CRM stands for Customer Relationship Manager, a type of software used by businesses to administer services to their customers. In the healthcare industry, patients are the customers, and providers are the business.
Healthcare organizations and medical practices use healthcare CRMs to improve patient access, strengthen patient engagement, and enhance virtual care. Well-designed medical CRMs allow providers to easily administer telemedicine services to patients online. The term "healthcare CRM" is often used interchangeably with "telehealth software."
There are differences between "telemedicine" and "telehealth software."
Telemedicine describes specific medical tools for remote treatment of patients, and it only applies to clinical services. Telemedicine allows doctors and nurses to provide clinical care and treatment to patients online and on their mobile devices. Video visits, digital triage, patient-provider secure messaging, and symptom screening are all examples of telemedicine.
Telehealth software, on the other hand, encompasses all of digital health, both remote clinical and nonclinical services: patient scheduling, healthcare marketing campaigns, call center automation, business intelligence, health education, and more.
In addition, doctors, nurses, and support staff can use telehealth software to communicate with each other, perform administrative tasks, and measure the success of their healthcare organization's goals and objectives.
In short, telemedicine is the clinical component of telehealth software. Telehealth software, also known as a healthcare CRM, is the entire digital health platform: clinical, operational, and commercial.
Holistic healthcare CRM software enables healthcare organizations to perform a variety of both clinical and non-clinical functions: patient care coordination, scheduling, digital marketing services, patient records management, video calls, patient outreach, and more.
A cloud-based healthcare CRM is becoming an increasingly vital tool—a necessity, even—for medical providers and practices.
In today's online world, patients want instant access to telehealth services, just as they get e-commerce services from Amazon, or transportation services from Uber. This digital access doesn't just boost patient acquisition and patient retention—although it certainly does that—it also results in better clinical outcomes.
A holistic healthcare CRM solution, one that integrates with practice management software and electronic health records, is an essential component of modern patient care. Medical CRMs are vital for healthcare providers who want to remain competitive in today's digital world.
A well-designed healthcare CRM contains components that optimize health system workflows and ensure patients receive the best possible virtual care. These features include:
Combined, these features have enormous benefits for health systems:
For health systems, the benefits of optimizing complex workflows and communications—and improving the patient and provider experience—by utilizing healthcare CRM software are immense:
Cloud-based telehealth platforms are scalable and can adjust according to needs. Both the telehealth software vendor and the health system should have the flexibility to respond to new developments while also working to achieve their broader objectives.
Investing in a healthcare CRM is only the first step to building a mature telehealth system. Telehealth software sets healthcare providers, medical practices, and doctors on a positive path, but it is ultimately up to the healthcare organization to develop, improve, and refine their telehealth platform—which requires integration with current technology and adaptation to future technology.
As many providers would begrudgingly lament, the most annoying roadblock—and a primary reason some choose not to invest in a cloud-based telehealth platform—is that they believe, sometimes correctly, that the telehealth technology can't integrate with their current Practice Management (PM) and Electronic Medical Record (EHR) system.
But many healthcare CRM solutions can, in fact, successfully integrate with many EHR/PM systems. For a detailed analysis of which telehealth platform integrates most effectively with each Patient Records/Practice Management system, read our blog: "Best Patient Scheduling Software for Allscripts, Athenahealth, Cerner, Epic, & NextGen."
When choosing what specific telehealth platform to invest in, it's important to identify your organization's strengths and weaknesses. You should then select a brand that will strengthen those weaknesses; a brand that will help your organization achieve its long-term goals, whether that be increasing patient acquisition, ensuring provider satisfaction, boosting scheduling capacity, or enhancing patient safety.
And remember: For a healthcare CRM to improve the patient experience, it must first improve your staff's experience. Invest in a medical CRM that will optimize your organization's workflows—and great outcomes will follow.