Today's healthcare organizations use a variety of mechanisms to communicate with patients and their caregivers, facility staff, and vendor partners. It's commonplace to see organizations use a mix of older channels, such as mail and phone, and newer approaches, such as email, mobile app, and text message, in their efforts to reach and engage with these stakeholders. With multiple options, what should organizations rely upon the most? Let's examine each of these five channels and then evaluate them on three characteristics: initial setup cost, cost per outreach, and engagement effectiveness. Phone For years, phone was a highly reliable means of reaching an individual. Every phone call was either answered or answering message/voicemail listened to and usually followed up on. Organizations could expect that they would speak with the individual they needed to reach on the initial call or would eventually hear back from that person. Phone calling can still be an effective means of communication — assuming the person on the other end answers the call. But the number of people doing so is declining. Fast. As a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults found , eight-in-ten Americans don't generally answer their cellphone when an unknown number calls. A 2021 Hiya study found that 94% of Americans don't pick up the phone for unidentified callers due to rapid rise of robocalls. Meanwhile, voicemails may not be listened to for hours or days — or perhaps ever. There are many reasons why you should not leave a voicemail. These reasons have been contributing to the decline in voicemail. In fact, the fall of voicemail was already a topic of conversation back in 2013 . Phone calling is also expensive — and becoming more expensive essentially by the day. Phone calls require what quickly adds up to significant staff time, especially for those outreach efforts that require multiple phone calls (and with no guarantee of success). Pair that staff time with the surge in labor costs for healthcare organizations and it's easy to see how phone calls are largely an inefficient and costly use of resources. While organizations still need the ability to make calls, especially to reach those individuals who may not want to communicate via any of the other channels discussed in this piece, it's clear that the less phone calls an organization needs to make, the better. Evaluation criteria Initial setup cost: It's fairly easy and not particularly expensive to set up staff to make phone calls. An organization needs a phone plan and the phones for staff to use. While not the cheapest communication channel, it's far from the costliest. Outreach cost: This is what should be motivating healthcare organizations to move away from the phone as much and as quickly as possible. There's the time it takes for staff to enter in an individual's phone number. The time it takes to wait for someone to answer. The time it takes to speak with an individual or the time it takes to leave a voicemail. When outreach requires multiple calls, which is more often the case these days, the time — and associated cost — surges. Engagement effectiveness: If someone answers the phone, calling becomes very effective. But that's a big if, and one that's growing bigger by the day. Mail Even when mail was a more common form of communication, it was never a great method of communication simply because of the time it took for a piece of mail to be assembled, sent, and then reach the intended recipient. That time has not decreased. In fact, we've only seen increases in the time it takes for a piece of mail to go from one location to another largely due to postal service staffing shortages and budget cuts. The increased prevalence of severe weather can add more time, as can the typical mix of factors that cause mail delays (e.g., traffic accidents, holidays). Another problem with mail: There's no assurance that a piece of mail will ever reach its intended recipient. Reasons why include that individual moving to mail being lost to an incorrect address captured in a database. The U.S. Postal Services reports that more than 4% of mail is undeliverable as addressed. This is mail that could not be delivered to the address on the mailpiece. Even if a letter reaches the recipient, there's no way to ensure they will read it. The correspondence could end up in the trash before its ever opened. Finally, the cost of mail has steadily increased over the years, with plans for additional increases in the near future — without a corresponding increase in the value of sending mail. Evaluation criteria Initial setup cost: Getting staff set up to send mail is fairly easy and it's inexpensive. That's the good news. Outreach cost: The bad news: The cost per outreach far outweighs any savings achieved via the low setup cost. There's the staff time required to produce and print the material that will be mailed, the time it takes to assemble the mail piece, and the cost of (rising) postage, envelopes, paper, and ink. This all adds up to a lot of money, fast. The cost of sending a single stuffed envelope, taking into consideration staff time and materials, typically runs around $1.20 to $2.00. Engagement effectiveness: Another knock against mail: It's a highly ineffective way to engage with recipients for the reasons we've already noted. There's no practical way to ensure a piece of mail reaches its intended recipient and is read by this recipient. If the mail asks the recipient to perform a task, the organization that sent the mail will need to wait for the person to act, assuming they ever do so. If a person fails to act, the organization will need to follow up, likely using one of the other channels we discuss in this piece. This bodes the question: Unless absolutely necessary, or when requested by recipients, why send mail at all? Email When email came on to the scene, it seemed like a perfect communication mechanism. Fast? Check. Easy to send? Check. Cheap to send? Check. Likely to be opened and read? Check. But a few things happened as email became more ubiquitous for these reasons and smartphones became an integral part of everyday life. The number of emails people received in a day soared. And, of course, so did spam. Statistics show the following: The average person receives more than 100 emails per day. The open rate for emails is between 20% and 40%. Nearly 85% of all emails are spam. In fact, billions of spam emails are sent daily. Many people have multiple email accounts — often at least one business and one personal. It's easy to see why the value of email as a communication channel has declined over the years. When you combine the sheer number of emails people receive daily with the rise in spam and concern about cyberattacks via mechanisms like phishing plus the need to manage multiple email accounts, it's far from a sure thing to expect people to read and respond to their email and do so in a timely manner. Evaluation criteria Initial setup cost: The initial setup of email is similar in cost to that of setting up a staff member with a phone number. They need an email service provider, email address, and email plan as well as enough storage to handle their email responsibilities. Outreach cost: Sending email remains cheap. Sending emails in bulk may require some additional expenses, but they're not so high as to significantly elevate the outreach cost. Engagement effectiveness: Whereas email was once highly effective at engaging a recipient, it's quickly becoming as ineffective as paper mail. As we noted, most emails go unread. Those that are read may not be read in a timely email and may not be acted on. If someone provides an email address associated with a job and then leaves that job, the email address will no longer be a valid way to communicate with that individual. Unless you're running an email campaign through a program like Constant Contact or Mailchimp, you may never know if or when someone has opened an email. Ultimately, most emails sent will require follow-up outreach via another communication mechanism. App More and more of our lives are spent interacting with apps on our smartphones. Just how much time are we spending? A survey showed that Americans spent a third of their waking hours on mobile devices in 2021. This is undoubtedly one of the reasons why healthcare organizations have explored setting up their own apps to communicate with stakeholders. If stakeholders