Why You're Seeing Fewer Patients & How To Navigate It

If you’re a provider who’s seeing fewer patients right now, you’re not alone. While every practice and specialty is different, some clinics find their patient volume slowing down this month.

There are a number of reasons this happens. But there is a lot that doctors, nurse practitioners, and other healthcare professionals can do to keep their practice thriving during a slump and, more importantly, to prepare for the next growth phase.

Why Are You Seeing Less Patients?

You might wonder why fewer patients are making their way to your office. There are a few obvious reasons for this. In the summer, many families take vacations. Your patients or clients are more likely to be out of town or busy with their travel plans. Additionally, a visit to a healthcare facility is not going to be someone’s first choice during warm weather, when boating, barbecuing and other outdoor activities are competing for their attention.

Similarly, at certain times during the winter and fall, people are visiting family and preparing for holidays, so visiting your office may not be top of mind unless someone falls ill. If your practice focuses on preventive care and healthy lifestyle rather than acute care, a down turn during these seasons will be likely.

Regardless of when your slowdown is taking place, the best thing to do is to use the down time to prepare for your particular peak times of year. In this way, the quiet time can be a blessing and a time to invest in your business.

Using Slow Business to Build Your Practice

While a slowdown might seem like a challenge, it also presents an opportunity for you to grow your practice and improve your workflows. With fewer patients coming in, providers can use this time to rethink the business flow and prepare for the influx of patients that may occur in the upcoming months.

While it’s quiet in the office, take time to look at how you’re attracting new patients and the life cycle of your relationship with new and existing patients. It might be time for a tune up. Here are some areas to focus on:

Marketing and Niche Focus – Review the message you use to attract patients. Are you advertising about you, or about your solution? Focus on offering patients what they want (pain relief, better sleep, weight loss) rather than talking about your practice or your credentials. Patients don’t care that you have 18 letters after your name or that you practice “functional” or “interventional” medicine unless the services you offer focus on solving their problem.

Intake and Onboarding – Look carefully at how you manage the patients that respond to your marketing or contact you from a patient referral. Do you have a system in place to make patient onboarding delightful for them and easy for you? Patients expect a consumer-like experience, even from their healthcare practitioner. So as soon as a patient reaches out, you need a system in place to greet them immediately, follow up with a confirming email, easily schedule them to see you, make payment, and manage intake forms easily. Without a system like this, patients won’t enjoy the experience, you won’t grow and without a system like this, the growth you may have will be painful for you because you’ll fail to keep up efficiently.

Patient Management – Is your patient engagement, communication and education throughout the patient care cycle engaging and helpful to the patient? Is it easy for you? Most practices use outdated EMR technology which provides nothing meaningful to the patient, rather than modern patient management applications that involve the patient in their care every day. Patients quite frankly do not like most EMR’s. As part of your software stack, be sure to use software that provides the patient with an interactive care plan that makes them feel a social connection with you and the patient will thrive. Scheduling, payment for services and virtual appointments should all work in one easy experience that is part of the patient’s daily lifestyle plan, all orchestrated by you.

During your slow period, ask yourself if you’re providing this level of engagement and doing so in a way that honors your own work-life balance during busy times. If not, this is a great time to fine tune your approach to all of these moving parts to ensure that your practice can attract more patients and that you’re ready to provide excellent care to the higher number of patients. Alternatively, if right now you are experiencing a high volume of appointments, remote tools for patient management could help you more efficiently manage that volume.

Expanding Beyond In-Office Visits

Another thing to consider while you’ve got some time to strategize about growth is moving to options beyond traditional in-office visits. This means using remote care tools that allow engagement and connection with patients even when they’re not physically present. Remote patient care tools like telemedicine and digital education can be incredibly helpful to your patients’ outcomes and your bottom line.

Benefits of Remote Patient Care Tools

Remote patient care tools let doctors stay in touch with patients through digital means, like online patient education, resources, and patient tracking functionality apps. Implementing this type of technology in your practice can provide the following benefits:

More Patients, Better Outcomes: With remote care, doctors can see more patients, even if they’re not coming into the office. This means more people can get the care they need, leading to improved patient outcomes.
Flexible Scheduling: Patients can connect with their healthcare provider at a time that suits them, which can be especially helpful during less busy months when patients might be more hesitant to visit in person.
Increased Revenue: By offering remote care options, doctors can actually generate more revenue for their practice, as they’re able to see more patients and provide valuable services.

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Introducing BodySite: Your Remote Patient Care Solution

One great tool that can help doctors provide remote patient care is BodySite. It’s a HIPAA-compliant platform that offers a range of tools for both doctors and patients. With BodySite, doctors can communicate with their care team and patients, track progress, and share important health information–accessible via desktop or mobile app for patients and providers.

Improve Patient Care and Revenue:

Enroll Your Patients: Start by enrolling your patients on BodySite. With this platform, you can meet with your patients through the native telemedicine clinic, where you can charge for the visit before it even begins.
Evaluate and Enroll in Care Programs: Once you’ve evaluated your patient’s needs, enroll them in one of BodySite’s automated care programs that corresponds with their specific requirements. These programs are designed to cater to various health needs.
Set Enrollment Fees: You have control over how much to charge patients for enrolling in these care programs. Determine a fee that reflects the value of the care you’re providing.
Track Data and Task Completion: Keep track of your patient’s data and their progress right within the BodySite app. This feature helps you stay informed about their health journey and their adherence to the care program.
Provide More Care in Less Time: With the streamlined processes and automated care programs, you can provide better care to more patients, all while optimizing your time and resources.
Automated Payment Collection: The beauty of BodySite is that it’s not just about patient care; it’s also about expanding your business, so you can help even more patients. You can automatically collect funds from the platform for services rendered, ensuring that your practice receives fair compensation for your expertise.

Start Your Free Trial Today

If you’re a healthcare professional looking to grow your business during a current slump and provide top-notch care to your patients, consider giving BodySite a try. You can start a 30-day free trial by visiting https://bodysite.com/start-a-free-trial/. With BodySite, you can expand your offerings, improve patient outcomes, and boost your practice’s revenue during challenging months.