How to boost patient engagement with secure text messaging

What factors affect patient engagement levels?

Patients who are active participants in the care process are more likely to experience better health outcomes and engage in healthy behaviors. However, engagement requires more than just a willing participant; it also demands that certain factors be considered and solutions for each be implemented.

Below are some examples of elements of care that can influence patient engagement levels for better or worse:

• Communication – The ideal patient experience is shaped by two actors: the patient themselves, and the provider they work with. Health workers diagnose conditions, recommend treatment, and administer care. Patients adhere to treatment plans and update providers on their results. Regular communication is necessary to ensure this process happens seamlessly.
• Health Literacy – It’s important that patients understand the terminology, techniques, and activities used in the care process. Making sure that information about care is accessible is a prerequisite to ensuring patients can leverage it.
• Personalization – No one wants to feel like their personal health needs aren’t being taken seriously. When providers can deliver individualized attention to patients–i.e., remembering specific details about their symptoms, knowing them as individuals, and so on–the chances of patients feeling seen and heard goes up dramatically.
• Visibility – When patients can see what’s going on “behind the scenes” throughout the care process, they’re far more likely to feel able to participate. Being able to revisit past health data, for instance, or visualize progress with helpful charts or detailed visit records gives patients the same insight into their treatment as providers have.

Common Obstacles to Patient Engagement

In an ideal world, healthcare providers would be able to manage all of the factors that affect engagement successfully. However, in reality, there are plenty of obstacles that tend to limit a patient’s capacity to play an active role in their care, including those below.

1. Inaccessible care or providers

When it’s difficult to access regular care–whether it’s geographically far away, cost-prohibitive, or simply hard to fit into schedules–it’s also difficult to manage it.

Patients who live in rural or remote areas, for example, may only have the means to visit providers once a month or a few times a year. Those periods of downtime in between in-person visits can disconnect patients from their care goals and the importance of adhering to treatment.

Without some way to monitor symptoms and treatment progress from afar, patients may struggle to keep up with what’s happening – or believe that their actions have an impact on their health.

2. Lack of technology

In that same vein, healthcare organizations that don’t have the right technology to support patient communication may also find it hard to keep patients activated.

Traditional paper-based operations are not only slower but also far more time-consuming than digital solutions. That means they can limit your team’s ability to focus on what matters most: interacting with patients and delivering increasingly high-quality care.

Likewise, administrative burdens and endless paperwork may hinder an organization’s ability to grow.

3. Poor patient-provider relationship

Whether due to other challenges listed here or not, a poor relationship between patient and provider can undoubtedly impact engagement. When patients don’t feel like they know or can trust their provider, it’s understandably less likely that they’ll advocate for themselves, share their experiences, or follow through on treatment goals.

4. Confusion about the treatment process

Patients who don’t understand why they’re completing a particular activity or treatment plan naturally may not have the tools to reap its full benefits. It’s important that patients know the purpose of care decisions as well as their intended outcomes.

Having a sense of what has been accomplished and what is yet to come can also give patients some much-needed validation and encouragement that what they’re doing makes a difference.

Two-Way Secure Text Messaging: A Natural Solution

A simple yet highly effective solution that can address all of these obstacles at once is two-way messaging, which providers can offer to patients through a digital patient engagement platform like Linear Health. Our secure text messaging tools are HIPAA-compliant and designed to help you quickly share and receive information from patients, from photos to traditional texts.

Research indicates that utilizing a digital health program–or implementing software and tools that help patients access care information digitally–can indeed boost engagement rates.

In fact, one 2017 study noted that some digital health tools used in clinical care settings could increase engagement and deliver care that outperformed traditional office-based treatment.

While secure text messaging may just be one piece of the puzzle that makes up a digital health program, it’s one of the most accessible ways to reach patients where they are. Make messaging a part of the care plan by encouraging patients to check in at specific times or use it as a tool for sharing information like clinical assessment results and updates on symptom severity.

Another perk of digital messaging is its ability to create a living record of interactions and patient growth. When a provider is only a few taps away, it’s much easier for patients to play their part in monitoring their health and ensuring they follow their treatment goals.

HIPAA-Compliant Secure Text Messaging from Linear Health

Connect with the patient experience unlike never before with the help of secure text messaging and see how even the tiniest interactions can have a massive impact on engagement rates.

Linear Health is a patient communication platform designed to support behavioral healthcare providers and their patients. Our tools are optimized to support regular communication and allow you to communicate with patients via 2-way texting directly with the patient or their family members, automatically complete intake paperwork and have it pushed to your EHR, automating screener tools like GAD-7, PHQ-9 to reduce admin burden through our modern communication platform purpose built for behavioral health integration texting, phone and video.

Start leveraging Linear Health today to place the power to influence care back in the hands of your patients. Contact us for a demo to learn more.