are on their mobile devices so often, an app would seem like a great way to reach them. And there's certainly truth in this. But, once again, there are some big "ifs" associated with using an app for communication. The stakeholder will need to add (download/install) the app to their phone and either log in with information provided by the healthcare organization or by setting up their own account. Once this is completed, the app would seem to be an effective communication mechanism — assuming that when the stakeholder changes phones, they bring the app with them to their new phone, and assuming that logging into and using the app is fast and easy. There's also the fact that about 3 out of every 10 Medicare-aged adults cannot use apps . Organizations will need to develop out a separate communications plan for this group, which, for some organizations, could be rather large. Evaluation criteria Initial setup cost: Very, very high — and that's for just a basic app. The more bells and whistles, whether optional or required, the higher the expense. At a minimum, an organization is looking at many thousands of dollars for development of the app. Does it need to be HIPAA compliant? That's going to run up the costs. Then there's maintenance/update costs, the costs to ensure it can work on current Android and Apple devices, and the costs to train users on how to use the software that powers the app. There can be many others as well, depending on what is and isn't included in develop and maintenance. Finally, there are the costs associated with getting the word out to stakeholders about availability of the app. This can include adding the app to mobile app stores and providing links to download the app on an organization's website. Outreach cost: On a positive note about cost, once the app is developed and launched, sending messages through it is inexpensive. It's essentially on par with email. Engagement effectiveness: Assuming a stakeholder takes the time to install the app and set it up on their mobile device, using an app as a communication channel can be a fairly effective means of engagement. The process of adding and logging into the app will make the user feel more compelled to interact with the app, assuming they find it user friendly. But getting someone to download and set up an app is likely to prove very difficult for most healthcare organizations — and especially those not interacting with stakeholders on an ongoing basis. Patients who view a healthcare interaction as a short-term experience (e.g., surgery, urgent care visit) are unlikely to see great value in taking the time to set up and interact via an app — one that they will likely remove once the experience is completed — if alternative communication channels exist. Text message Finally, let's look at text messaging, which is a communication mechanism used daily and preferred by a growing number of Americans. There are several factors that have contributed to the rise of texting. The proliferation of cell phones and then smartphones — all of which come with built-in functionality to send and receive texts — is one of them. Another is the ease of texting, especially on smartphones that provide a full keyboard. A third factor is that text messaging is now generally included in cell service plans. Gone are the days of spending a quarter to send or receive a text. A fourth — and very significant — factor is that we're now at a point where it's fairly easy for people to keep their current cell phone number even if they move or change cell phone service providers. This means that a cell number has become a reliable way to identify and reach someone over time. One final factor worth noting is that the ability to include hyperlinks in texts has opened up new opportunities for senders to direct recipients to information that goes beyond what's included in the text. Texting was initially a way to communicate with friends and family members, but as the popularity of text messaging rose and the cost to send and receive texts decreased, businesses saw it as a great way to reach and engage with customers. It's now commonplace for consumers to receive texts from financial institutions, airlines, hotels, e-commerce companies, and many more, including a growing number of healthcare organizations. While spam texts are a concern , their frequency remains low compared to email and phone spam. The number of texts one receives is also likely to be much lower than the number of emails received. This increases the likelihood that the recipient of a text will take the time to review the message — and do so in a timely manner. Research has shown that about 97% of all texts are read, and 95% are read within just minutes of reaching a recipient. Age was once a barrier to texting, but that's no longer the case with nearly all Americans owning a cell phone with texting capabilities. In fact, 92% of American adults older than 65 text. In short, if you want to get a message out fast and with a high degree of confidence that the recipient will receive, read, and respond to it, send that message as a text. Evaluation criteria Initial setup cost: While not the lowest on this list (that goes to mail), the setup cost for a healthcare organization to leverage text messaging is likely to be similar to that of setting up phone and email service. There will be the initial cost of the text messaging platform and its implementation, setting up the platform to text with stakeholders, some ongoing maintenance and upgrades, and staff training. Outreach cost: The bulk of the investment in text messaging concerns the costs discussed in the previous section. Once an organization is set up to text, outreach costs are very low. Each text ends up costing pennies. That's factoring in the time it takes to create and send messages. Engagement effectiveness: This is where text messaging distinguishes itself from the four other communication mechanisms discussed in this piece. There is no other channel that will be more effective at reaching and engaging with the bulk of stakeholders — regardless of their age or location. Most people opt in to receiving text messages from their healthcare providers and few opt out. As we noted above, texts are likely to be opened and read fast. Furthermore, text messaging platforms often include the ability to identify when messages are successfully delivered and opened. This provides helpful information staff can use to determine whether supplemental outreach via a mechanism like a phone call would be worthwhile. The use of two-way texting provides organizations with another valuable engagement mechanism. Two-way texting allows recipients to respond to a mass text, with their response captured by the text messaging platform. Healthcare organizations are using such functionality for everything from confirming appointments, to conducting COVID-19 prescreening surveys, to checking in with patients following discharge to determine if they have questions or questions, to performing satisfaction surveys. The ability to include hyperlinks in texts is allowing healthcare organizations to direct patients to any number of online sources, including patient portals, educational materials, payment systems, scheduling platforms, and maps and directions. To learn how text messaging is being used to drive enterprise-wide healthcare communication, read this eBook . The Unquestionable Winner There's no doubt that texting should be the backbone for any healthcare organization's communications. The low overall setup and outreach cost combined with unmatched engagement effectiveness, ease of sending messages, and ability to monitor outreach success makes texting the best communication option for interacting with most stakeholders. While organizations will need to use other mechanisms to communicate with stakeholders when those stakeholders either do not provide a mobile number, provide the wrong number (which can be corrected), prefer not to text, or do not respond to texts, organizations will benefit by communicating by text as much as possible. Text messaging is easy, fast, and inexpensive. And most importantly, research shows that it's highly successful in helping organizations achieve transformational results and improvements that would not be possible with any other communication mechanism. Now that you have read this article, ask yourself: "What channel would I want my doctor or hospital to use?"

