Does your provider website really affect patient engagement? It absolutely does, and here is why. With decreasing reimbursement rates from payers and the ever-complex systems of value-based reimbursement, providers must pay closer attention to patient outcome metrics to protect their bottom line. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), patients actively involved in their healthcare have more knowledge, skills, and confidence in following the care plans. Simply put, engaged patients understand their medications better, follow diet plans more consistently, modify their lifestyles more successfully, and take charge of their health. Providers with engaged patients who collect clinical data that meets or exceeds required clinical goals set by insurance companies are paid more than those whose data is below the benchmark. Patient engagement has a direct effect on the bottom line of provider businesses and systems.
Since patient engagement is a potential forecast of clinical data and future income, provider practices must ensure they have materials ready to engage patients in their plans of care. Ok, your thinking, then develop patient-facing materials, put them on your website, and make sure everyone gets a copy, right? Well, it is not that simple. There are issues of generational preferences in information consumption along with the digital information explosion spurred on by the COVID pandemic.
For the first time in history, the population mix is comprised of more patients who actively use digital media and tools. According to the 2021 US Census Bureau distribution of generations documents Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z to 62.25% of the overall population. This shift in population balance means more patients prefer to participate in their healthcare electronically, increasing the need for credible, evidence-based medical content.
But where do patients prefer to get this content? Do they spend more time researching evidence-based guidelines from authorities like the American Board of Medicine? Or access research articles from the NIH or National Medical Archives? According to a 2022 research study by Phreesia Life Sciences, a patient engagement company, the answer to these questions is no.
Per the Phreesia study, patients credit provider practice websites as the most credible healthcare information and content source. For example, a patient suffering from diabetes is more likely to go to their provider’s website for dietary information. Additionally, patients and family members coping with a chronic or terminal illness will use their provider’s website to access resources.
However, the need for valid, reliable, evidence-based healthcare content burdens healthcare providers. In our current healthcare system, providers have limited face-to-face time with their patients and even less or perhaps no time to write medical content for their practices’ or hospitals’ websites. Marketing teams may be available; however, the non-clinician content is often too generic and requires time invested from the provider for validation.
That sounds like a conundrum, right? More healthcare content is needed, providers do not have the time to create credible content, and marketing agencies employ non-clinicians to write content that may or may not be medically relevant. A perfect storm that can be addressed by the licensed nurse writer.
Licensed nurses are uniquely qualified to engage patients and drive patient outcomes based on medical plans of care ordered by providers. Nurses have the knowledge and experience to interpret complex plans of care, synthesize them into understandable material, and help the patient incorporate the orders for better health. Who better to engage your patients in their methods of care than a licensed nurse?
NurseWritersGroup can take your patient engagement website content to the next level. Whether you need a blog, a newsletter, assessment tools based on your standing orders, post-care instructions, or even symptom trackers, the licensed nurses at NurseWritersGroup can help! Reach out today to secure your free consultation at: https://nursewritersgroup.com/contact-us.
What do you think? How can licensed nurse writers help change the face of provider website patient engagement and healthcare consumer content?
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