\u00a0patient satisfaction\u00a0while protecting you from\u00a0HIPAA violations; there’s no reason\u00a0not to do it.<\/p>\n Want\u00a0to learn more about\u00a0improving your medical communication? Spruce can help you take your practice to the next level, delighting your patients\u00a0while keeping\u00a0everything safe and HIPAA-compliant.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Screen-Shot-2016-08-29-at-7.56.07-PM.png\")
<\/p>\nPatients Have Strong and Evolving\u00a0Communication Preferences<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Stats1.png\")
<\/p>\nPatient Communication Preference Is Protective Under HIPAA<\/h2>\n
What You Should Do About All This<\/h2>\n
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\nGive them options, including new modalities (like texting!), and\u00a0make sure that they’re aware of\u00a0any security limitations\u00a0and reasonable alternatives.<\/li>\n
\nSigned in person is best, as always, but any documentation is better than nothing.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>Use those newly discovered preferred channels to communicate with your patients. Modern technology (like Spruce) can make this easy and efficient for you<\/a>, letting you delight your patients without burdening you or your staff.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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