By Brandon Daniell, President and Co-Founder, Dialog Health In early May, I went on my latest patient journey: my first colonoscopy appointment. Having worked in healthcare for many years, I had a good idea of what to expect from the prep and procedure. If you have never had a colonoscopy, you will find the prep part of the patient journey more challenging than the procedure itself — and by challenging I mean uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. I'll spare you the lovely details. What are also challenging are the number of steps one must complete and the timing for many of those steps — timing for everything from picking up the prep kit, to moving through the prep, to getting dropped for the procedure. Any missed steps or timing mistakes leading up to the colonoscopy could require cancellation and rescheduling, or even missed polyps . With that said, one would hope for a procedure which was first performed in the late 1960s and is now performed million times a year, providers would have developed a highly effective mechanism for helping patients comply with the multitude of directions required for a safe, successful colonoscopy. After 11 years of working with clients to improve patient activation during the patient journey, and given we have many clients who perform colonoscopies, I am well versed at how text messaging — particularly two-way texting — is being used by providers to notify, educate, support, and guide patients along their journey while helping reduce the number of cancellations, no-shows, and no-goes. Unfortunately, this is not what I experienced, and what I experience made this uncomfortable journey much more difficult than it needed to be. My Overly Complicated Patient Journey On a positive note, the surgery center in Denver where I had my colonoscopy uses text messaging for communication with its patients. As the preferred communication mechanism for a growing number of patients, the ability to text has become must-have for any healthcare provider. But on a much less positive note, the ASC sent me a single text message across my entire journey. It was a basic appointment reminder that only provided the day and time of the appointment and asked for a response to confirm I would be attending — which I gave. And yet even after texting back my confirmation, for some reason the center's email system still insisted on sending me not one, not two, but three (!) email reminders … which I only found a week after my procedure. I also received two phone calls reminding me of the appointment — which I didn't answer since I did not recognize the number. I only learned that it was the ASC calling when I finally got around to listening to the messages left on my voicemail … after my procedure. I also received from the center a very detailed and complex list of instructions on a piece of paper summarizing all of the dos and don'ts for my procedure starting seven days before the procedure. These dos and don'ts covered foods to avoid, medicines to take, medicines to stop taking, what to drink, what not to drink, when to start the prep, how much to drink after the prep, when to drink the second prep, when to stop drinking all together, and much more. There were so many moving parts and precise times to do — or not do — things that I must have reviewed the paper 20 times. The last thing I wanted to do was to mess up the process and be forced to do it all again because my scheduled appointment would need to be rescheduled or to undergo a suboptimal colonoscopy that could miss something potentially life-threatening. Despite a lack of prompting, I was fortunate that I remembered to go to the pharmacy to get my prep kit. I have heard stories from patients who forgot to do so and realized they could not start the prep only when they went to start the prep. I believe this paper also mentioned I needed a driver to accompany me to the ASC. I cannot recall if I was told an arrival time. I was arriving early regardless because I wanted to get the whole process done without delay and didn't want to risk being late. I recall needing to look up the address of the facility myself. Without clear information on parking, this was going to require a "find-out-when-we-get-there" approach. I arrived at the facility with my wallet, which included my license (as my form of identification), insurance card, and a means of payment — all of which the ASC required but had not reminded me to bring. Since my father was accompanying me and he is a retired surgeon, he encouraged me to leave my watch, phone, and bracelet at home. He also advised me to wear shorts, T-shirt, and slip-on shoes (nothing that needed to be laced up) — all of which would help me get dressed and ready for discharge more easily as I came out of the anesthesia. Fortunately, my procedure went well, largely because I had not lost the paper with the prep instructions and double-and triple-checked them as I moved through the steps required for compliance. As I was being discharged, I was told I would get a call from a nurse the following day. What the ASC failed to mention was that the call would come early in the morning. Sure enough, I had a phone call from a number I did not recognize show up on my mobile phone at 7:15 am the next day. I did not answer it since: 1) Who calls at 7:15 am in the morning?!? and 2) I didn't recognize the number. I eventually listened to the voicemail … five hours later when I checked voicemails while eating lunch. Thus completed my nowhere-as-easy-as-it-could-have-been colonoscopy journey. In Appreciation of Text Messaging Looking back on my journey, I was reminded about the effectiveness and convenience of the two-way texts our clients send to and receive from patients. I wish I had received texts reminding me to pick up the prep at the pharmacy, reminding me to not eat anything with seeds or nuts starting three days before my appointment, and reminding when to stop drinking fluids. It would have been great to receive a text the day I needed to start the prep with a reminder to start it at 6:00 pm. The text could have included a link to an electronic version of the piece of paper I was using, which I assume many people lose. A text letting me know there were emails needing my attention would have been a plus. A text the night before that provided my arrival time, a link to a map to the facility, suggestions on where to park, and a reminder of what to bring and leave at home would have all been really helpful and better ensured I did what I needed to do — for me and the ASC. Going back to that phone call at 7:15 am the day after my surgery: If it had been a text asking me if I needed a call from the nurse, I would have read it and replied with a "No." I looked at my phone at 7:15 am and ignored the call, but the text message would have been read as soon as I saw I had a new text. As I write this a week following my procedure, I have not been asked to provide any feedback on my experience. If I had been asked, I would have said the staff were fantastic and I would happily recommend their facility to others — with a recommendation that they communicate more through texting. The ASC could have texted me and asked