13 Best Patient Communication Tools of 2024

Effective communication in healthcare—especially between healthcare providers and their patients—isn’t just a nice-to-have anymore; it’s a requirement. It’s what makes the difference between a mediocre patient experience and one that’s amazing.

Importance of Effective Patient Communications

Communicating with patients effectively facilitates shared decision-making, where healthcare providers and patients collaborate on treatment options. This collaborative process not only enhances patient satisfaction but also improves adherence to treatment plans, which leads to better health outcomes. Plus, more empathetic communication increases trust between patients and providers—a critical factor for increasing patient engagement and overall patient safety.

Common Challenges in Patient Care

Despite the importance of communication in healthcare, it doesn’t always come easy. Language barriers can limit understanding and lead to misconceptions about diagnosis or treatment. Cultural differences can also result in misunderstandings. Plus, the sheer complexity of medical information can be overwhelming for patients.

Here’s the good news: overcoming common challenges and improving communication between you and your patients is easily done with patient communication tools.

Top 5 Benefits of Effective Patient Communication

Now that you understand why communication is so important in healthcare, let’s talk more about the benefits of effective patient communication.

Better Patient-Provider Interactions

When communication is centered on empathy and listening, it improves the interactions between patients and providers. Actively listening, showing empathy, and clearly explaining medical information helps patients feel more seen, understood, and respected. Additionally, by following these practices, providers can build a foundation of trust between themselves and their patients, making them more comfortable sharing symptoms, concerns, and preferences.

Increased Patient Satisfaction

As mentioned above, patients who feel seen and understood are more satisfied with their healthcare experience. That empathetic communication reassures them that their healthcare providers actually care about their well-being—something that can be particularly comforting in stressful medical situations. Plus, satisfied and happier patients are more likely to follow through with their treatment plans, attend follow-up appointments, and keep up with their medication.

Better Patient Safety

Solid communication is so important for patient safety. Clear, concise, and empathic communication helps to ensure patients fully understand their diagnoses, available treatment options, and prescription instructions. This also helps to reduce the risk of misunderstandings that can lead to medication errors, incorrect treatment, or not following practitioner advice.

Fewer Patient Complaints and Readmissions

Effective communication with patients helps practitioners address and resolve minor patient concerns before they escalate into something bigger. When patients feel they’re being heard and their complaints are being handled, they’re less likely to feel dissatisfied with their care. With more satisfied patients, healthcare facilities can lower the number of patient complaints and grievances.

Better Teamwork and Collaboration in Healthcare Facilities

Good communication improves teamwork and collaboration between healthcare professionals. This creates a more positive work environment where everyone—regardless of their role—feels important, valued, and understood. It also increases cooperation between professionals, reduces misunderstandings, and encourages providers to share patient information more freely. Additionally, a more collaborative work environment increases staff morale and overall job satisfaction, which can lower staff burnout and turnover rates.

13 Best Patient Communication Tools

Now that you understand the importance of communication in healthcare and how it can benefit your healthcare facility, let’s look at some of the best options for patient communication tools.

Podium

Podium is an AI-powered customer communication platform that enhances patient engagement. Our robust platform makes communication easy by automating routine tasks and providing a unified platform for managing interactions. This helps to reduce no-shows and improves patient response times. Plus, with more timely communications, the overall patient experience is enhanced, improving patient satisfaction in healthcare.

PerfectServe

PerfectServe is a comprehensive communication and collaboration platform that’s designed for healthcare professionals. It includes secure messaging, real-time call routing, and on-call scheduling. With PerfectServe, communication between healthcare providers and patients is streamlined as the platform ensures messages are delivered to the right person at the right time. This helps to reduce delays and improves the efficiency of care coordination.

Telmediq

Telmediq is an enterprise-grade clinical communication and collaboration solution. It offers features like secure messaging, voice and video calls, and integration with EHR systems. With a secure, unified platform, Telmediq helps to streamline workflows, reduce communication silos, and ensure critical information is shared quickly and accurately.

Jotform

Jotform is an online form builder that simplifies the process of collecting patient information and feedback. It includes customizable forms, HIPAA compliance, and integration with various third-party applications. With the platform, healthcare providers can enhance patient communication by making it easy to gather and manage patient data, schedule appointments, and collect feedback.

Change Healthcare

Change Healthcare provides a number of solutions designed to improve clinical and administrative communications for healthcare providers. The platform includes revenue cycle management, patient engagement tools, and data analytics. With these tools, healthcare facilities can streamline patient communication, automate billing processes, enhance patient outreach, and provide actionable insights into patient behavior.

