Despite patients' desire for ongoing correspondence with their medical providers, communication between these two parties is often limited to care delivery windows. Two-way patient texting is the solution many healthcare organizations are turning to for more regular communication with patients. Two-way patient messaging facilitates real-time dialogue, which enhances engagement, fosters trust, and ultimately improves patient outcomes.
Whether you're at a large hospital network or running a solo practice, incorporating two-way texting into your communication strategy can add significant value. Let’s dive into how you can use two-way texting in healthcare, how to get started, and FAQs like how to ensure it’s HIPAA compliant.
Jump right to:
- What is two-way patient texting?
- 7 top benefits of two-way texting with patients
- 8 use cases for two-way SMS
- How to get started with two-way patient texting
- How to measure the success of two-way SMS programs
- Frequently asked questions
<h2 id="What">What is two-way patient texting?</h2>
Two-way patient texting refers to the exchange of messages between healthcare organizations and their patients via SMS. Unlike one-way notifications that simply send reminders or alerts, two-way texting allows patients to respond, ask questions, and converse with providers directly from their mobile devices.
Many healthcare organizations integrate two-way texting into their patient outreach strategies, complementing emails, video visits, patient portals, phone calls, and in-person interactions. Two-way SMS, which is HIPAA compliant with the right safeguards, provides medical professionals and office staff with a convenient and well-read tool to engage with patients.
<h2 id="Benefits">7 top benefits of two-way texting with patients</h2>
There are tons of advantages for healthcare providers who implement two-way texting. Let’s dive into a few of them.
- Reduction in phone call volume. Offering patients the option to text your office reduces the reliance on more time-consuming phone calls. With texting platforms, staff can handle multiple patient inquiries at once, from a manageable SMS inbox accessible on a desktop, laptop, tablet, or mobile app.
- Convenient communication at scale. Provider-patient communication shouldn’t be confined to the four walls of a medical building. However, maintaining effective patient communication outside of care delivery can be challenging. Texting is the ultimate solution because it allows providers to share quick updates, answer follow-up questions, and check in, all in a manner that fits into their own busy lives.
- Increase patient appointment confirmations. Providing patients with the option to respond to their appointment reminder messages is highly beneficial for medical professionals, as it reduces the number of no-shows. Patients are more likely to confirm, reschedule, or cancel appointments via text than email, which increases attendance and optimizes scheduling.
- Improved patient communication and satisfaction. Patients desire better communication and relationships with their providers. Two-way text messaging offers a promising solution to bridge the communication gap that exists between patients and their healthcare providers. This rapid back-and-forth communication can greatly improve satisfaction.
- Improve patient acquisition. The reality is that potential patients will have questions before booking an appointment or choosing your healthcare facility. Use secure two-way text messaging to help you answer these questions quickly and encourage booking. Pro tip: Some SMS platforms, such as Textline, offer a Webchat solution that allows you to chat with website visitors interested in your healthcare facility.
- Faster response times. When compared to email, texting yields faster response times from patients and staff alike. The reality is that patients, who experience fast response times when communicating with most companies these days, expect quick responses.
- Automation capabilities. Business text messaging platforms help brands automate mundane interactions, freeing staff for more complex work. For example, your medical office can set up away messages to trigger after-hours, intelligently route incoming messages to the right team, and set up automated replies for FAQs.
<h2 id="Use">Use cases for two-way patient texting</h2>
Whether you're improving care adherence or asking patients to confirm upcoming appointments, two-way SMS enables quick and meaningful conversations. Here are a few use cases for two-way text messaging with patients.
Appointment confirmations
One of the most popular use cases for two-way texting in healthcare is for appointment confirmations. A confirmation text reminds patients about their appointment and encourages them to acknowledge the message by replying with the word “CONFIRM.” These messages keep patients informed about their appointments and reduce no-shows.
Follow-up care instructions
Post-treatment, patients typically need to follow specific directions for optimal care results. Use a text message to share some key after-care instructions with them. This will ensure they have a digital copy of those instructions and that they will read them, given texting’s 98% open rates.
Post-treatment check-ins
One of the most effective ways to build relationships with patients is to check in with them after their visit or treatment. You can use a text message to quickly ask them how they are feeling or if they have any questions or concerns.
Pre-visit paperwork or check-in links
Use two-way messaging to encourage patients to fill out paperwork or check in early to make patient experience easier. A text message is a great way to ensure patients see your request and take action before their appointment.
Prescription refill reminders and requests
Patients not taking their medications as prescribed can result in negative health outcomes and increased healthcare costs. Instead of leaving medication adherence to chance, use a text message to encourage patients to refill prescriptions in a timely manner or share daily medication reminders.
Encourage scheduling an appointment
Use a text message to encourage your patients to schedule a follow-up visit or annual appointment. Allowing patients to schedule appointments via text is a highly convenient way to ensure they receive the care they need, while keeping your schedule full.
Patient satisfaction surveys
To improve patient satisfaction, you must first measure it. A text message is a great way to send satisfaction surveys because they’re more likely to be opened and acted upon. These SMS surveys can help you uncover key patient pain points and make improvements.
Billing or insurance questions
Healthcare billing is complex. Instead of letting patients scratch their heads and attempt to decipher their bills on their own, encourage them to reach out to your office staff via text. You can use two-way messaging to answer their questions quickly to help them better understand.
Patient lead acquisition
There are several ways healthcare providers can use texting for lead generation. You can set up a text line to quickly answer inbound questions from leads, encourage existing patients to refer friends, or send a text promoting a discount on services. Texting provides a great solution to help you attract more new patients.
<h2 id="How">How to get started with two-way patient texting</h2>
You can start texting patients in no time. Let’s dive into how to get started with patients now.
1. Pick a HIPAA-compliant texting platform.
The first step to take before texting patients is to find a business SMS platform that is HIPAA-compliant, such as Textline. When picking your platform be mindful of a few things, such as:
- Breadth of features
- Security measures
- Customer support
- Customer reviews
- Pricing
- Message history
2. Get patient opt-ins to text
Once you have a HIPAA texting platform, you need to get explicit opt-ins to text patients. This message is key to staying compliant with HIPAA and TCPA laws. This message ensures patients understand the risk of texting and how to remove consent.
3. Integrate texting
One of the best ways to incorporate texting into your practice and get providers to use it is to integrate it into existing workflows. For example, you can integrate it into your EHR, appointment booking software, or CRM system for seamless texting.
4. Train staff
You’ll want to train your staff on how to use the texting platform, what types of inquiries they should handle via SMS, and reasonable steps to protect against HIPAA violations.
5. Start messaging
Once you complete those steps, you’re ready to start messaging patients!
<h2 id="Measure">How to measure the success of two-way SMS programs</h2>
To track ROI and effectiveness of your SMS channel, measure these texting key performance indicators (KPIs):
- Reduction in call volume. Measure how adding text messaging is reducing staff time on the phone and the volume of calls to your medical facility.
- Number of appointment confirmations. Count exactly how many patients respond to your appointment confirmation messages.
- Attendance rates. See if your attendance rate is increasing with text message appointment reminders.
- Patient satisfaction scores. Use Textline’s built-in survey functionality to gauge patient satisfaction.
- Patient response rates. Track the number of patients who reply to your messages as an engagement metric.
- Average team response time. See how long it takes your team to reply to patients. You can drill down into team response time or look at an individual’s results.
- Patient opt-in rates. Count how many patients sign up for text messaging updates and conversations from your medical facility.
- Patient opt-out rates. Understand how many patients revoke texting consent. This can help you understand how valuable patients find your two-way communication.
Did you know? Textline makes it seamless to track metrics just like these with our built-in SMS metrics.
<h2 id="FAQ">Frequently asked questions about two-way patient SMS</h2>
Can patients initiate texts?
Absolutely! As long as patients know your texting number, they can text you first.
Is two-way texting HIPAA compliant?
It can be done with the right safeguards. As long as you use a secure, HIPAA-compliant SMS platform that encrypts data, logs access, and stores conversation history appropriately. Also, be mindful that any HIPAA-compliant SMS provider must sign a business associate agreement with your organization.
How can I opt patients in or out of text messaging?
Most SMS platforms enable patients to opt in or out of text messaging with simple keywords like “START” or “STOP.” Textline’s platform offers healthcare providers even more confidence with opt-ins with our patented and automated consent process. Patients simply respond to a HIPAA message to confirm their subscription choice, and we store if they’ve provided consent within their contact information.
Textline: The ultimate two-way texting platform for healthcare
If you’re on the hunt for a HIPAA-compliant SMS provider, Textline should be your first choice. It’s packed with the security features your medical facility needs, and we’ll sign a BAA so you know that we’re committed to protecting patient data. Textline was the first HIPAA-compliant texting application on the market, even earning a patent for our consent process.
But, we know that words can’t show you the full picture. Want to see how it works? Textline’s expert team is a call, text, or quick demo request away. Click here to get your demo and learn more about our HIPAA plans.