me to rate my experience and then followed up to my reply of "excellent" with a text thanking me and inviting me to leave a 5-star review on one or more of the review websites the center is using to help market itself to its community. Looking back on my whole experience, I cannot help but realize just how great the patient journey is at our clients' facilities. Communication in healthcare is so important, and two-way texting is such any easy way to activate, engage with, and guide the patient. When it comes to something like a colonoscopy, effective communication throughout the journey takes on even greater importance. With my background in healthcare, I knew how important it was to undergo the procedure and do whatever I needed to so I could keep my appointment and best ensure an optimal screening. But I worry about those patients who may struggle to follow and stay compliant with the complex prep directions and ultimately need their appointment canceled. Will they even want to reschedule it, especially if they are concerned about their ability to follow the directions to a T? Will they be able to take more time off for the prep and procedure, having already done so once without success? Can they arrange transportation again? One bad experience may be all it takes to deter someone from getting the " gold standard " for decreasing colon cancer risk. While the use of text messaging does not ensure compliance, it undoubtedly helps. I hope the ASC where I had my colonoscopy, and all others, look more closely at the ways two-way texting can improve the patient journey. We'd love Dialog Health to be the platform they use, but even if it's not, what matters is that texting becomes the communication mechanism relied upon for those patients who prefer it. And as we know, that's most patients these days. By using text messaging, providers will help their patients get the care they need, when they need it. Texting does a lot more for the organizations but improving patient care should be justification enough for adding it as a communication mechanism and exploring opportunities to leverage it.

I sometime describe our Two-way texting communication platform as easy, cheap and fun (very similar to my Bumble profile :). What's not to love? So, if your interested...let's talk about TEXT. So many reasons to love our two-way texting solution including improving your recall campaigns. Not only does it drastically increase recall appointments but by using Dialog Health's solution your facility can replace hours of phone calls and heaps of letters with automated text messages that patients are checking within minutes. And not to worry...Dialog Health is HIPAA compliant; cloud-based; easy-to-use; and quick to start. Swipe right.

Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health, identifies common challenges associated with medical practice crisis communications and shares solutions in a new Physicians Practice column. In " Crisis communications: Solutions for 5 top challenges ," Daniell discusses the following challenges: Reduced in-person communication Communication weaknesses Emergency messages that fail to reach recipients Emergency response during and after a crisis Overlooking staff mental health Daniell also provides guidance to help practices identify their specific communication challenges. As he concludes, "Hopefully, what you have learned and continue to learn during this pandemic — and the solutions that you implement as a result — will allow your practice to improve its crisis communication and response plan in ways that will help get you through the winter, spring, and beyond." Access Daniell's column on emergency communications challenges .

FRANKLIN, Tenn., June 8, 2020 -- Dialog Health, a two-way texting platform that enables information to be pushed to and pulled from patients, caregivers, and healthcare facility staff, announces the publication of a new case study . This success story highlights how its platform is helping Chicago-based Mobile Anesthesiologists achieve substantial improvements in several aspects of its operations, including patient engagement and staff workload, all while reducing costs. The Dialog Health platform was selected by Ambulatory Management Solutions (AMS), a national management services organization that supports outpatient anesthesia services. AMS then had Mobile Anesthesiologists deploy the platform in July 2020. Since deployment, Mobile Anesthesiologists is reaching 97% of patients via text messaging. The anesthesia provider has used two-way text messaging for extensive patient outreach activities in areas such as preadmission documentation, patient transportation, COVID-19 screenings, compliance reminders, and satisfaction surveys. The case study shares the impressive results Mobile Anesthesiologists achieved in its Chicago market over a five-month period in 2021. These include the following: 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 significantly strengthened patient engagement while greatly reducing the staff time and costs associated with patient outreach and communications. "With Dialog Health, we are engaging with and helping our patients through their whole journey," said Tina Mentz, chief operating officer of AMS. "We're meeting patients where they are; we're interacting with patients the way they're accustomed to, which is their mobile device; and we're communicating with patients in the method they increasingly prefer. Thanks to texting, we're seeing significant productivity gains by eliminating manual outreach efforts while delivering better service to our patients." 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 enhanced staff productivity and satisfaction. We are pleased our platform is greatly helping these terrific professionals and their patients, and we look forward to exploring how texting can continue to support efforts to meet and exceed their goals." To access the AMS/Mobile Anesthesiologists case study, click here . Organizations interested in adding text messaging for patient communications should visit Dialog Health , email info@dialoghealth.com , or call (877) 666-1132. * * * About Dialog Health Dialog Health 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 dialoghealth.com , call (877) 666-1132, and follow Dialog Health on LinkedIn . About Ambulatory Management Solutions AMS provides turnkey anesthesia and administrative support services for in-office and ambulatory-based surgical procedures to physician practices across various specialties that are completing surgical procedures for lower-risk patients in an office setting. Our comprehensive, office-based surgical solution has helped to drive significant growth of outpatient surgery and ease the burden associated with outpatient surgery on independent physicians. AMS helped to create a safe, effective, and financially viable office-based anesthesia model that has been replicated throughout the country. We have been focused on value-based healthcare since we started and continue to evolve the outpatient anesthesia model and services we provide to meet the needs of this unique and ever-changing environment. For more information, please visit ams-md.com .