Relatient

Relatient is designed for patient engagement and communication. It includes features like automated appointment reminders, patient surveys, secure messaging, and more. With these features, healthcare providers can automate routine tasks and provide direct, secure interactions with patients.

RXNT

RXNT provides healthcare professionals with a suite of healthcare software solutions, including practice management, electronic health records (EHR), and billing services. This comprehensive suite of tools improves patient communication by providing a centralized platform for managing patient interactions—from scheduling appointments to conducting virtual visits.

Emitra

Emitra is an innovative communication platform that’s designed to enhance patient engagement and streamline healthcare workflows. The solution includes automated appointment reminders, patient education materials, secure messaging, and more. This helps healthcare providers improve patient communication by ensuring patients are well-informed and up-to-date on appointments and treatment plans.

PatientPop

PatientPop is a comprehensive growth platform that includes patient communication tools like online scheduling, online reviews, and automated reminders. The all-in-one platform helps providers better manage their online presence, scheduling, and patient feedback.

ZingIt

ZingIt offers patient engagement and communication solutions with a particular focus on chiropractic and other specialized practices. It includes tools like automated appointment reminders, patient recall systems, and two-way texting. By automating routine interaction and enabling direct, secure communication between providers and patients, the overall patient experience is improved while the administrative workload is reduced.

Mend

Mend is a telehealth and patient engagement platform that includes video visits, digital forms, and automated appointment reminders. With Mend, practitioners can provide patients with a robust platform for virtual consultations and digital interactions. This ensures patients can access care remotely and conveniently.

Phreesia

Phreesia is a patient intake and engagement platform that includes digital check-in, patient surveys, and payment processing. The platform helps to streamline patient communication by automating the intake process and ensuring patients can easily complete necessary forms and submit payments online.

TigerConnect

TigerConnect provides healthcare practitioners with a secure, real-time messaging platform. The platform enables practitioners to provide patients with quick, secure, and accurate interactions. This helps to enhance care coordination, reduces delays, and improves the overall patient experience.

8 Patient Communications Best Practices

To help you get the most out of patient communication tools, let’s look at some of the best practices around these tools and how real healthcare providers use them in their day-to-day interactions with patients.

Appointment Reminders

Appointment reminders help to reduce no-show rates and ensure patients attend their scheduled visits. These can be sent via text messages, phone calls, or emails, days or hours before the appointment—all of which can reduce no-shows. This results in more optimized schedules, improved patient flow, and ensures better utilization of facility resources.

Email Blasts, Blogs, and Newsletters

Email blasts, blogs, and newsletters can help keep patients informed about health topics, clinic updates, and preventive care tips. Regular communication through these channels helps practitioners build a better relationship with patients by keeping them engaged and informed about their health. This practice can improve patient outcomes by encouraging preventive care and early intervention.

Patient Portals

To give individuals easy access to healthcare information like lab results, medical records, and appointment schedules, there’s patient portals. These portals provide patients with a secure platform on which to communicate with their healthcare providers, manage their health information, and request prescription refills.

Telehealth

With telehealth tools, patients can consult with their healthcare providers remotely via phone calls and video conferencing tools. This is especially beneficial for patients with mobility issues, those living in remote areas, or those with busy schedules. It also increases accessibility to care, ensuring individuals get timely consultations without the need to travel.

Two-Way Texting

Two-way texting provides real-time communication between healthcare providers and patients, allowing for quick responses to patient inquiries and concerns. Texting makes it easier for patients to seek advice, confirm appointments, or request information, making them feel more supported and seen.

The SBAR Nurse Communication Tool

The SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) tool is commonly used by healthcare professionals to communicate critical information about a patient’s condition. The tool ensures that important details are explained clearly and concisely, which helps minimize misunderstandings and errors.

The BATHE Protocol

The BATHE protocol (Background, Affect, Trouble, Handling, Empathy) is used to understand and address patients’ emotional and psychosocial issues. Using the tool, providers can engage in more meaningful conversations that go beyond physical symptoms. This holistic approach enhances the patient experience and builds stronger patient-provider relationships.

Patient Teach-Back

The teach-back method involves asking patients to repeat back the information provided to them using their own words. This ensures patients understand their diagnosis, treatment plans, and any additional instructions. With the teach-back method, healthcare providers can eliminate confusion and clarify information as needed, improving patient comprehension and adherence to care plans.

To help you manage all these communication methods, consider Podium’s AI CSR. From automated appointment reminders and two-way texting to personalized email blasts, blogs, and newsletters, Podium streamlines every aspect of patient communication.

If you’re ready to engage with your patients more effectively, check out Podium’s AI CSR. With Podium, you can completely transform your practice, improve patient satisfaction, and drive business growth.

Ready to see what Podium can do? Watch a demo today.