How To Combat Patient Attrition and Improve Retention in Your Medical Practice

A recent survey found that more than one-third of Americans admitted to leaving a medical practice in the past two years. This highlights the importance of your practice working to combat patient attrition and boost retention.

You can increase patient loyalty and keep new patients coming through your practice’s front door to stop your patient turnover rate from rising. Find out how to improve your retention below.

What Is Patient Attrition?

Patient attrition, or patient churn, refers to the rate at which patients leave your practice.

The average patient attrition rate for most medical and dental practices is around 17%, though some companies within the healthcare industry suffer from much higher rates.

Patients leave practices for these common reasons:

• Slow check-in process
• Poor communication
• Long wait times
• Financial troubles
• Lack of personalized care

These can negatively impact your practice by causing:

• Reduced revenue
• More negative online reviews
• Increased costs of marketing strategies to attract new patients

Because of this, medical practices, dental practices, and other healthcare practices must manage attrition. Medical and dental practices can keep doctors and dentists busy by retaining current patients and bringing in prospective patients.

Understanding Patient Attrition Rates

Here’s how to determine what your practice’s attrition rate is:

• Calculate your total number of patients.
• Subtract the number of patients you’ve lost over a certain period.
• Divide the number of patients still with your practice by its previous total.

If, for example, your practice had 100 patients at the start of 2024 and it finishes the year with 68, its attrition rate will be 32%.

If you have a high attrition rate, figure out which factors are causing it. All it takes is one negative experience with your practice’s front desk staff or one poor exchange with your administrative staff on the phone to lead to patients leaving. Aim to keep your practice’s attrition rate under 20%.

Common Causes of Patient Attrition

From the second a new patient starts coming to your practice, make it your mission to provide the care and respect they deserve. That alone can stop some common causes of patient attrition from affecting you. Get more information on these causes below.

Poor Communication

Maintaining open lines of communication with patients is paramount when running a medical practice. Provide patients with plenty of options for getting in touch with your practice, including calling, emailing, or sending a text message to schedule their next appointment.

If people have to jump through hoops to make an appointment, their likelihood of staying is slim. Focus on staying connected with new and existing patients who are seeking care.

Long Wait Times

It isn’t uncommon for patients to spend 15 to 30 minutes waiting to see physicians. Many say they begin to lose patience around the 30-minute mark.

They’ve also expressed frustration with how long they have to wait to schedule an actual appointment, especially for new patients. One 2022 survey suggested new patients wait almost four weeks on average.

By reducing patient wait times when people come to see a healthcare provider, there should be fewer people leaving each year.

Lack of Personalization

Studies show the average primary care practice has about 2,500 patients. The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine has warned that a healthcare provider can’t properly attend to this many people at once.

When practices are this large, it can also impact their ability to provide personalized care. Limiting the number of patients at your practice might seem counterintuitive, but it can improve your retention rate.

Financial Factors

A recent Gallup poll discovered that about 45% of American adults can’t afford healthcare. If your practice isn’t helping keep healthcare costs down, this could lead to patients departing.

Invest in Weave’s billing services to keep attrition under control.

Strategies To Reduce Patient Attrition

Regardless of your patient attrition rate, your practice should prioritize reducing it. The following strategies will help you do just that.

Enhance Communication with Patients

Pushing to communicate with patients more effectively is one of the best moves you can make to combat attrition. Weave offers a suite of communication solutions designed specifically for medical offices.

Remind Patients About Appointments and Offer Online Scheduling

Even though research reveals that many healthcare practices have kept their no-show rates low, no-shows have traditionally been an issue, as they can increase the chances of a current patient becoming a former one. Weave’s online scheduling and appointment reminder tools can reduce no-shows.

Provide Exceptional Patient Experiences

Is your practice providing a positive experience to patients? Make this a bigger priority by creating a more welcoming environment. Read through online reviews to see what you should consider doing better to improve patient experiences.

Offer Flexible Payment Options

The more payment options you extend, the easier it will be for patients to cover medical costs. From credit cards to “buy now, pay over time” text message payments, give your patients more options. Weave’s flexible billing and payment solutions can offer convenience.

Stop letting unscheduled treatments walk out the door because of cost and sign up to become a CareCredit provider directly through Weave today. Give your patients the flexible financing options they need to accept care, and empower your staff to seamlessly process those payments right within your existing Weave workflow.

Utilize Patient Feedback

Patient satisfaction should always be on your practice’s radar. Invite your patients to provide any good or bad feedback they have. Weave has tools to help research and analyze patient reviews.

The Role of Technology in Patient Retention

Technology can give your practice control over patient retention. See how Weave’s affordable integrated solutions can benefit it.

Digital Forms and Online Portals

When visiting your practice, people won’t have to start filling out forms immediately anymore. You can ask them to fill out digital forms and tackle other administrative tasks online before appointments.

You can also engage with them through online portals, which allow people to schedule/reschedule appointments, receive patient education, and more.

Analytics and Reporting

Predictive analytics is changing the way physicians provide care. Secure Weave’s analytics and reporting tools to improve your practice’s decision-making processes with advanced data.

Contact Us To Help Keep Patients Engaged and Attract Prospective Patients

A high patient attrition rate can cost your practice dearly. Utilize patient retention strategies to generate more positive online reviews from patients. Watch this Webinar to learn how Weave can help reduce attrition and boost retention.

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