When a medical practice experiences an emergency or crisis, it needs the ability to reach multiple people quickly and efficiently. That's the importance of a mass communication plan. A practice also needs to know if the messages it sends reach their intended audiences and have confidence that the messages are likely to be read in a timely manner. That points to the importance of using text messaging during an emergency and or crisis. In Dialog Health President Brandon Daniell's new Physicians Practice column, titled " Why medical practices need a mass communication plan ," he identifies when practices are most likely to need to execute a mass communication plan and then discusses why it's best that text messaging serves as the backbone for the communication plan. As he states, "The unmatched engagement effectiveness, ease of sending messages, and ability to monitor outreach success, paired with low setup and outreach costs, make text messaging the strongest communication option for interacting with recipients. This is especially true when a message is urgent, and a practice wants to best ensure that the communication is read and acted upon quickly." Access Daniell's column in Physicians Practice .

When human resources (HR) departments have access to text messaging, they gain the most effective channel to deliver communications and education concerning open enrollment, onboarding new employees, health and wellness offerings, and numerous other initiatives. We're seeing clients take full advantage of their texting capabilities to share timely, critical information with a majority of their employees , all while driving engagement. Below are 10 actual examples* of how one hospital's HR department is using texting for the important, the day to day, the mundane, and the fun. 1. "Friendly reminder, Benefits Open Enrollment ends Friday. Click here for more info: https://bit.ly." 2. "The Culture of Safety Survey window is open thru the end of the month. Click here to complete your survey today: https://bit.ly" 3. "Happy Employee Appreciation Day! You are invited for a sweet treat today! Time: 3P - 6P Location: Valet Parking Lot. We appreciate all that you do!" 4. "Calling all RNs! If you know of an RN looking for a change, plz share with them this link to attend our RN Open House this Wednesday: https://indeedhi.re/" 5. "Good Morning! Today is the deadline for eligible team members to receive their booster! Clinic is open from 7:30A to 2P in 6th Floor Dining Room, no appt needed." 6. "Calling All Veterans! If you're a veteran, please click on this link so we may recognize you at this year's Veterans Day celebration: https://bit.ly/" 7. "Did you miss the in-person town hall sessions last week? Not to worry! Click here to view highlights discussed: https://bit.ly/" 8. "Looking to access your W2 electronically and print out a copy yourself? Click here to find out how: https://bit.ly/" 9. "Want to save $ on your medical premiums in 2022? Click here to schedule your onsite biometric screening: https://bit.ly/" 10. "Know an RN who demonstrates excellent care to our patients? Click here to nominate for one of our RN Excellence Awards: https://bit.ly/" Want to learn what two-way text messaging from Dialog Health can do for your HR department? Schedule a demo today ! *Messages have been edited for clarity and anonymity.

Open enrollment will soon begin for hospitals and their human resources (HR) departments across the country. For most employers, including hospitals and health systems, communication with employees represents an ongoing challenge. More traditional communication methods can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and expensive, and often achieve suboptimal engagement. An employee might open and read information sent to them in the mail. They might open and read an email sitting in their inbox. They might notice and read a new poster hanging up in the breakroom. When the communication is important, and especially when it's time-sensitive, that's a lot of mights and a lot to leave to chance. Since hospital human resources departments must ensure critical messages are reaching large groups of — if not all — employees, some of which may now be working remotely part or full time, they are increasingly adding and heavily leaning upon a different communication channel: text messaging. Texting is fast, convenient, and inexpensive. It's also the method of communication most likely to reach, be read, and engaged with by employees. Consider the following statistics about texting: Nearly all (97%!) Americans own a device that can send and receive text messages. 90% of text messages are read within three minutes of being sent. Responses to texts take an average of just 90 seconds. Text messages have an open rate of 97%. Text messaging is also embraced by people of all ages . With texting a universally accepted communication platform, it's become an invaluable asset for hospital human resources departments, not only for open enrollment but year-round communications. The following are four of the most significant reasons HR departments should add text messaging, specifically two-way texting, or explore how they can be relying upon texting even more. 1. Key human resources initiatives There are many HR initiatives that immediately benefit from adding two-way texting to the communication mix, including the following: Benefits enrollment . A series of automated texts that go out before open enrollment starts and throughout enrollment is a highly effective, yet simple way to increase engagement during this important period. Some texting platforms include helpful filtering functionality, such as the ability to perform outreach by employment status (e.g., full-time, part-time), preferred language, types of insurance held, and name of plan provider, all of which help with engagement and enrollment participation. Onboarding new employees . Hospital and health system human resources departments spend significant time overseeing the hiring of employees — hiring that, for most organizations, has increased over these past few years as turnover has increased. The ability to automate onboarding-related messages via two-way texting can streamline the process by providing relevant information to the employee and steering them to additional resources, such as employee portals and time-sensitive documentation. HR departments can also text links to an onboarding checklist and educational materials, reminders about training sessions, information about required paperwork, and surveys about comfort with and questions concerning onboarding progress and training materials. Surveying new staff during their initial weeks and months at a hospital can help improve retention and identify ways to strengthen the onboarding experience going forward. Wellness programs and available benefits . Once open enrollment is completed, many employers use text campaigns to drive engagement with company-sponsored health and wellness initiatives. Text messages can also be sent periodically to staff to remind them about available benefits and share links staff can access to learn more information about their benefits and review frequently asked questions. Such texts encourage staff to use available benefits, which contributes to staff wellness and satisfaction. 