Text messaging is one of the fastest growing and widely adopted communication channels in the United States. On average, people check their phones every six-and-a-half minutes, 150 times a day. According to CTIA, it takes 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an email but only 90 seconds to respond to a text message.
Text messaging isn’t just for the under-65 crowd anymore. Baby boomers (soon to become the Medicare population) are text-messaging fanatics. And older Americans already on Medicare are embracing cell phones at an increasing rate.
The end of the “patient” patient
Now, consider the fact that the healthcare industry is facing change – and lots of it. One of the most notable changes is that healthcare is transitioning to a consumer-driven industry. The days of the “patient” patient – the patient who sits patiently for an hour in the waiting room – are in the past.
Healthcare consumers want the same conveniences other industries offer them. They can get their banking done at their convenience at an ATM, sign up for text message alerts when their credit card company receives charges on their account; and contact nearly all major service providers using their channel of choice, whether it’s a call, text, chat, or email.
The services available to consumers from other industries put pressure on healthcare organizations to up their game – and text messaging is an important strategy for doing that.
The time is right for healthcare organizations to embrace consumerism and to implement text-messaging strategies. This will benefit the industry in three ways:
- It will help keep pace with the demands of consumers, communicating with them in their channel of choice and at their convenience.
- It will drive operational efficiency.
- Most importantly, text messaging will drive patient engagement, which results in better health outcomes.
The key to realizing these benefits is to use the right mix of technology and clinical personnel, using text messaging to maximize efficiency while maintaining meaningful interactions with patients.
But what about HIPAA?
Naturally, many organizations worry about the HIPAA implications of engaging patients with text messaging. With a solid strategy in place, there is no need to worry.
The two primary regulations organizations must consider when building a texting strategy are:
- The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA): TCPA requires organizations in any industry—not just healthcare—to obtain consent to contact a consumer on a cellular phone device. The law protects consumers from the text-messaging version of spam (especially in the days when consumers had to pay for each text they received).
- HIPAA: The law dictates that a patient’s protected health information (PHI) can only be transmitted to healthcare consumers in a secure manner. Texting does not constitute a secure channel for sharing PHI.
So, how can texting work effectively and compliantly in healthcare?
Progressive healthcare organizations have developed strategies that meet regulations while being effective in reaching healthcare consumers.
Here’s how to do it:
- Opt-in campaigns: Run campaigns that give consumers the option to engage through text messaging.
- Pre-defined message approach: For one-on-one texting, allow text senders to select from pre-written messages. That way, there is no danger of sending a text that contains PHI.
- Campaign messages: For texts that are being sent to larger populations, assign compliance experts to review copy to ensure that the messages meet the regulatory obligations.
Examples of alerts and reminders that are very successful via text messaging include:
- Simple reminders for office visit appointments, lab appointments, and gaps in care – these engage patients outside the clinical setting and are extremely effective; and
- Call to action messages can drive patients to other communication modalities, such as a click-to-call text message to encourage patients to call in and take an automated health assessment survey.
If consumers need more information about the alert or wish to follow up with the provider, they can simply call in and discuss PHI over the phone. In fact, some of the alerts will inform consumers that they need to contact the provider’s office.
Those organizations that want to engage consumers on their smartphones but still don’t want to embrace texting can offer a secure messaging feature within a mobile application. While this allows for the secure exchange of PHI, it requires consumers to download and install a mobile application – which can lower adoption rates significantly.
The fact remains that if healthcare organizations want to engage patients on their smartphones, modernize communication methods, and meet healthcare consumers in their channel of choice, text messaging is the way to go.
