- Pramod Goel
- Jul 20, 2023
Medical tourism is going through a transformation due to digitization and constant technology innovation. If you don’t adapt to this changing environment then you will lose the race to your competition. “Change” is the answer to this wakeup call which you have to bring by transforming your medical practice. One of the most important things to bring this transformation is to improve the patient experience. For that, you need a transformation agent called technology to improve patient engagement, reach new customers and retain them. When you learn new techniques continuously and access new technologies, it sets you apart from your competitors. So, let’s discuss these key pointers to the transformation that your healthcare service needs elaborately.
Key Pointers to Adapt to this Changing Environment:
Patient Experience
Medical tourism is about influencing patients to consider healthcare from local to global. Think twice if you are offering rushed service. Many doctors want to see as many patients as possible for a larger paycheck. However, this also means patients are often rushed through short appointments. Such an environment can never lead to the positive patient experience. Moreover, patients also want affordable care and choices. So, it is essential to provide them with advanced knowledge of treatment costs, shorter wait times and easy ways to book appointments. This is where technology plays a big role. Implementing technology solutions like direct chat, chatbots, AI, instant messaging, etc. can help to establish direct patient and provider communication. This also means there is no third-party interference and patients can make an informed decision with complete knowledge about the treatment plans, cost, after-care and everything. As a provider, it will also help you provide more personalized care, which also boosts the patient
experience.
Technology as a Transformation Agent
Technology is the most important transformational agent to enable the globalization of healthcare. As mentioned above, technology can help the patients get the best of facilities with complete transparency. Patients are more concerned about accessing medical tourism options with digital mediums.
For example, social media, direct chat, AI, etc. are among the leading technology solutions that healthcare providers are using. This helps to bridge the gap between the provider and patients seamlessly. Patients can easily contact doctors and consultants abroad to seek the required solution.
Electronic Health Record or EMR can be an effective cloud solution for healthcare providers. Patient information can be systematically stored on the cloud using EMR and shared across different healthcare settings. This will ensure that all medical tourism solution providers get real-time access to the same records, which will reduce medication errors and additional diagnosis resulting in improved efficiency in healthcare systems.
Another technology benefactor in medical tourism is data mining. Data can be continuously compiled from different sources such as live case studies, medical journals, etc. This can help in creating a huge disease diagnosis system databank. Such records can be stored in encrypted form in the smartphones and enable the global providers to advise patients for the best possible treatment solutions of affected health conditions from anywhere in the world.
Customer Loyalty
Lack of tailored medical solution or personalized healthcare program leads to failure of patient engagement. Another factor that affects customer loyalty in medical tourism is the lack of seamless multi-channel experience, which means failure to consider multiple consumer touchpoints, both online and offline. To succeed in the medical tourism industry in the long term, you need to transform your healthcare service focusing on improving customer loyalty. This can be achieved when you address customer service issues, reduce wait times, provide complete transparency in terms of cost and services and maintain direct communication without third-party involvement. Digitization can fill the cracks and boost customer loyalty. Let the patients easily access your healthcare service aboard and learn about how you can provide a better solution. Distribute your content in multiple digital channels including the global medical tourism marketplace and social media to increase the visibility of your medical solutions globally. When the patients can learn about your services using varied digital mediums, they must also be able to contact you directly using tools like direct chat, email, WhatsApp, phone call, etc. This will reduce any third-party interference and increase trust among the customers, which will gradually lead to customer loyalty.
Financial Stability
When technology acts as the transformation agent to improve patient engagement, it leads to consistent growth and long-term financial viability. With so much of change is going around globally in medical practices, you must become comfortable with the change. Adapt to the changes that create a better patient experience and train employees to remain focused and productive while adapting to change. Moreover, it also helps you stay alive in the competition and set you apart from others by differentiating your practice with uniqueness. This will lead to the generation of more income and profitability, which will gradually bring financial stability.
If you want to transform your healthcare service, then you have to answer the wakeup call by addressing the above-mentioned pointers. You should always be open to new technology innovations and continuously learn new techniques. As an internationally recognized industry leader in medical tourism, PlacidWay can help you deploy industry best technology solutions. Explore our ultimate digital resources like innovative direct patient-provider chat, center profile, treatment packages, doctor profiles, videos, infographics and social media channels among others to attract international patients.
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