2. Important notifications The ability to send significant notifications to large numbers of staff, if not all employees, and do so fast and with great certainty that those notifications will be read is very important in a hospital setting. Communications often concern urgent matters and issues that pertain to many, most, or all staff. Here are examples of important notifications that hospitals and health systems we work with have communicated via text: Shelter-in-place alerts. Unfortunately, the need for such alerts is rising. Fortunately, text messaging can help. The speed and ubiquity of text communication is the ideal way to communicate shelter-in-place alerts for emergency situations. Surveyors on site. When surveyors from The Joint Commission, CMS, or other agencies arrive, a hospital can send a text to employees who should know about the survey with a message informing them that surveyors are on site. Drills and alerts. We've had hospital clients use text messaging to inform employees when a drill or practice alert will be run and then send a second text when the drill or alert is concluded. This helps improve participation and engagement and avoid confusion around the timing and purpose of drills and alerts. Weather-related updates. Text messaging is the best means of providing employees with weather-related schedule and work updates. It's a simple way to manage communication leading up to, after, and even during a weather disaster. Texting is especially helpful when updates are frequent, such as when a tornado, hurricane, or wildfire is approaching a community. 3. Timely reminders One of the top reasons people prefer texting to other communication methods is the convenient delivery of timely reminders. After all, people do not want to miss matters of potential importance. That can be everything from open enrollment responsibilities, as referenced earlier, to informing staff about a cash bonus for a new employee referral, on-campus blood drive, upcoming scrub sale, and volunteer opportunity. Throughout the year, hospital human resources departments will likely have extensive opportunities to use their two-way texting to share such timely reminders. 4. Positive news and staff support We're seeing human resources departments send texts that share positive news and lift staff morale. Examples include organization milestones and recognitions (e.g., "named a best place to work"), employee milestones and recognitions (e.g., "celebrating 25 years with us this month"), noteworthy clinical accomplishments (e.g., increases in hospital quality star ratings ), and new leadership hires. We're also seeing HR departments text uplifting words to staff. This can be everything from motivational quotes, to uplifting messages, to words of encourage and appreciation. These small gestures can help remind staff about how much they are valued and provide an organization with another way of showing appreciation. Add Texting to Your Human Resources Communications Repertoire For communication with hospital and health system employees, two-way texting is a channel that should be a part of any human resources department's strategy. In fact, a strong case can be made that it should be the backbone for HR communications. Texting requires no behavior change from employees: all they must do is provide their mobile number and check when text messages come in, which most already do. Some two-way texting platforms, like Dialog Health, do not require staff to download an app or access a special website. Every mobile phone currently used by a hospital employee can send and receive text messages. The channel is there every day and usually checked frequently. Now is the time to start using texting to engage your employees more effectively. Find out what two-way text messaging with Dialog Health can do for your hospital by emailing info@dialoghealth.com or calling (877) 666-1132.

Call centers supporting healthcare organizations use Dialog Health texting solutions every day to help them improve patient contact rates, strengthen patient engagement, and reduce costs. Let's take a closer look at four top reasons call centers nationwide are choosing Dialog Health — and why your call center should consider doing so as well. 1. Generate Inbound Phone Calls For their initial communication with patients, call centers are sending texts to recipients asking them to call a phone number provided in the text message. We like to look at this as: "Dialog Health makes your phones ring." It is much easier, cheaper, and more efficient to answer an inbound call than to make an outbound call. As a business, call centers will always answer the phone whereas when an agent calls a patient, this becomes a game of "hope" — as in, "I hope the person answers the call. I hope I can leave a voicemail if they do not answer. I hope they listen to the voicemail. I hope I do not need to call again." That's a lot of hoping, and unfortunately a lot of hoping that fails. Here are a few examples of ways call centers are generating inbound calls: Appointment scheduling reminders Revenue cycle management (e.g., outstanding balance, discussion about payment options) Recalls (e.g., annual physicals/wellness visits, mammograms, colonoscopies) Post-appointment engagement (e.g., follow-up care, satisfaction surveys) Referrals 2. Enhance Communication Strategies Call centers can create and automate texting campaigns to supplement existing communication outreach efforts. By using text messaging to check in with patients about an appointment or following treatment, share directions to a facility, provide information on a treating physician, deliver educational resources, and a host of other ways, call centers can make patients feel like they are receiving "white-glove" services. 3. Analyze Contact Success Dialog Health's robust and real-time AnalyticsPRO module allows agents to quickly determine who needs to be contacted further (i.e., did not receive an initial text), why they need to be contacted, and how they should be contacted next (i.e., text or phone call). 4. Improve Productivity and Reduce Costs When making phone calls, call center agents can only communicate with one customer at a time and usually for a few if not several minutes per call. With the Dialog Health texting solution, agents can simultaneously manage multiple conversations. The result: dramatically streamlined workflows, improved efficiencies, and many, many more patients engaged in a day. Dialog Health: The Leader in Call Center Text Messaging Call center operators and agents love texting with Dialog Health. See why by filling out this form . You'll receive a demo of the Dialog Health solutions and have your questions about texting answered by one of our call center experts.

Dialog Health has published a complimentary eBook sharing best practices for employers looking to use text messaging to improve employee communication and engagement. Employers must ensure critical and often time-sensitive messages are going out to and reaching large groups of staff, some of whom may be working remotely full or part time. That's why more businesses are adding texting as a communication channel. To help organizations maximize the benefits of text messaging, our new eBook provides 7 best practices for leveraging text messaging and a texting solution to achieve better employee engagement, communication, education, and satisfaction. The resource shares recommendations for when organizations should use texting — including for open enrollment, emergency alerts, surveys, and emotional support — and tips for helping ensure text messages achieve their intended results. The introduction to the eBook summarizes why companies are increasingly leaning upon text messaging as their primary means of communication with staff: "When employers want to better ensure that a message reaches their employees — regardless of where they work — they turn to text messaging. Texting is the communication channel that allows businesses to quickly, reliably, and successfully communicate with their employees. It's the method of communication most likely to reach, be read, and engaged with by employees. It's also fast, convenient, and reduces the workload of HR (human resources) professionals and other staff tasked with staff communication." The free eBook is now available for download . Organizations interested in adding text messaging should visit email info@dialoghealth.com , call (877) 666-1132, or fill out this form .

