Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health, discusses areas where text messaging can help medical practices strengthen patient engagement and adherence in a new Physicians Practice column. In " Improving Patient Engagement: Seven ways texting can make a difference ," Daniell highlights the following applications: Appointment reminders Recall campaigns Compliance Telehealth Vaccinations Patient satisfaction surveys Online reputation As he notes, "The examples highlighted represent just a few of the ways text messaging is helping practices improve the overall effectiveness of their patient engagement efforts, expand when and why they are engaging with patients, better take advantage of what is learned through these efforts, and strengthen their bottom line." Access Daniell's column on patient engagement .

Spencer Kelpe, director of key accounts for Dialog Health, joined the "ASC Podcast with John Goehle" to discuss technological advances in patient communications and how technology is helping ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) strengthen their patient engagement. Listen to the podcast here or via major podcast platforms. Note: Spencer's interview begins at 31:50. Each episode of the " ASC Podcast with John Goehle " covers current ASC industry news, discusses regulatory or operational issues, and addresses questions from listeners. It is hosted by John Goehle, MBA, CASC, CPA, an ASC industry veteran with extensive experience in regulation, administration, and finance.

Fourth part in a five-part series This blog post is the latest in our series examining the value and importance of a texting platform's scalability across a healthcare organization's full enterprise. By using text messaging across the enterprise, patients receive more timely information from those departments supporting them throughout their care journey while an organization is able to better achieve its clinical, operational, and financial objectives. This series covers the following stages in the journey: Pre-appointment Appointment Post-appointment Billing Staff communication We previously published blogs on the pre-appointment stage , appointment stage , and post-appointment stage of this journey through the enterprise. 5 Billing Texting Uses and Benefits In this fourth in a five-part series, we discuss five of the ways text messaging effectively supports communications about patient billing. 1. Verification of coverage and benefits For staff members tasked with outbound insurance verification, calling and reaching patients is time-consuming and often unsuccessful. The problem with this approach is an increasing number of outbound calls are not answered. A survey by TrueCaller found that nearly 9 in 10 Americans try to only answer calls if they can identify the person or business calling. And leaving a voicemail is no longer an assured way to reach someone quickly, if at all. However, almost every inbound call to an organization during hours of operation will be answered by a staff member. Organizations can send a text to patients letting them know that a staff member needs to verify their insurance and benefits and then ask patients to call the organization. This usage case is a fundamental game-changer for staff and their workflow as it frees up time typically spent making repeated calls and leaving voicemails. There are many case studies that demonstrate how text messaging dramatically reduces the number of phone calls organizations must make to patients. 2. Improving pre-treatment collections Collecting prior to the day of treatment is a win-win for organizations and patients. Organizations not only receive payment, but they can feel more confident that the treatment will proceed as planned. If patients arrive for their treatment without having paid in advance, organizations have a choice: They can attempt to collect prior to providing treatment or wait until after the treatment to collect. The former can add stress to an already stressed patient. If the patient indicates they are unable to pay, this may force the organization to postpone treatment. If the organization waits until after providing treatment to collect, this can prove difficult and potentially lead to lengthy delays in collecting — which can grow an organization's accounts receivable (A/R) balance — and even lost payments. For patients, paying in advance eliminates a potentially stressful process from their treatment day. They can focus more on their care and getting well. Text messaging is a highly effective way to initiate the pre-treatment collections process. Patients can be informed of their balance and then directed on ways they can pay, such as via portal — with the text providing a hyperlink — or by calling the organization to pay via credit card over the phone, with the text providing a direct phone number. 3. Discussing payments Patients frequently have questions about their balance, from why they owe a certain amount to their options for payment, including whether the organization offers a payment plan. Organizations can include language in texts encouraging patients to call a hyperlinked phone number and the appropriate hours to call if they have questions or concerns about their balance. 4. Balance and payment methodology reminders If pre-treatment collections is not an option or if patients indicate they do not want to pay or pay in full in advance of their treatment, a text message to patients prior to the day of treatment can provide their balance and identify the methods of payment the organization accepts on site. This can better help ensure patients arrive knowing what they own and prepared to pay using an approved payment method. 