COLUMN Five tech trends for 2016 TECH TALK T 1 Plus, social media tips to boost your online presence BY STEPHANE LAVERDIERE documenting the flow of information, administrative practice or information system collection, use and disclosure of individually identifying personal and health information. The increase in audits in chiropractic offices across the country indicates a top-down push for privacy compliance and better notes, which clearly show functional assessment outcomes. This trend will continue to escalate in 2016 with the anticipated requirement for chiroprac-tors to comply with new proposed regulation. Your software provider must meet the challenge and be fully customizable to comply with regional health legislation. Text messaging system. An active SMS gateway is utilized to decrease no-shows. Here are some texting statistics that prove businesses need to take SMS seriously. As of September 2015, 97 per cent of Amer-icans are texting at least once a day. Worldwide texts in 2015 hit 8.3 trillion – that’s 23 billion messages per day or almost 16 million messages per min-ute. Text messaging has a 98 per cent open rate, compared to only 20 per cent for emails. Text messaging has a 45 per cent response rate compared to six per cent with email. Best of all, 90 per cent of text messages are read in under three minutes and on average under five seconds compared to 90 minutes for email. We have seen a surge in text messaging use in chiro-practic offices in 2015 and the trend will continue in 2016. In fact, 74 per cent of patients indicate they would like to receive appointment reminders via email or text, according to a 2013 Accenture study. Adapting to your patient contact preference will save your office time and money. he increasing consumer demand for patient-driven health care is demonstrat-ing the need for chiroprac-tors to continue to engage their patients on their terms. The focus of Canada’s growing aging population has shifted from traditional health care to staying healthy through preventive measures. This subtle shift combined with patient demand to manage their own health care will continue to influ-ence the way chiropractors connect and engage their patients. Incorporate these trends to cultivate an authentic patient experience and watch your practice grow. Customizable software to meet compliance standards. A paperless office solution that allows clients to update condition as an active stakeholder in achieving optimal health is a must. The trend to provide a unique, custom health record, with patient input will continue into 2016. Chiropractors should ensure their record keeping system gives the patient the ability to update their in-formation, subjective complaint and initial intake form. In Ontario, pro-posed clinic regulation suggests that a practitioner should consider the ben-efits of a full electronic health record (EHR) paperless system that provides a clear, transparent billing process, protects patient privacy and ensures compliance. Chiropractic offices will also need to comply and have a pri-vacy impact assessment in place (PIA). The PIA is the process of business owners and custodians reviewing and 3 2 20 Canadian Chiropractor February 2016 www.canadianchiropractor.ca Photo: fotolia DR. STEPHANE LAVERDIERE, DC, is a 1995 graduate of National College of Chiropractic. He opened and managed three successful practices. He is co-founder of Atlas Chiropractic System, an innovative world-class paperless office system. He enjoys pioneering the features that will be used by chiropractors worldwide. He lives in Ontario, and is interested in organic sustainable living and everything it entails. Engage your patients through social media. Which social media platforms should represent your brand? Ask your patients through a survey in your next newsletter to find out which platforms your patients use. Build your social media presence where the majority of your patients engage. Here are some things you can do as you market through social media: • Post photos, questions, insightful stats and facts, as well as links to articles of interest to your patients • Run a timeline contest • Utilize “boost post” feature on Facebook. Create a custom audi-ence from your current patient roster and target your local area to reach potential patients • Add your phone number in the “About” section as well as in your posts. Every post should have a “call to action” and include your phone number. To thrive, you must engage. Social channels are a sign of dedication to transparency, accountability and even customer service. Patients recognize this and expect to see a brand engag-ing on Facebook or Twitter. Even though “silent patients” may not add comments or likes (value), they are still watching. People respond to brand messages that are relevant to them. Understanding your patients – what drives their interest in their own health experience – will guide your under-standing on how best to market to your patient base. Social media engagement should be about nurturing your relationship with your patient not “selling” your service.
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