Happier patients equal long-term relationships and stable revenue for you and your practice. According to reports, there are many basic actions you can take to make your patients happier. You can make their wait time more enjoyable, or at least keep them informed on their wait time.
Happier patients want you to sit down and spend more time with them. They want you to explain their medical problems to them in a language they can understand. They want you to be the messenger, not your staff.
If a patient has a long waiting time and then gets less than ten or fifteen minutes with you, the doctor, they are not happy. Many may feel devalued and leave thinking you are only interested in making as much money as possible and that you do not really care about their health.
Yes, you do want to make as much money as possible. That is normal. But you also do have a desire to provide better care to your patients. You want them to know they are important. You want them to remain loyal, happy patients.
One way to ensure happier patients is with in-office dispensing. Keep reading to find out how dispensing medicines at the point of care can equal happier patients.
Happier Patients Gain Knowledge
Patients want to understand what is wrong with them. Too often, patients are just following your orders and do not truly understand what is going on with their own bodies. Many can’t even pronounce the prescriptions you order and struggle telling friends and family why you prescribed it.
If you are dispensing medicines to your patients, you have the perfect opportunity to provide them with worthwhile information regarding the medicine they are about to take. They can find out if the medicine you prescribed interacts with other medications.
They can also be taught when to take their medicine, how to take it and for how long. You should never assume patients are able to read the instructions and follow through.
More knowledge equals greater follow-through, which equals better health outcomes, which equals happier patients.
They Gain Time
Your patients are just as busy as you are. Yet, they take time out of their busy schedule to sit in your office and wait for help. This can be very frustrating for busy patients, especially those who do not feel well but still have many duties to complete.
The last thing they want to do is leave your office and take their prescription to a pharmacy, where they will continue to wait and wait and wait.
An in-office dispensary eliminates a lot of this wait time for your patients, even when getting refills.
If you are dispensing medicines to your patients directly, they simply call in to your office and schedule for the pickup. Because there are only your patients obtaining refills this way, there is a much less wait time involved.
Providing in-office dispensing to your patients allows them to get back to their lives and to healing much faster, making them much happier.
They Gain Privacy
Confidentiality is a big deal to patients. If they feel their confidentiality could be or has been violated, they will be hurt and angry.
Patients do not want to ask personal questions in front of a line of people like they must do at a pharmacy. There are no confidential areas at pharmacies that provide the secrecy patients are seeking.
In your office, you can offer patients security the pharmacy cannot. Patients are expected to trust their doctor and their pharmacist. Providing confidential services is one of the best ways to make sure this happens.
In your office, you can meet with them privately to discuss their prescription, educate them on their illness and the medication you are prescribing, and improving the chances that they will follow through with treatment.
When they follow through and notice better health, they will be much happier in all areas of their life.
They Lose Manipulation
Many pharmacies are set up to make money on products other than a prescription. Today, pharmacies sell cosmetics, school supplies and even groceries. There is constant temptation placed on the patient to make impulse purchases while waiting on a prescription.
These impulse buys for items they don’t need are costing your patients money and pharmacies know this. Pharmacies implement product placement strategies to attract your patients to products they do not need.
In-office dispensing does not focus on upselling like pharmacies do, making patients feeling good when they leave your office, not guilty for spending more than they intended. They go home happier, with just the thoughts of improving their health.
They Gain a Better Physician
The happier you are as a physician, the more satisfied your patients will be. Your patients know when you are happy in your job and when you are just going through the motions. All patients want a doctor who is excited to be practicing medicine.
In-office dispensing can make you happier by giving you more time and a lot more revenue. Some reports claim adding an in-office dispensing program can bring between $50,000 to $200,000 extra each year. Both numbers make it worth the effort.
Other reports claim you can make up to $5 per prescription written through your point of care prescribing program. Now take the number of prescriptions you write per year and multiply that by five. That’s a significant increase.
It can also streamline your office practices, making your staff happier and reducing negative feedback from staff. You can hire nurse practitioners and add additional ancillary services.
The technology used with in-office dispensing makes it easy for anyone who will be using the system. Software packages are created specifically for your office’s needs that have been shown to reduce errors in prescriptions. This can lower your stress levels because you no longer need to worry about pharmacist errors.
Patients do not feel their best, or they wouldn’t be visiting you in the first place. You can make the experience better for them. You can do many things to make them happier.