5. Reducing outstanding accounts receivable Collecting what patients owe for their care is an essential component of a healthcare organization's operations — and one that has taken on greater importance as patient financial responsibility has increased in recent years. This has further motivated organizations to try to collect at least some if not most or all of what a patient will owe prior to the delivery of care. But in many instances, this is not possible. For emergency departments, urgent care clinics, and other service providers that take walk-in patients, collecting what patients will owe for their care in advance — beyond a copay — is not an option. In addition, what a patient will owe for their care may change based upon findings of a treatment (e.g., a colonoscopy that discovers polyps, which are then removed of have tissue samples taken for biopsy). Patient payment estimator tools, while helpful in providing organizations with a figure they can work to collect in advance, only provide what their name suggests: estimations. If the estimation comes in low, the organization will need to collect the balance. All these factors and others lead to outstanding patient A/R that organizations must collect. Chasing payments can be an expensive, time-consuming, and often inefficient and unsuccessful process. Text messaging can help organizations greatly reduce their A/R and get paid faster. For example, one ambulatory surgery center (ASC) used texting to reduce its outstanding A/R by more than half in just six weeks. Employees sent direct texts to patients — instead of making multiple phone calls or mailing billing correspondences — that included a link to the ASC's payment portal and a phone number the patient could call if they had wanted to pay over the phone or had any questions. Texting helped the surgery center collect from patients; helped the ASC collect faster from patients, with about 50% of patients who received the texts paying their bill within just three days of getting the message; and also freed up staff to focus on other essential business office tasks. ​Healthcare Enterprise Texting to Support Staff Communications The final part of this series — part five — will cover the ways texting can help healthcare staff communicate with one another. This includes emergency communications, open enrollment engagement, filling scheduling gaps, and improving staff morale.

FRANKLIN, Tenn., October 27, 2020 – Dialog Health, a two-way texting platform that enables information to be pushed to and pulled from staff, patients, and caregivers, announces the availability of new functionality for its platform. These features will be first showcased at Human Resource Executive's HR Technology Conference & Exposition , where Dialog Health is exhibiting. The company is releasing a new, multi-select filter for automated texting campaigns. This feature can be used to support communications and education concerning open enrollment, onboarding new employees, health and wellness offerings, and other initiatives. Examples of filter options include employment status (e.g., full-time, part-time), preferred language, types of insurance held, and name of plan provider. Dialog Health is also releasing a new reporting feature that provides enhanced list management capability. This permits a user to see who received and did not receive a text, who responded to and did not respond to a text, and how recipients responded, all on a single screen. "We are always pursuing ways to improve our platform and enhance its value for clients," said Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health. "These new features will help organizations better leverage two-way text messaging to drive employee and patient engagement. We are pleased to launch these new features in conjunction with the HR Technology Conference. The human resources professionals who will be attending these terrific meeting are facing significant challenges this open enrollment season as we continue to confront the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe our new features will further help HR professionals overcome challenges by allowing them to communicate quickly, efficiently, and in a contactless manner with their staff." In addition to open enrollment, HR departments are using Dialog Health two-way texting to increase the engagement rate of administrative announcements, compliance communications, and incident response and emergency announcements. "Texting has taken on an even greater role and importance for keeping employees informed during the health crisis," Daniell says. "It is the most effective way to communicate timely, critical information. Organizations using two-way text messaging are finding their efforts more streamlined and successful. In a mobile-led world where employee engagement has become an essential strategy, text messaging is a necessity." Organizations interested in learning more about the new features and the value of two-way text messaging should visit Dialog Health , email info@dialoghealth.com , or call (877) 666-1132. About Dialog Health Dialog Health is a U.S.-based company that provides a two-way texting platform to organizations which they can leverage as a communication and engagement channel. Two-way texting is a convenient, fast, effective, and affordable communication resource for stakeholder engagement. For more information, visit www.dialoghealth.com , call (877) 666-1132 and follow Dialog Health on LinkedIn . Media Contact: Brandon Daniell brandon@dialoghealth.com 615-429-4252

