What is Customer relationship
management (CRM) in healthcare?

In short, healthcare CRM is software designed to help patients and healthcare organizations to streamline patient care by automatically collecting and processing patient data. It could be a website or an app where a patient can fill in their personal data or contact their medical professional.

Yet, examples of healthcare CRM systems functionalities are:

keeping track of medical
data, prescriptions, or
appointments
easing the exchange of information between the different medical staff
working with the patient
provide information to
clinics on customer engagement with courses
or marketing campaigns
automate many customer service processes

Why does every healthcare organization need a CRM system?

In the healthcare business, patient satisfaction is vital. Customers want a quick and satisfactory patient experience. Healthcare organizations without such quality customer management will lose customers to competitors, providing a better patient experience.

The main issues decreasing a customer’s experience are:

Lack of easy access
to patient service
Delays resulting
from filling out paperwork or logistics
Healthcare providers
not being able to handle a large
number of patients at the same time

Patient experience is the main driving factor for patient acquisition and patient retention. Yet, a good healthcare CRM can not only provide excellent patient service, but it can also increase the productivity of a clinic.

The benefits for the patient

Many patients avoid seeking care due to the hassle of working with the healthcare system. Healthcare CRM software solutions to that problem are the following.

Easier access to healthcare
Personalized treatment
Intelligent symptom
screening

Easier access to healthcare

CRM software keeps track of patient information and can automatically fill in medical information such as age, weight, etc., automating many administrative tasks.

The software can automatically schedule appointments or provide an online contact center for asking specific questions. A cloud-based CRM may improve patient communication referral management through a well-built patient portal that manages new and existing patients.

Personalized treatment

A CRM can send direct mail, give appointment reminders and enable an easy connection between the medical professional and the patient. Based on the medical history the software can suggest healthcare products or refer patients to specific medical professionals.

Intelligent symptom screening

Through AI, CRM can detect the symptoms of patients that they input into the system. A CRM system can detect these symptoms through the natural language of a patient and refer patients to the appropriate healthcare professional

The benefits for the
healthcare professionals

Healthcare providers can enhance their work in several ways:

Less manual paperwork: Medical CRM automates much of the administrative hassles for medical professionals, leaving more time for handling patients. Professionals can also better control their schedule and make appointments without leaving gaps in visitations.
Better communication between experts: Healthcare CRM creates electronic medical records of treatment and tracks previous visitations with a healthcare provider. Medical staff can quickly track the patient records or contact previous healthcare providers through the software.
Patient management: The software can track patient information and suggest better medication or treatment based on a patient’s medical records.

Benefits for the healthcare
business

Apart from improving patient experience, CRM also provides ways for businesses to acquire new patients and retain patients already using the service. Good healthcare CRM systems provide for lower business costs and better return on investment (ROI).

Business intelligence

Healthcare organizations need constant data to determine which systems are operating at full capacity and which health systems need adjustment. CRM software provides comprehensive statistics and business analysis on task management.

Sales management

CRM can track and improve patient engagement with different products, courses, or programs. Based on the data collected, artificial intelligence (AI) programs can suggest which practices will give better ROI for the business.

Marketing automation

An extreme benefit to healthcare providers is the customer selects a CRM solution that can give. The medical software can make automated ad campaigns, recommend annual visits through email, or recommend preventative medicine to potential customers or people who will likely need the service.

Naturally, when conducting such activities, a healthcare provider must ensure the privacy of a patient. Patient outreach must be done in regulatory compliance.

Project management

A HIPAA-compliant healthcare software may integrate with a project management tool with document management features. Thus, professionals can legally utilize the healthcare organization database to enhance operations and make well-informed decisions, leading to better business process management.

The main requirements for
a CRM system

The best healthcare CRM software must be HIPAA-compliant and solve the logistical problems of a healthcare facility.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance

A HIPAA CRM platform must ensure the integrity and
confidentiality of patient information. Healthcare businesses must work with software companies able to update a CRM against emerging security risks.

Logistical issues

Many healthcare providers do not wish to use medical CRM software since it cannot integrate with their pre-existing Electronic Medical
Record (EMR) / Electronic Health Records (EHR) system. Their
claims are not unfounded as many CRM systems can have issues integrating with current practice management.

Conclusion

Healthcare software development is rapidly growing, and some companies already have products fulfilling both needs. Many cutting-edge healthcare CRM systems rely on AI to track and analyze
different types of data so as to reach business objectives.

However, the upkeep of CRM software might be a massive issue for healthcare providers. Medical organizations need to constantly update their data security as hackers develop new strategies for performing malicious activity.

Weighing up the points, we can conclude that relying on general
CRM software is still not feasible. Businesses need HIPAA-compliant software. For this reason, working with companies specializing in healthcare software is a must.