If you have a current practice and you are considering investing capital into a new clinic fitout or if you are thinking about a new-build there are many aspects to consider before jumping knee deep in debt.
One of the first points of call will be to your financial advisor. Consider the cost of debt, consider the opportunity cost of investing capital into this venture versus another. Consider your return on Investment. Consider your age and your retirement plan. All of these things are items high on the agenda to consider before proceeding.
One the critical aspects to determine if your practice will be successful is patient retention and strong patient retention strategies that will be a cornerstone to success.
Building Trust
Retaining patients sounds easy but in practice it can be a hit and miss. Sometimes, the only time you might realise that your practice is in the midst of patient attrition is when the doctors are not 100% booked out in advance. When this occurs it is already too late – the horse has bolted and the chances of getting the patient to return can be a challenge.
How to build trust that impacts patient retention?
Latest Healthcare Design Trends
An easy way to build patient trust is to keep up to date with the latest healthcare design trends. This might involve investing capital into new x-ray machines or other hero pieces of equipment that is at the cutting edge. If you are building a medical practice from the ground up, then the medical practice design ideas in the planning stage can be instrumental in future proofing your practice with the latest technology. Show casing the latest Healthcare design trends can lead patients to believe they are in good hands.
Medical Clinic Builders
Very few investors whether they are doctors, investors or other have the skill set to understand the challenges that arise during a medical fit out or new build. Understanding the legislative requirements, to design a clever layout with limited wasted space or to manage the construction is a task that only Medical Clinic Builders can undertake. Medical Clinic Builders are in the business of building and renovating medical practices……this isn’t their first rodeo.They have built clever intel over the years to ensure the renovation or new build runs as smooth as possible. A clever dental clinic design where the patient feels comfortable is a huge factor in patient retention.
Patient Experience
Investing time and money into staff training to ensure patients receive warm, friendly and educated interactions is a big factor in patient retention. Limiting waiting times, ensuring the practice is clean and providing comfortable seating areas are all factors that affect the patient’s decision as to whether they stay or look elsewhere. An example, in a veterinary practice it is important to have separate areas where humans can move with their pets away from others. These Veterinary clinic design ideas help make patients and their carers’ feel more at ease and will be a good experience hence impacting patient retention.
Patient Convenience
Living in the 2020s, we know most of us have a telephone that is part of our anatomy. Accordingly, offering online bookings, and sms reminders are key factors that affect patient experience. Some clinics now days offer telehealth appointments. We also find that clinics are finishing later to cater for the workforce. We are finding that these types of patient retention strategies are fairly successful for patient retention numbers.
Feedback
Its critical to ask for patient feedback and to act on it. Ask patients for feedback about your veterinary clinic design ideas, ask them about staff interaction, ask them about their overall experience. If your patients take the time to respond, then it is most important that your practice listens. Often feedback forms tell you what other patients are thinking. This can be valuable in attrition rates.
Consistency
Consistency in everything you do is hugely important in retaining patients. People like to know what to expect…. very similar to the McDonalds marketing strategy of “being the same world wide”. Patients who know what to expect and receive it are more likely to be loyal. Ensure your branding is familiar, ensure your staff approach is similar, ensure there are no surprises… this will help with patient retention.
Be Human
With the increase in AI and technology we all still like to experience human interaction. If your practice has automated SMS reminders, then it might be a good idea if a reception staff follow up patients who might have had treatment the day prior with a telephone call. These human interactions are received well and show patients their wellbeing is important.
These patient retention strategies noted above are just a few. Every medical practice can introduce their own medical practice design ideas or veterinary clinic design ideas or even dental clinic design ideas to encourage patent loyalty. There are a plethora of ideas that your clinic could introduce to encourage patient retention.