Medicare is punishing nearly 2,500 hospitals for high readmissions, reports KHN. That's nearly half of all U.S. hospitals. The penalties are required under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program . KHN analyzed federal data for this latest annual round of penalties and found that the average penalty is a 0.64% reduction in payment for each Medicare patient stay from the start of October 2021 through September 2022. Of the more than 3,000 hospitals for which Medicare evaluated readmission rates (the remaining hospitals are exempt from the program), more than 80% received a penalty. The fines, KHN notes, can be heavy, averaging more than $200,000 for a hospital in 2018, according to federal data. Thirty-nine hospitals received the maximum 3% reduction. Only about 550 hospitals had readmission rates low enough to escape any penalty. Among those hospitals that avoided penalty are Dialog Health clients. We tell you this for two reasons. One, we love to see our clients doing good for patients, and reducing readmissions is one of the best ways to improve patient outcomes and reduce unnecessary costs, including those associated with penalties. And two, we know our two-way texting platform is helping these clients keep their readmission rates low. How much of a difference can text messaging make? More than you may expect. As we highlight on our webpage sharing results of clients using Dialog Health, one hospital was able to achieve a more than 80% reduction in readmissions in just 90 days . Furthermore, two-way text messaging also saved many staff hours saved by decreasing phone calls to patients, improved patient satisfaction, and strengthened staff workflow and efficiency. Whether you use our easy-to-use, cloud-based, and HIPAA-compliant texting platform or not, it's become best practice to include text messaging in a communications plan to reduce penalties, overall healthcare costs, and harm to patient perspectives of their hospital care experience (i.e., satisfaction scores). We'd love to show you how we're helping hospitals like yours leverage texting to achieve transformational results around readmissions and many other areas. Reach out to us today !

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently issued an emergency regulation requiring COVID-19 vaccination of eligible staff at healthcare facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. For hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), medical groups, urgent care providers, and all other healthcare organizations that provide treatment for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, the clock is now ticking. The regulation requires such organizations to establish a policy ensuring all eligible staff have received the first dose of a two-dose vaccine or a one-dose vaccine prior to providing any care, treatment, or other services by Dec. 5, 2021. Furthermore, all eligible staff must receive the necessary shots to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4, 2022. The regulation provides for select exemptions. Organizations with staff who remain unvaccinated will likely need to overcome a number of potential barriers in the coming weeks, including the delivery of two vaccine doses (if required) and different timing for the second dose, depending upon the manufacturer; confusion about the different vaccines available ; uncertainty concerning whether to receive the vaccine; and the spread of misinformation and disinformation , which have been a challenge throughout the pandemic. Essential to a successful vaccine distribution infrastructure that can effectively coordinate the administering of doses while addressing these and other challenges is communication. And there is no better means of communicating about the various issues concerning the COVID-19 vaccine than using text messaging. Text Messaging Is Critical To a Vaccine Program's Success Here are six of the ways organizations can leverage texting to support their vaccine coordination and distribution efforts. 1. Surveying about willingness to receive the vaccine An organization can send a text message to stakeholders (e.g., staff members, patients, vendor partners) asking if they are willing to receive the vaccine. A two-way texting platform will permit recipients to respond, such as with either "Yes" or "No." Based upon the survey's results, an organization may choose to take one or more next steps. For example, if there is a high percentage of "No" responses, the organization may elect to provide more education about the vaccine and its importance, safety, and efficacy to help increase acceptance. If "No" responses are largely associated with one or more departments, an organization may allocate educational resources specifically toward those areas. Individual "No" responses may lead administration to directly contact these team members to discuss their concerns and determine appropriate next steps. 2. Sharing updates Text messaging is a proven method for quickly reaching and successfully engaging with recipients. That makes texting a highly efficient manner of providing timely, significant updates about the vaccine and administration process. Texts can be sent to stakeholders sharing details such as which vaccine will be administered, location of where it will be administered, and the distribution timeline. 3. Providing links to additional information and education Beyond the critical updates noted above, organizations will likely have additional information they will want to provide to stakeholders about vaccine coordination efforts. This may include details on the specific vaccine, the administration process, what vaccine recipients need to bring with them and do to receive the vaccine, directions to the location, explanations of the timeline, cost, potential side effects, myths and misconceptions, and frequently asked questions and their answers. While this information is too long to include in a single text, an organization may consider building a webpage with all of these details. A text message can include a hyperlink that directs recipients to this page. Considering nearly all mobile phones can now access the internet, including a link makes it simple for an organization to direct stakeholders to such a resource. 4. Surveying about vaccine questions Once an organization has provided stakeholders with information on the vaccine, administration process, any other details deemed essential for a success execution of the process, this is a good time to again leverage text message surveying. A two-way text can be sent asking recipients if they have any remaining concerns or questions. If multiple people provide a similar response, an organization may choose to update its published information to provide clarity around the issue. For one-off concerns or questions, the organization may text a response or advise the recipient to reach out via phone (and provide the number to call) to discuss the matter further. 