Why are call centers increasingly adding and relying upon text messaging? In Dialog Health Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer Brandon Daniell's new Call Center Times column, he explains why a growing number of call centers are making texting an integral component of their communications and how text messaging is a customer engagement difference-maker. The column — " Why Call Centers Are Going All-in on Text Messaging " also contrasts texting to calling and summarizes what's required for a call center to add text messaging as a communication channel. As Daniell states, "The unmatched engagement effectiveness, ease of sending texts, and ability to monitor communication success along with low setup and outreach costs makes text messaging the best channel for agents to interact with most customers." Access his column in Call Center Times .

For most employers, including healthcare organizations, communication with employees represents an ongoing challenge. More traditional communication methods can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and expensive, and often achieve suboptimal engagement. An employee might open and read information sent to them in the mail. They might open and read an email sitting in their inbox. They might notice and read a new poster hanging up in the breakroom. When the communication is important, and especially when it's time-sensitive, that's a lot of mights , and a lot to leave to chance. Since healthcare human resources (HR) departments must ensure critical messages are reaching large groups of — if not all — personnel, some of which may now be working remotely part or full time, they are increasingly adding and heavily leaning upon a different communication channel: text messaging , and more specifically , two-way conversational texting. Text messaging is the communication channel that allows healthcare organizations and their human resources departments to quickly, reliably, and successfully communicate with staff . It's the method of communication most likely to reach, be read, and engaged with by employees. It's fast, convenient, and greatly reduces the workload of HR staff and others tasked with internal communications. Two-way texting is also a highly efficient and effective way for staff to communicate with HR managers and organization leadership. Healthcare Organizations Nationwide Are Using Text Messaging To Improve Staff Communication And Engagement When it comes to texting in America, there are some eye-opening statistics, including: More than 95% of text messages are read within three minutes of being sent. Responses to texts take an average of just 90 seconds. Text messages have an open rate of 98%. SMS text messaging 4-5x the open rate of email communication. 30% of voicemails linger unheard for three days or more. Average email open rate is under 20%. Cost of mailing just one stuffed envelope is $1.20-$2.00. Text messaging is also embraced by people of all ages. In a mobile-led world and healthcare industry where staff engagement has become an essential strategy for short- and long-term success, two-way text messaging is a necessity. And with texting a universally accepted communication platform, it has become an invaluable asset for year-round, organization-wide communications. Not all SMS texting solutions are the same. Healthcare organizations need solutions to fit their challenges. At minimum, an SMS texting platform should be cloud-based, include two-way texting capabilities and Tier 1 connectivity, comply with key standards (e.g., HIPAA, TCPA , CTIA , SSAE), and be easy to use and self-service for this environment of ever - changing, urgent communications. 12 Ways Healthcare HR Departments Use SMS Texting Let's look at 12 ways healthcare human resources departments are leveraging two-way text messaging throughout their enterprise to improve end-to-end staff communication and engagement. 1. Recruiting and interview communication Two-way conversational texting gives organizations a powerful solution that can help them more successfully attract and add the talent they need and overcome staffing shortage challenges. Facing intense competition for new personnel, texting can give organizations an advantage over competitors not utilizing this preferred communication channel. SMS text messaging can be used to: Announce open positions Ask current staff for referrals and recommendations Publicize referral bonuses Promote job fairs Communicate with prospective employees about job interview details (e.g., date, time, location, parking, directions, safety protocols) Follow up with prospective employees after interviews (e.g., "Do you have any additional questions about our opening?", "Do you require any more information about our organization?") 2. Sending onboarding SMS text messages Healthcare HR departments spend significant time overseeing the hiring of personnel — hiring that, for most organizations, has increased over these past few years as turnover has increased . The ability to automate onboarding-related messages via two-way texting can streamline the process by providing relevant information to new employees and steering them to additional resources, such as employee portals and required documentation. Uses for SMS texting include: Welcome message Links to onboarding materials Training dates and locations Resource sharing Deadlines and reminders Surveys about the experience 3. Communicating about staff requirements and responsibilities Healthcare staff have various requirements and responsibilities they must meet and complete, which will depend on their position, seniority, and organization type, among other factors. These requirements and responsibilities can be mandated by government agencies, accreditation organizations, the organization itself, and other entities. Ways to achieve compliance and complete responsibilities can include in-person activities (e.g., training/drills), completion of documentation (e.g., credentialing), online courses, and external seminars. It can be difficult for staff to keep track of these requirements and responsibilities, their deadlines, and what staff must do to achieve and maintain compliance. A healthcare HR officer, possibly working in conjunction with a healthcare compliance officer, safety officer, heads of departments, and other team members, can use texting to streamline the delivery of this information. This helps better ensure personnel do what they need to and when they need to do it, which will also help keep the organization compliant and its staff and patients safe. HR departments can send SMS text messages to inform staff about: Credentialing, privileging, and peer review Licensing OSHA HIPAA Cybersecurity Fire/life safety Antimicrobial stewardship Infection prevention/bloodborne pathogens Emergency management Vaccinations 4. Strengthening culture One could argue the importance of a healthcare organization's culture has never been greater. Culture is essential to retaining staff and attracting new employees. It's also critical for motivating staff to maximize their productivity and efforts to support their organization and one another. Text messaging is an effective way to keep culture in the spotlight and remind personnel of how much their employer values them and their work. Such uses for SMS texting include: Staff appreciation events Employee milestones Birthday/anniversary celebration Organization-provided food or service Feedback and suggestions Volunteering Professional development Continuing education Holidays 5. Sending open enrollment SMS text messages A series of automated texts that go out before open enrollment starts and throughout enrollment is a highly effective, yet simple way to increase engagement during this important period. Some SMS texting platforms include helpful filtering functionality, such