Priorities are shifting – patients want stronger connections with their care providers

Will O'Connor: ©TigerConnect

The relationship between patients and providers lays the foundation of each patient's care experience. According to a recent Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report, trust is a top determinant of positive health behaviors and outcomes. But what exactly does trust mean, and where does it stem from?

While expertise, professionalism, and reliability are fundamental to building trust, the more personal aspects of the patient-provider relationship are just as crucial. The 2024 National Consumer Survey on Access & Choice from Jarrard Inc. reveals two key shifts in patient priorities:

• Trust drives satisfaction and retention - The most significant factor in building trust is when the doctor listens to patient concerns, ranked as the most important among surveyed patients. This suggests that patients highly value feeling heard and understood by their healthcare providers.
• Patients equate experience with quality – In response to the prompt 'I know I am receiving quality care when...,' the top answer from those surveyed was, 'The doctor listens to my concerns.'

These insights signal a wake-up call for providers to assess how they can deepen their connections with patients and improve outcomes, beginning with enhancing communication.

Patient-provider communication challenges

Clear, transparent communication is a cornerstone of successful patient outcomes in health care. Despite significant advancements in medical technology, health care continues to see a substantial communication gap between patients and providers, negatively impacting patient outcomes and eroding the trust that patients place in their health care providers.

An estimated 125,000 lives are lost annually due to medication non-adherence, often driven by misunderstanding and confusion around care plans. Additionally, an estimated 10% of hospitalizations in older patients are considered avoidable through improved medication adherence. Traditional communication methods among care teams and patients often fragmented, including long games of phone-tag and indirect communication through online portals. The disjointed process can delay the exchange and relay of information to providers, increasing the risk of dangerous errors in a patient’s care plan. The urgency to address these communication challenges is apparent.

Modern, mobile-friendly communication platforms bring a promising solution to the table, allowing for direct communication between patients, their doctors, and care staff – improving connection, building trust, and reducing the burden on health care staff.

Direct communication between patients and doctors

The existing communication gap—and the corresponding gap in trust—in health care is often due to a lack of direct, real-time interaction between patients and their health care providers. When seeking care, patients want transparent and immediate answers from their providers.

Secure clinical communication platforms are designed to close this gap by encouraging real-time communication between patients and their doctors. These platforms allow patients to engage with their providers through SMS, secure text messaging, and even video appointments, providing them with a direct line to ask care questions, clarify instructions, and stay informed about the next steps in their care journey. A higher level of access improves the patient’s understanding of their treatment plan, but it also provides a deeper sense of care and trust in their provider.

For example, a post-operative patient can easily update their provider on their condition or seek clarity about their medication regimen through secure messaging or by scheduling a follow-up appointment if necessary. This ease of access to expert guidance even after they’ve left the care facility reassures patients that they can reach out whenever necessary, promoting better adherence to the treatment plan and boosting overall trust in the healthcare process.

Building patient trust through better outcomes

When patients feel like they’re actually being heard and understood, they are more likely to trust their providers and adhere to prescribed treatment plans. This trust is particularly important in managing chronic conditions or post-op care, where ongoing updates on health status are essential to achieving positive outcomes.

Modern, HIPAA-compliant communication platforms are helping build stronger relationships between patients and care teams through the delivery of consistent and clear communication from start to finish of the care journey. Providers can send automated reminders for follow-up appointments, deliver post-care instructions, and check in with patients, family members and caregivers after their visits to make sure they are on track with their recovery. Having regular touchpoints improves patient outcomes and reduces the likelihood of disruptions in care continuity.

Reducing care team burden

In addition to creating a more personal experience for patients, clinical communication platforms significantly reduce the administrative burdens health care staff encounter with outdated methods. Administrative tasks, such as managing appointment schedules, tracking down on-call providers and retrieving clinical information often consume a large portion of care team time. This administrative workload can detract from the time spent on direct patient care, contributing to burnout and reducing overall efficiency.

Text-based platforms simplify these processes by automating many routine tasks. For example, these platforms can automatically integrate with schedules, making it easy for care teams to find and contact on-call providers. Capabilities like automated routing of critical health information or lab results to the right provider lead to more efficient and effective patient care.

Additionally, by facilitating real-time communication and minimizing the need for manual handoffs, these platforms help cut down on errors and miscommunications that can increase healthcare staff workload and stress. The result is a more efficient workflow, allowing providers to focus more on delivering the high-quality care essential for building and maintaining high patient trust and connection.

Cultivating a trust-centered future today

It’s clear that modern methods of communication and care coordination are helping solve many of health care’s logistical hurdles. Beyond that, they’re an essential part of making health care more personal, connected and trust-centered. We’re in the middle of a time when medical visits and care interactions are at risk of feeling impersonal to the patient or even transactional. Modern tools for patient-provider communication offer an avenue to reestablish and deepen relationships in health care settings. Direct, real-time communication lets patients feel genuinely heard and understood at all stages of their health journey.

As health care providers strive to meet the shifting demands and expectations of modern care, embracing new strategies for patient engagement will be crucial. Clinical communication and collaboration platforms provide the means to deliver the efficient, high-value and empathetic care patients want and deserve.

Will O’Connor, MD, is the CMIO of TigerConnect.