5. Coordinating vaccine administration As the time approaches for an organization to begin administration of the vaccine, texting will prove to be a valuable tool in coordinating this process. A text can be sent providing instructions to recipients about how to schedule their vaccine appointments(s). If scheduling will occur online, the text can provide the link to the scheduling portal. Subsequent texts can confirm vaccine appointments (date, time, location), provide directions to the vaccination site, remind recipients of requirements (e.g., bring identification, wear a mask, do not come of feeling unwell), and share instructions about what recipients should do if they need to reschedule. A two-way survey text can be used for recipients to confirm their appointment. Text messaging can also be used to provide a link to the accompanying "vaccine information statement," which is the information sheet produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that explains the benefits and risks of a vaccine to vaccine recipients, or an approved emergency use authorization (EUA) fact sheet, as required, to each vaccine recipient, the adult caregiver accompanying the recipient, or other legal representative. 6. Delivering follow-up information Text messaging is a great way to not only communicate prior to the administration process but after as well. An organization can send a text to recipients that advises recipients on how to schedule their second dose (if necessary). A text can provide information about potential side effects and adverse drug events and what to do if recipients have concerns about how they believe they are responding to the vaccine. If an organization is mandating vaccination for some or all vendors, a text message can inform recipients about bringing proof of their vaccination when they next visit the organization. A two-way text survey can ask recipients if they are experiencing any side effects. "Yes" responses can trigger a reply text that provides directions. A two-way text can also be used to ask recipients if they have feedback about the vaccine process. Worthwhile suggestions can be implemented to make the remainder of the COVID-19 vaccine program — and any other vaccine programs — more successful. Dialog Health Makes It Easy to Add Vaccine Text Messaging The Dialog Health platform is a simple and effective way for organizations to add text messaging to support and improve their COVID-19 vaccine coordination process. To learn more about the platform, schedule a demo , email mailto:info@dialoghealth.com , or call (877) 666-1132.

Several recent reports show that spam texts are a growing challenge. This makes it even more imperative that healthcare organizations carefully choose their text messaging service provider, looking for certain qualities that will make a difference in compliance and texting success. Before we discuss those factors, let's take a quick look at some of the most recent data on spam texts. An NPR report citing RoboKiller data notes that more than 47 billion spam texts have been sent so far in 2021, which is up 55% from 2020. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reported that it received approximately 14,000 consumer complaints about unwanted text messages in 2020, representing an almost 146% increase from the number of complaints in 2019. Finally, the 7th edition of the Truecaller Insights US Spam & Scam Report notes that the average number of spam texts per month is about 17, continuing significant year-on-year increases. The FCC is hoping to reduce the number of spam texts through rulemaking that, if adopted, would require mobile wireless providers to block illegal text messaging. "In a world where so many of us rely heavily on texting to stay connected with our friends and family, ensuring the integrity of this communication is vitally important," stated Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a news release. While the FCC works on its end to address the increase in spam texts, healthcare organizations that currently use or are considering using texting should take a few steps of their own to help ensure they are properly using texting and their messages do not get flagged as spam. Both concern who healthcare organizations partner with to launch a texting program. What Healthcare Organizations Need to Do First, organizations will want to choose a company that uses a secure, HIPAA-compliant platform and supporting operations that protect sensitive data. Second, organizations will want to choose a text messaging company with engagement experts who work with their partners to facilitate successful delivery of messages that improve outcomes for you and your patients. Success can also be measured in a few other ways. Texts should be effective, with high levels of open rates and interaction. This is best achieved through various tactics, including ensuring that messages feel personal and non-intrusive. The other essential factor for texting success is that messages must be compliant with the latest laws, such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA), and are expected to follow current guidelines, including those from the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and CTIA . An organization that partners with a text messaging company which does not follow current laws and guidelines runs the risk of not only experiencing poor performance with texting campaigns but also facing potential penalties due to non-compliance. At Dialog Health, we help our partners get the results they want from text messaging while maintaining security and compliance. To learn more, contact us today !

