Sameh Enterprises Blog
Smart Devices and Messaging
I’ve seen the future and I love it. Rumor has it that FitBit (www.fitbit.com) is coming out with a new device. Fitbit, for those not in the know, makes a pedometer, accelerometer, altimeter combination device complete with social networking. It measures the number of steps I take per day, the number of miles walked, flights of stairs climbed, calories burned, and overall activity level. I find it a good way to make sure I get enough basic exercise. To walk enough even if I’ve spent all day in front of this monitor, and to pat...
read morePart 2 – Essentials for Successful Patient Portal Adoption
Regarding portal use, how do you educate your patients? Or perhaps the question can be phrased; where do you educate your patients? I ask the question with this twist to make a point. A touch point if you will allow me. Patient education is something you do at touch points – every touch point you can think of. Let’s first examine what I mean by touch points. A touch point is a place, either in person, on the phone, or virtual where you come in contact with your patients. It’s actually quite a simple context. Think of it...
read morePart 1 – Essentials for Successful Patient Portal Adoption
Stage 2 is coming. Soon enough you’ll have an opportunity. No, you’ll have a responsibility to get your patients to communicate with you through your portal. Some of you are already using a portal successfully. Others, not so much. Let’s look at some of the success factors behind successful adoption and why you should pay attention. The first reason to pay attention is money. Until now, you likely never considered the cost of answering a phone call within your office during the day. In my over 30 years in dealing with...
read moreIntelligent Routing
The message began, “Hello, this is Mrs. John Andrews and I’m calling for Dr. Nicholas.” The message continues, “I was in the shower when my cat came in to the bathroom”. As an answering service owner, you know by now that nothing good could possibly come from this call. “When the cat jumped on the sink and with her tail, she knocked my prescription off the sink and some fell into the toilet and other pills fell all over the floor. And I’m going out of town on Thursday.” All this time you’re likely thinking, this poor...
read morePortals Benefit Practices Too!
When we discuss patient portals, emphasis is frequently placed on the patient benefit. For a change, let’s discuss the potential benefit to a healthcare practice. Incoming phone calls force staff to either drop what they are doing or allow the call to go to voice mail. Voice mail forces the user to retrieve the message – a time consuming prospect. This process may take as long, or often, even longer than taking the call in the first place. Often, the voice mail message may not provide all the details required to fulfill the request....
read moreAre You Keeping Up or Falling Behind?
In yesterday’s WSJ Marketplace section, (also online) there was an article that caught my eye. It talked about how cell phone providers are trying to hold on to the revenue for voice minutes, even though voice usage has dropped over the last few years. While the information on the economics of cell phone plans was interesting, what was more intriguing was the trend data driving the change. One quote in particular was extremely striking: “People no longer need to call their loved ones for directions or restaurant reviews. They now have...
read moreTexting with Patients – Good Idea?
In a 5/16 Physician’s Practice blog post, the author, Erica Adler writes about the benefits and considerations of physician’s text messaging with their patients. Some of the concerns Adler cites in her article include: 1. Physician Contact – If patients are texted from a providers cell, one risks patients’ obtaining access to the provider’s cell number, which, beyond physician privacy, could compromise care when patients attempt to contact a physician who is not on call or unavailable. 2. Patient Consent – Even though...
read moreWhen Office is Closed, Sorta…
Last Thursday my friend had an appointment with his doctor at 7:30pm. My friend usually runs late, so I wasn’t surprised when he abruptly ended our phone call in order to call his doctor to report he was running late. He called the doctor’s office only to be informed that the office was closed for the night. At his insistence, the call center operator dialed a private line within the office and learned that my friend indeed had an appointment that evening at 7:30. How could the call center not be aware of this practice nuance? Many...
read morePortals – Are We There Yet?
We’ve been involved with patient portals for over a decade. We recall early articles reciting survey results. In one early memorable article, a survey by Harris interactive indicated that of patients who had internet access, 78% of patients want to use the internet to communicate with their doctors. But, are we there yet? Last month, we read another article. Guess what. 78% of patients want to use the internet to communicate with their doctors. This is incredible. For sure, the number of internet users has dramatically increased over...
read moreClinical Trials and the Human Touch
Craig Lipset, who heads clinical innovation at Pfizer, is conducting an innovative post approval clinical trial. His idea is to see how cost and process are impacted by recruiting and monitoring patients only via personal technology, social media, and the internet. In an interview posted 3/12/2012 with Ed Silverman, on Pharmalot blog, Craig gave an update on the trial’s progress. Pfizer has noticed that while the trial has gotten lots of attention, it has not translated into high recruitment yield. There is plenty of interest and traffic...
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