- sarayelpaala
Improving Patient Satisfaction: The Karen Hospital
The Karen Hospital and its satellite clinics have improved patient loyalty and retention through increased patient engagement efforts. With access.mobile International's amHealth solution, The Karen Hospital has sent one million text messages this year to its patients ranging from appointment reminders to specialty service notifications to health day messages and more. Patients say it has not only changed the way they feel about the clinic but also made them more likely to choose the clinic over other clinics. Now, 84% of their patients would recommend the clinic to their family and friends. Patients want more text messages. Most patients at The Karen Hospital clinics report that they prefer SMS more than all other communication channels including phone calls, WhatsApp, and emails. They want to receive health information, outbreak alerts, appointment reminders and other information. While most of the patients have received text messages, they report wanting more frequent communication.
"Phone calls are not efficient or easy to track. We needed a more affordable and effective way to our reach patients. amHealth has not only proven beneficial to our team of providers and administrators but to our patients as well. Patients are quick to comment and appreciate our enhanced outreach." - Chris Otieno, Head of Out Patient Business
Study: access.mobile International conducted a short patient satisfaction survey with 75 patients across five satellite clinics of The Karen Hospital to better understand how their patients feel about patient engagement and text messages. Findings: Seventy-five percent of people surveyed had received text messages from that clinic, generally with clinic information or appointment reminders. Of those who had received texts, respondents reported it changed the way they felt about the provider (90%) and made them more likely to choose the clinic (93%). When asked to rank their communication preference, text messaging came in first and respondents wanted messages about (in order of preference): 1. Health information & advice; 2. Disease & outbreak alerts; 3. Appointment reminders; 4. Information on their specific condition. Conclusions: Nearly all respondents (97%) wanted to receive text messages. Even though Karen Hospital has sent over one million text messages through amHealth, the majority of patients want even more frequent communications with only eight percent wanting less. The text messages make patients more satisfied with their care and more likely to return. Further, patients are willing to promote The Karen Hospital; respondents provided a net promoter score of 59 (possible range of -100 to 100), which is considered excellent by global NPS standards. The Karen Hospital has an excellent reputation with patients who will continue to return and refer family and friends.