Fifth part in a five-part series This post is the final in our series examining the importance and value of a text messaging platform's scalability across a healthcare organization's entire enterprise. By using texting in this manner, patients receive timely information from the personnel and departments supporting them during their care journey while the healthcare organization improves its clinical, operational, and financial performance. This series covers the following stages in the journey: Pre-appointment Appointment Post-appointment Billing Staff communication We previously published blogs on the pre-appointment , appointment , post-appointment , and billing stages of this journey through the enterprise. 6 Staff Communication Uses and Benefits In this fifth and final part in a five-part series, we discuss six of the ways text messaging effectively supports internal staff communications. 1. Emergencies The pandemic has served as yet another reminder about the need for business resilience planning and importance of an effective emergency communication channel to support a resilience program and its efforts. Texting has proven to be a fast and efficient means of keeping personnel current on expectations. It is also valuable when an organization must quickly inform staff of a significant development affecting operations, such as a team member testing positive for COVID-19. Additional examples of ways text messaging supports emergency communication include announcing facility closures and delays in opening; natural disasters; and man-made incidents, including cyberattacks. 2. Mass/group announcements Emergencies aren't the only instance when a time-sensitive mass or group announcement may prove useful. Healthcare organizations can use mass/group text messaging to inform and remind staff about a wide range of topics, including: changes to policies and procedures; road and mass transit closures/delays that may affect commutes; building construction that may affect parking and entering/exiting the building; scheduling gaps that must be filled; revised hours of operation; new staff arrival procedures; updated staff schedules; changes to caregiver and vendor visit protocols; and company initiatives (e.g., blood drive, milestone celebration). 3. Open enrollment and insurance Automating a series of texts that go out before open enrollment begins and continue throughout the enrollment period — providing everything from deadlines to reminders to links for resources to surveys about the enrollment process — is a simple way to increase engagement during and participation in open enrollment. Many organizations also use automated text campaigns to drive engagement with sponsored health and wellness initiatives. Texting can provide staff with timely information and answers to frequently asked questions concerning their sponsored health insurance. This can cover topics such as the option to fund a health savings account, availability of mental health services and alternative therapies, where personnel and covered family members can go to receive COVID-19 tests and vaccines/boosters, and options for telehealth. 4. Surveys Texting has proven to have a higher engagement rate than other communication methods, and this extends to surveys. Healthcare organizations can conduct surveys via two-way texts, asking personnel to reply to questions via text, or provide links within text messages that direct staff to online survey forms. Possible topics for staff surveys: comfort with new policies and procedures, feedback on initiatives, communication effectiveness, availability of physical and educational resources, and surveying new staff at regular intervals to improve the onboarding experience and retention. Targeted pulse surveys can also help organizations address issues or concerns before they become bigger problems, identify areas in need of improvement, and ultimately help drive changes that can enhance staff satisfaction, productivity, and retention. When personnel experience a communication gap with leadership, an organization runs the risk that staff will come up with their own narrative about internal and external priorities and problems. 5. New employee processes Human resources departments can leverage texting in many ways to support their new hires. This includes sending reminders about training sessions, information about paperwork, and links to educational materials. Organizations can also survey new staff about their comfort with and questions concerning the onboarding progress and training. Surveying new hires at regular intervals (e.g., every 30 days for three months) can help improve retention and identify opportunities to strengthen the onboarding experience. 6. Improving staff morale As essential as it is for organizations to keep their staff informed about changes to the work schedule, policies and procedures, and other developments that affect operations, one could argue that it's just as important for organization leadership and managers to remind staff that their work and dedication to patient care is noticed and appreciated. Organizations can send emotional and inspirational support texts to personnel to provide a lift to staff members' mental health. The benefits of a message of appreciation can make a significant difference in personnel morale while also boosting productivity. Consider that New Mexico's Lovelace Health System sent thousands of text messages to staff early in the COVID-19 pandemic. While these messages covered a range of topics, including changes to protocols, safety practice reminders, and information concerning the system's employee assistance program, many uplifting messages and inspirational quotes were sent as well. Concerning this initiative, Serena Pettes, vice president of marketing and business development for the health system, stated , "Sending texts to our employees … during COVID-19 has been an easy, quick, and effective way to provide support, encouragement, and guidance during a challenging time." Texting to Support the Entire Healthcare Enterprise This concludes our series on the value of using text messaging across a healthcare organization's entire enterprise. If you are interested in improving your organization's communications across its enterprise, schedule a demo of Dialog Health . We'll show you how our platform works and tell you about some of the many ways clients nationwide are using our two-way, HIPAA-compliant texting platform to improve patient and employee engagement while increasing staff productivity and strengthening the bottom line.

