The Trends Are Clear – This Is What Your Patients Expect In 2022 And Beyond.

If you believe the experience of scheduling a doctor’s appointment should be a different than that of scheduling a manicure, I hope you’re getting ready to retire.

For some reason, most doctors think ours is different to every other service patients purchase. I hate to break it to you but it’s not.

I know you dislike it. So do I. But it does not make it any less true.

You have two choices in how you approach this:

1. You refuse to let your patients engage with your practice as they engage with their barber. “If they want an appointment, they can call our office, and we will give them an appointment.”
2. You empathize with them and their needs and remove friction.

If you chose number 1, good luck.

Specially if you are a pediatrician, a family doc, an internist, etcetera. As younger generations (hello millennials! ) begin requiring care for chronic disease, they will be more likely to choose a doctor who makes things easier for them.

What does removing friction look like?

Stop thinking about what you need from your patients (history, insurance info, etc), and instead think about what your patients need from you and your practice.

In my experience –as a patient and as a physician coach– these are the simplest ways of removing friction:

• SMS reminders.
• Online payments.
• Online scheduling.
• Online form-filling.
• Wait times <15 mins.
• Clear driving & parking directions.
• Price transparency — in your website without having to call for it.

The only reason to not accommodate all of these is your unwillingness to do so.