Stay Ahead in the Healthcare Industry: Harnessing the Potential of Consumer Analytics for Patient Growth
Acquiring and retaining patients is a high priority for the healthcare industry. With an increasing number of healthcare providers and facilities, patients have more options than ever before. At the same time, patients are becoming more discerning and expect a high level of convenience, service and personalized care. To stay competitive, healthcare organizations need to find new ways to attract and retain patients, and consumer analytics is the solution.
Patient Acquisition
According to a survey by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), 86% of healthcare executives identified increasing patient acquisition as a top priority, highlighting the significance of this challenge. And in order to overcome this challenge, healthcare organizations need to refine their marketing strategy. That’s where analytics comes in.
Patient Retention
Improving patient retention is equally as important for healthcare providers as patient acquisition. On average, it costs about five times more to acquire a new patient than it does to retain an existing one. So from a financial perspective alone, patient retention is key to the success of a healthcare organization.
Not only is retention important financially, but it makes a huge difference in terms of overall growth. In a recent study conduct by Buxton, the national patient growth rate averages 45% while the patient churn rate is about 48%. Churnning patients at the same rate it takes to acquire new patients is the equivalent of treading water. In other words, it’s not sustainable. However, consumer analytics can help.
When it comes to attrition, the first step is always identifying how big of a problem it is, and consumer analytics can help you determine which patients are more likely to churn. Studying patient visits, household makeup, and household income, among other key factors, can help you identify your active patients who are at risk versus those that are not at risk. In addition to monitoring churn, consumer analytics can also be used to develop effective marketing campaigns based on the preferences of your patient base, which helps improve loyalty.
Bottom Line
As the healthcare industry continues to focus on patient acquisition and retention, consumer analytics will become an increasingly valuable tool for organizations to stay competitive and provide the best possible patient experience.
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