With the coronavirus and its variants driving increases in infections, healthcare providers nationwide are being forced to manage a rise in outbound phone calls to patients and caregivers. Some providers have diverted staff and resources to completing these calls. But other organizations have turned to text messaging to help reduce the need for significant operational changes while making management of calls more efficient and effective. Here are a few ways Dialog Health is helping clients better manage the growing amount of phone calls staff would typically need to make every day. 1. Decrease multiple types of calls Learn five types of phone calls organizations are drastically reducing with texts. 2. Provide mass test results Within the first 60 days of implementing Dialog Health's texting solution, an urgent care provider was able to eliminate 75,000 phone calls informing patients of their negative COVID-19 test results. Read the case study here . 3. Reduce readmissions Using two-way text messaging, one hospital saved many staff hours by decreasing phone calls to patients. Perhaps more significant is that the hospital was able to achieve a more than 80% reduction in readmissions in just 90 days . Interested in using our two-way texting to drastically reduce phone calls and improve staff and patient satisfaction? To schedule a free demo of Dialog Health's HIPAA-compliant, two-way text messaging platform, please call or text our President Brandon Daniell at (615) 429-4252.

Just a few days ago, the United States reported nearly 2.5 million coronavirus cases in one week. This was the first time the number of cases in a week surpassed 2 million and well outpaced the previous record for a single week: 1.7 million cases from Jan. 3-9, 2021. One of the effects of this rapid rise in cases is that it's pushing businesses, many of which were already dealing with a staffing shortage before Omicron, to be even more short-staffed. Employees are calling out sick because of positive COVID tests, COVID exposure, other illnesses (e.g., flu ), or needing to stay home to support family members. During this difficult period, we want to remind our clients that we are here to help you deliver time-sensitive and ever-evolving communications to your employees and fast-track the setup of functionality that can better support your efforts to coordinate, engage, and support staff. We also want to identify some of the ways clients are currently using the Dialog Health texting platform to communicate updates to employees, five of which are detailed below. If you are a Dialog Health user and want help setting up new alerts or if your organization isn't using text messaging but wants to add it to your employee communication capabilities, please reach out to your account representative or contact us at info@dialoghealth.com, 877.666.1132, or by filling out the form here 1. Emergency/mass alerts Our platform allows users to create and quickly send out mass text messages to staff. Uses include informing employees of changes to on-site safety protocols, a team member testing positive for COVID-19, and openings in or changes to the schedule. 2. Virtual connection via text messaging links Our clients are making sure employees are receiving the necessary access to virtual meetings, video conferences, web chats, and more via links embedded in text messages. Text messages with links have a better open rate and engagement than emails with links. 3. Business continuity Two-way text scheduling reminders are helping clients automate and send text messages based on their specific criteria, whether they need to reschedule staff shifts, modify opening and closing procedures, inform employees that they cannot enter the building, and communicate about other changes that affect operations. The system allows clients to send the right messages to the right group of people at the right time. 4. Health plan benefits Our clients are using texting to provide staff with timely information and answers to frequently asked questions concerning their sponsored health insurance, which may have changed with the start of the new year. This can include matters such as where personnel and covered family members can go to receive a COVID-19 test and vaccine/booster, how tests and vaccines are covered, and the availability of mental health services (i.e., employee assistance programs). 5. Emotional support One of the most important types of message clients are sending to staff during these difficult times are those that provide emotional and inspirational support. Texted words of encouragement and appreciation can lift a staff member's spirits and have a positive impact on an employee's mental health and outlook. Spread the Word, Not the Virus "Chaos Is Theme of New Year…" begins the title of a Bloomberg column . While there is optimism that Omicron does not have as much severity as the earlier versions of COVID and that the surge we are experiencing should pass somewhat quickly, there will be tremendous staffing uncertainty from day to day for some time. It is essential that businesses have the means and processes to best ensure the timely messages they need to get to staff — and others — are distributed efficiently and effectively. If you need to get a message out fast, to a significant number of people and with a high degree of confidence that your audience will receive and read it, send that message as a text.

