Patient digital communication helps boost efficiency

How digital patient communication tools aid clinical efficiency and patient engagement

Communication is a pillar in any relationship, and it’s especially true for clinicians and their patients. Most clinicians agree that patient expectations are higher than ever when it comes to communicating with their practice,¹ with a growing desire for easy access to their health information. Meanwhile, practices have an equal desire and need to enhance patient engagement to help improve care coordination and close care gaps to meet value-based and other incentives.

And yet, between administrative burdens diverting clinicians’ attention from outreach and inefficient systems prompting irresponsiveness from patients, establishing a consistent line of communication can prove challenging. To that end, patient engagement software can work to break down some of these barriers.

At athenahealth, we understand the importance of having a solution that incorporates easy-to-use tools as a means of streamlining practice-patient communications. That’s why we have multiple digital communication methods in athenaOne®. Find out about the benefits of these tools and where we are going next.

What are the benefits of digital communication tools?

One of the largest benefits to digital communication tools is the ability to accommodate how patients prefer to receive their information and communicate with their practice. Previous athenahealth surveys showed that more than 72% of patients prefer to receive lab or test results and appointment or other reminders delivered electronically.²

Having patient-practice messaging availability within a fully integrated system like athenaOne can help with more immediate delivery of health information or automated reminders. That, in turn, can help optimize scheduling, improve accuracy, and increase turnaround time.

Digital communication tools offer several other benefits for clinicians and patients alike. These include:

Enhanced communication and accessibility

Offering enhanced communication tools, including secure messaging and future two-way texting with secure chat, gives patients a more convenient and reliable way to ask questions, get guidance, and make requests without waiting on hold. By reducing phone volume and “phone tag,” providers can respond more efficiently, delivering faster support while strengthening patient engagement and accessibility.

Improved patient experience and engagement

Convenient digital access can help enhance patient satisfaction. The accessibility provided by secure messaging and two-way texting can also lead to faster response times and reduced barriers to care while encouraging more proactive healthcare participation and increased patient engagement.

Streamlined clinical efficiency

Including digital communication tools in athenaOne allows clinicians to manage and prioritize messages within the existing system. It also gives clinicians the chance to answer more basic patient health questions, which can prove beneficial to care gap outreach, lab result delivery, and order reminders.

Increased time savings and scalability

Two-way texting and secure messaging capabilities help save time relative to phone-based communication, giving administrative staff the opportunity to focus on more meaningful tasks. Digital communication tools also allow staff to handle multiple inquiries simultaneously and enable practices to manage increased patient volume without proportional staffing increases. Additionally, broadcast messaging capabilities can enable practices to create their own campaigns to reach targeted patient groups.

Meeting public health requirements

Having an assortment of available digital communication tools not only helps practices manage large patient volumes, but it can also prove valuable to satisfying quality program requirements like the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). The Secure Messaging measure in MIPS mandates that clinicians send at least one secure message to each patient seen during a given performance period.

Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) and easy integration

Two-way text conversations are embedded into electronic health records and accessible where needed, creating a distinct documentation trail for comprehensive Clinical Documentation Improvement while also supporting continuity of care

Enhanced care management

The accessibility provided by secure messaging and two-way texting may help improve medication adherence by giving patients a forum to ask clinicians questions or address any concerns they may have.

Digital communication tools also allow staff to handle multiple inquiries simultaneously and enable practices to manage increased patient volume without proportional staffing increases.

Two-way texting with Patient Conversations in athenaOne

Secure messaging within an integrated solution like athenaOne can help centralize patient communications. After all, past research suggests 39% of patients are already using text messaging to communicate with their practice.³

But we also acknowledge that patients often seek to initiate outreach – sometimes with simplistic questions that may be addressed with smart automation. That’s why we’re evolving with Patient Conversations two-way texting.

Patient Conversations will include a practice-initiated two-way texting functionality within athenaOne, with secure web chat handoff for protected health information (PHI). This includes automated delivery of lab and test results, appointment reminders, and additional outreach to help notify patients of needed actions or important information. This kind of automation can prove vital in helping close care gaps and eroding inefficiencies or difficulties in access to care.

Unlock practice efficiencies and streamline patient communications

Effective communication is a critical component in bridging the gap between clinicians and their patients. Secure messaging and two-way texting, especially when seamlessly integrated into platforms like athenaOne, represent tools that not only meets patient preferences for digital engagement but also enhances clinical efficiency, reduces administrative burdens, and supports improved care coordination.

By embracing advanced digital communication capabilities in athenaOne, clinicians can empower their teams with streamlined workflows and strive for improved patient engagement with accessible, responsive communication channels — all while meeting critical regulatory and public health standards.

Ready to unlock practice efficiencies and elevate your patient communication? Discover how athenaOne’s AI-assisted Patient Conversations can transform your clinical and operational outcomes today.