as the ability to perform outreach by employment status (e.g., full-time, part-time), preferred language, and other qualities, all of which help with engagement and enrollment participation. Send text messages to: Announce start and end of open enrollment Share links to benefits, FAQs, portal, and Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Issue reminders about using benefits Provide contact details of the benefits representative Deliver open enrollment information and reminders 6. Texting important details about benefits In addition to using text messaging to support open enrollment, many healthcare organizations use text campaigns to drive engagement with and provide information about company-sponsored health and wellness initiatives. Text messages can also be sent periodically to staff to remind them about their available benefits (e.g., flu shots, mental health services, alternative therapies, fitness reimbursement, telehealth) and share links staff can access to learn more information about their benefits and review frequently asked questions. Such texts encourage staff to use available benefits, which contributes to staff wellness and satisfaction. Use SMS text messaging to provide: Reminders about benefits Links to additional information Details about wellness program offerings and challenges Instructions on how to fund and review an HSA and 401(k) Reminders about flu shots and other vaccinations Availability of W2 for taxes FAQs 7. Texting emergency and other time-sensitive information The pandemic and increased frequency of natural and manmade disasters have served as reminders about the need for business resilience planning and importance of an effective emergency communication channel to support a resilience program. Texting has proven to be a fast and efficient means of keeping personnel current on expectations and developments affecting operations, such as the risk of a disaster, a team member testing positive for viruses like COVID-19 and influenza, and facility closures and delays in opening. Examples of when two-way texting is particularly valuable are: Disaster alerts and updates Shelter in place and lockdown Community emergency Unexpected business closure Physical and cyber security breach The ability to send significant notifications to large numbers of staff, if not all personnel, and do so fast and with great certainty that those notifications will be read is very important in healthcare settings. Communications often concern urgent matters and issues — extending beyond emergencies — that pertain to many, most, or all staff. Use SMS texting to inform healthcare personnel about: Surveyors on site Drills and alerts Weather-related updates Loss of an employee Road and mass transit closures/delays that may affect commutes Start of construction (e.g., building, parking lot) Negative media reports 8. Providing a mass/group announcement Text messaging is the most effective means of communication when an organization needs to provide an update to or request of staff. Emergency and time-sensitive communications are examples of when mass/group text messaging comes in handy, but there are many other instances when an organization would want to reach and engage most or all personnel. Organizations are sending SMS text messages to staff about: Policy and procedure changes Construction updates, including those affecting parking and entering/exiting the building Scheduling gaps that must be filled Revised hours of operation Open positions (to aid with recruitment efforts) Updated staff schedules Start of open enrollment Company initiatives (e.g., blood drive, milestone celebration) 9. Conducting SMS text message surveys Looking at using two-way SMS texting for surveys, organizations are asking personnel to reply to questions via text or providing links within text messages that direct staff to longer, online surveys. Topics for staff surveys include employee experience, comfort with new policies and procedures, feedback on initiatives, and availability of educational resources. Targeted pulse surveys can also help organizations address issues before they become bigger problems, identify areas for improvement, and drive changes that can enhance staff satisfaction, productivity, and retention. 10. Sending date and deadline reminder messages One of the top reasons people prefer texting to other communication methods is the convenient delivery of timely reminders. After all, people do not want to miss matters of potential importance. That can include reminders about open enrollment responsibilities, town hall meetings, cash bonus for new employee referral, on-campus blood drive, and scrub sale s . Throughout the year, healthcare HR departments will likely have extensive instances to use two-way texting to share such timely reminders and help ensure staff do not miss out on responsibilities and opportunities. 11. Sharing positive news and providing staff support We're seeing healthcare HR departments send SMS texts that share positive news and lift staff morale. Examples include organization milestones and recognitions (e.g., "named a best place to work"), staff milestones and recognitions (e.g., "celebrating 25 years with us this month"), noteworthy clinical accomplishments (e.g., increases in hospital quality star ratings , successful accreditation), and new leadership hires. We're also seeing HR departments text uplifting words to personnel . This can be everything from motivational quotes, to uplifting messages, to words of encourage and appreciation. These small gestures can help remind staff about how much they are valued and provide an organization with another way of showing appreciation, which can help with staff satisfaction and retention. 12. Segmenting groups for targeted text messages One of the most beneficial functions of certain text messaging platforms is the ability for users to quickly send messages to specific groups of staff. While some messages may need to go to all staff, such as emergency announcements, many messages will only be applicable to certain segments of staff. This can include subgroup texts based on employment status, location (i.e., internal vs. remote), department, and seniority. The ability to send targeted, meaningful communications to these segments helps ensure staff engagement with messages. If staff receive non-applicable messages, they may begin to ignore messages or pay less attention to messages sent from their employer. Instances when the ability to send group-targeted two-way texts are as follows: Deadline reminders for those who have not completed a task (e.g., open enrollment, certification, training, annual staff survey) New staff orientation Leadership/management meeting Department meeting and training Benefits changes and updates Messages for remote staff Add SMS Texting to Your Healthcare Human Resources Communications Repertoire For communication with healthcare personnel, two-way conversational texting is a channel that should be a part of any human resources department's strategy. In fact, one could make a strong case that it should be the backbone for healthcare HR communications. Texting requires no behavior change from staff: all they must do is provide their mobile number and check when text messages come in, which most already do. Some two-way texting platforms, like Dialog Health , do not require staff to download an app or access a special website. Every mobile phone currently used by personnel can send and receive text messages. The channel is there every day and usually checked frequently. For healthcare organizations that want to use SMS texting to communicate with patients, choosing HIPAA-compliant text messaging solutions like those from Dialog Health is critical. Now is the time to start using text messaging to engage your staff more effectively and efficiently.