An analysis of Dialog Health client data reveals that healthcare organizations are using the two-way text messaging platform to significantly reduce the time spent by staff on patient outreach concerning upcoming appointments. Dialog Health data indicates that clients, on average, can use texting to communicate with about 86.3% of patients about their future appointments. Text messaging is allowing users of the Dialog Health platform to: Ensure more patients receive the care they need, including critical preventive services such as mammograms and colonoscopies Achieve substantial reductions in cancellations, no-shows, and no-goes Increase patient volume and revenue Considerably reduce the time spent by staff calling patients about appointments Assign staff to other essential tasks that improve patient care and satisfaction, increase patient volume and collections, and strengthen operational performance and efficiency Reduce time spent on overtime and PRN (as-needed) staff Under 14% of patients will require outreach by means other than text messaging. Only about 1% of patients are opting out of communication by texting. About 2% do not provide a mobile phone number. Notably, the data analysis revealed that about 10% cannot be reached via the mobile phone number associated with their account. This represents an opportunity for organizations to further increase the number of patients who can be communicated with via texting if the mobile number is corrected. "For healthcare providers, making sure patients show up for their appointments is critical for helping keep patients healthy and decreasing the risk of future health issues while generating the revenue needed to keep an organization financially solvent," said Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health. "Our latest data analysis shows that text messaging can play a central role in achieving these objectives and other noteworthy benefits. As we say, if you want to get a message out fast to a significant number of people and with a high degree of confidence they will receive, read, and respond to it, send that message as a text."

Dialog Health announces the publication of a new client success story highlighting how its two-way text messaging platform is helping an anesthesia provider achieve noteworthy improvements in several aspects of its operations, including patient engagement and staff workload. The Dialog Health platform was selected by Ambulatory Management Solutions (AMS), a national management services organization that supports providers of mobile anesthesia services. AMS then had Chicago-based Mobile Anesthesiologists deploy the platform in July 2020. Mobile Anesthesiologists has since used two-way text messaging for a wide range of patient outreach activities in areas such as preadmission documentation, patient transportation, COVID-19 screenings, compliance reminders, and surveys. The success story shares the impressive results Mobile Anesthesiologists achieved in its Chicago market over a five-month period in 2021, including the following: 97% of patients opted into text messaging 225% increase in completed pre-appointment documentation (i.e., patient history) via Mobile Anesthesiologists' web portal 76% of post-operative surveys completed via text messaging 99% improved Net Promoter Score 66% of patient satisfaction surveys completed via text messaging 74% of COVID screenings completed via text messaging Thanks to texting with Dialog Health, Mobile Anesthesiologists has substantially strengthened patient engagement while greatly reducing the staff time and costs associated with manual patient outreach and communications. "I'm 1,000% satisfied with Dialog Health," said Tina Mentz, chief operating officer of AMS, who identified the opportunity for Mobile Anesthesiologists to benefit from adding text messaging as a communication mechanism. "The platform is easy to use. We are engaging with and helping our patients through their whole journey. We quickly identify which patients actually need a phone call. The Dialog Health team responds promptly to our questions. Our experience with Dialog Health has greatly exceeded expectations." Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health, praised AMS and Mobile Anesthesiologists for how they are using texting. "Text messaging has the potential to transform the way organizations communicate and engage with patients, and we're seeing this firsthand with AMS and Mobile Anesthesiologists. They have effectively leveraged texting to improve outcomes and the patient experience while also contributing to better staff productivity and satisfaction. We are pleased our platform is greatly helping these terrific professionals and look forward to exploring how texting can continue to support the efforts of AMS and Mobile Anesthesiologists to meet and exceed their goals." Access the AMS and Mobile Anesthesiologists client success story .