Follow Up with Patients for Better Relations

Start following up with patients to ensure treatment clarity, compliance and good relations

Following up with patients after visits is probably not high on your action list. You already spend a lot of time acquiring patients, making sure they understand their treatment plans and convincing them to return for follow-up care. Also consider that a quick follow-up after their visit will uncover any misunderstandings, give you a chance to answer any questions the patient didn’t think of during the visit, and, most importantly, it will promote a caring relationship with each patient.

Plan for Each Follow-Up

To make your follow-up contacts meaningful, do more than ask the patients if they were happy with their visit and whether they have any questions. Before you initiate a follow-up, review each patient’s visit and decide if you need to check on the patient’s understanding of their treatment plan, ensure they have filled any medications, schedule their next appointment, and share any lab results. Based on this plan, decide who will make the contact, the doctor, a nurse or the front-office staff.

Choose the Best Follow-Up Method

Your patients have likely let you know their preferred method of contact for appointment reminders. Consider this together with your plan for the follow-up and choose the best method for following up. A text message or automated phone call might suffice. If you are passing along lab results, secure email, email with a secure link or traditional mail might be the best options. For more in-depth conversations, a live phone call is appropriate.

Organize Follow-Ups

Use your electronic health record (EHR) system to keep track of follow-up contacts. You should take advantage of the calendar feature to schedule follow-ups, and time them based on your plan for the follow-up. For example, if a patient’s prescriptions changed recently, contact them at an appropriate time to determine whether the patient is experiencing the desired effects. Also, assign a person in the office to be responsible for determining which patients to follow-up with, the staff member who will do the follow-up, timing, content, and updating the EHR system.

Record and Review Follow-Ups to Make Improvements

Keep track of the patients with whom you followed up, their conditions, the contents of their follow-up, and the results. For example, note when a medication was changed or adjustments were made to treatment plans. You can use this information in future consultations with patients and to determine the effectiveness of your follow-up program.

Brevium Can Help You Follow Up with More Patients

Brevium is a leader in patient communication and reactivation. We use a research-based method for communicating with patients and ensuring they stay in contact with your practice and in compliance with their treatment plans.