Tips for managing patient-provider communications during a practice merger
Going through a practice merger can cause communication problems between providers and patients. Ayva can make the process easier.
Healthcare mergers skyrocketed in 2021, growing 56% from 2020.1 While mergers can be practical business arrangements for smaller practices, they can also cause communication breakdowns between patients and providers. With so many changes happening at once, keeping track of systems and processes can be challenging, especially before the consolidation is completed.
A practice merger can be stressful for patients and providers alike.
During a merger, the different practices’ policies, procedures, and technology are working simultaneously. This can be confusing for everyone and appear as if the right-hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. You may also be dealing with multiple electronic health records (EHR) systems. One way practices can ensure a smooth transition is to use a dynamic patient engagement platform like Ayva.
Let’s look at tips for managing communication during a practice merger and how Ayva can help.
Potential communication issues and tips for managing them
Understanding the main communication problems that can occur during a practice merger is essential to overcoming them.
Changing technology
When practices merge, they each bring their technology infrastructure, EHR, and other solutions to the table. Those existing systems have specific communication tools that patients and their care teams are accustomed to using. With a new or changing system, patients may have difficulty even figuring out how to contact their providers.
With Ayva, patients have access to bi-directional messaging to communicate with their care teams. The process is so simple that they may not even know that a merger is happening.
Updating policies and procedures
When practices come together, there will likely be different procedures and protocols. It will take some work to figure out how to merge the policies into one concise format.
Ayva enables practices to provide patients with one location for a uniform view of their care-specific protocols and policies. You can even send patients a message to read the updated information before their next appointment.
Maintaining consistency
One of the operational challenges of a merger is coordinating and distributing educational material and other content under your new brand.
Ayva makes it easy to consolidate and share critical patient education—and all from a single branded platform.
Preparing to troubleshoot
Even the most ideal practice merger may result in a less than ideal patient experience. Being proactive and offering patient resources can help ensure the merger goes well.
Using a digital health tool like Ayva can help you improve the patient experience with 24/7/365 access to care plans, educational content, and regularly timed to-do lists.
Using Ayva during a practice merger
To sum up, implementing Ayva can help bridge the communication gaps that may occur during a practice merger. Because reputation is critical to the long-term success of your practice, mitigating potential issues is essential.
Providers and care teams can access and share data with multiple EHRs from a single platform while ensuring patients have the right information at the right time.
Learn how Ayva can help your practice during a merger.
Meet Ayva today!
Looking for more on this topic? Check out these related posts: