How Communications Solutions Improve Healthcare Patient and Resident Service

Healthcare providers are vital to our society’s well-being. As the population ages and the need for healthcare services continues to grow, hospitals, clinics, and elder-care facilities face greater demands and inquiries while facing staffing and resource shortages.

With evolving expectations and rising demands on the healthcare system, organizations must maintain satisfactory levels of care to succeed. They’re turning to sophisticated technology to improve patient and resident engagement and better respond to the increasingly pressing challenges.

The global patient engagement solutions market is expected to reach $42.43 billion by 2031. This includes innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, telemedicine, and remote monitoring tools to enhance patient and resident experiences.

The proper unified communications and collaboration (UCC) solution can be a lifeline when managing engagement and improving healthcare service. Doctors, caregivers, and other staff can efficiently share information with their patients, residents, and colleagues to provide the highest-quality care and deliver superior service.

The Importance of Patient and Resident Service in Healthcare

To thrive, patients must feel like they’re more than just numbers on a form. Bedside manner and care go hand-in-hand with managing satisfaction and health outcomes.

When providers take the time to develop relationships with their patients and residents through clear and personal communication, they experience:

• Higher satisfaction rates
• Greater engagement
• Increased levels of trust

On the other hand, those who must wait an hour on hold to make an appointment, can’t access their records and test results, or cannot notify a caregiver that they need assistance will start to feel discouraged about their healthcare.

Disengaged patients and residents are more likely to switch providers, skip appointments, or abandon their course of treatment entirely. Forbes found that 61% of healthcare consumers want better communication with their healthcare professionals, and 83% will select their future healthcare provider based on their use of digital communications technology.

Satisfied patients will be more involved in their care, resulting in better health outcomes. They’re more likely to maintain their current providers, remain informed about their health, and have a more positive relationship with their caregivers and doctors.

Top Communications Challenges in Healthcare Service

Providing top-quality customer service is a complicated problem for any industry, but it’s incredibly challenging for healthcare organizations. In many cases, patients seeking medical help already feel anxious about their condition, and residents expect to be treated as more than a number, requiring more empathy from customer service providers.

Providers must balance managing increasing volumes of patients and residents without compromising their quality of care. This is made more difficult by staffing shortages across the industry, leaving fewer employees to deal with higher workloads and leading to significant rates of burnout.

Many healthcare organizations need more resources and training when investing in advanced technology. Outdated communications systems and complex medical technology infrastructure hinder efficient interactions between caregivers, family members, residents, and patients, causing delays and frustrations.

Addressing these issues requires optimizing resources effectively to enhance the relationship between caregivers and patients/residents. Healthcare establishments can modernize their UCC solutions to reduce the back-end workload on staff while emphasizing consumer-centric approaches to communications.

5 Essential UCC Qualities for Better Healthcare Engagement

Delivering exceptional healthcare service goes beyond medical expertise. It hinges on effective communication that recognizes the unique needs of individual patients and residents. UCC systems play a pivotal role in transforming that experience. A modern UCC solution delivers communications that are:

1. Personalized

Patients and residents are individuals, not numbers. UCC systems can seamlessly integrate with record management software, allowing providers to deliver personalized and meaningful messages instead of generic ones.

2. Timely

Being placed on hold to speak with a doctor or waiting for a call with test results can be agonizing. Contact centers with AI assistants can provide immediate help with basic requests, escalating more complicated cases to agents.

3. Transparent

Navigating the complexities of the healthcare system can be daunting for consumers. Treatment communications should be clear and transparent, with on-call help for follow-up questions or concerns.

4. Omnichannel

Today’s consumers use devices to communicate with their healthcare providers. Accessing their medical information should be convenient no matter which channel they prefer. The right UCC solution should feel seamless on any platform.

5. Compliant

Patients and residents must be able to trust their doctors with sensitive personal information. Whether deployed on-site or in a private or hybrid cloud, UCC systems need to comply with local regulations like PCI DSS, GDPR, and HIPAA to minimize concerns about privacy and security.

Dedicated healthcare UCC platforms empower organizations to enhance satisfaction, improve communication efficiency, and ultimately elevate the quality of care provided to those in need.

Choosing the Right UCC Solution for Great Healthcare Service

For many, a contact center or mobile solution is their primary mode of interaction with their healthcare provider, whether for scheduling appointments, asking basic questions, or following up on results. A modern UCC solution enables medical organizations to provide their patients with the highest–quality customer service and, ultimately, health outcomes.

Modern healthcare contact center solutions create exceptional omnichannel experiences, including:

• Interaction routing
• Self-service
• AI assistance
• Automated notifications

They streamline complex healthcare communications, letting patients seamlessly navigate between text messaging, online chats, and voice calls.

Whether deployed on-premises or in a hybrid or private cloud, these telephony systems are designed to streamline call flow for internal communications between teams and external parties like suppliers, patients, residents, and their families. Flexible healthcare phone systems automatically route inbound calls to any phone within the organization to facilitate phone within the organization to facilitate a time-effective exchange of information.

Choosing a private or hybrid cloud-based communications solution has several advantages over a traditional on-site or server-based system:

• Cloud platforms are continuously updated with new features, so users can access the latest software without replacing expensive hardware.


• Subscription-based models are scalable, so organizations can save money by expanding or reducing lines as they need.

However you choose to deploy, UCC technology provides the features and capabilities required to deliver the high level of customer service today’s consumers demand and deserve.

How Mitel Helps Improve Healthcare Service

Mitel’s UCC solutions improve service for even the most mobile and wide-ranging practices, from contact centers and telemedicine to phone systems and collaboration platforms.

A dedicated phone system with cloud-based integrations gives elder care facilities and medical providers access to the information they need when they need it. Secure messaging, calling, and document sharing facilitate better collaboration between teams so they can focus on providing the best experience possible.

Mitel enables communication-enhanced healthcare workflows with flexible, omnichannel options to respond to evolving needs. Whether deployed on-site or in a hybrid or private cloud, Mitel’s UCC solutions provide a strong foundation for better communications with efficient, compliant technology, including:

• AI-powered call center triage with escalation and intelligent routing
• Telecare for remote consultations and scheduled video calls between residents and family members
• Virtual assistants for 24/7 patient and resident support
• Omnichannel communications on preferred platforms
• Automated, customized alerts and reminders
• API integrations with existing health IT systems
• Seamless migration to on-site or hybrid cloud systems
• Strict compliance with privacy and security regulations
• Antimicrobial handsets for improved phone hygiene

As an industry leader in healthcare communications, Mitel offers UCC solutions tailored to the unique needs of organizations of all sizes. To learn how to optimize your patient and resident service, talk to our experts today.