The impact of patient retention and
referrals
Improving the patient experience by adopting emerging technology, like the digital front door, can have a significant impact on your patient retention and referral rates. Patients are increasingly expecting their providers to engage in a digital and interactive way, through patient portals, text messaging, chatbots, telehealth and more.
In fact, focusing on healthcare information technology can create growth opportunities, improve your profitability and ensure the long-term success of your practice or health system.
of healthcare executives see patient churn as a priority.1
of health system leaders say patient churn blocks them from reaching their financial goals.2
of health system respondents believe patient churn has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic began.3
is the percentage revenue increase health system executives estimate they could gain by reducing patient churn.4
Well worth the investment
The cost of acquiring a new patient vs. retaining an existing patient.5
The increase in profits if you were to boost patient retention by just 5%.6
The average return
for every dollar spent
on improving retention.7
What is
patient
churn
?
Churn indicates the rate at which patients leave a practice or health system’s network of care and it has significant impact on profitability.
of health systems are not highly confident in their visibility into patient churn, but let us show you how to calculate churn in your practice.8
How to calculate patient churn rate
Choose a fixed period of time (a good time period to consider is 18 months) and work the following equation to give you your patient churn rate.
# of patients
that churned over
a time period.
÷
# of total patients
at the beginning
of time period.
Churn Rate
9
If this is your average churn rate, then you’re performing better than the majority of healthcare providers — but you’ll still want to aim lower.
How to calculate patient retention rate
Choose a fixed period of time (a good time period to consider is 18 months) and work the following equation to give you your patient churn rate.
Retention Rate10
The best way to improve your patient retention rate is to improve your patient experience through digital innovation in healthcare.
Patient retention can turn into patient referrals, which can turn into increased revenue.
When patients have a good experience with your practice, they recommend it to their friends and family.
Besides physician networking and insurance referrals this is the best way to grow your business and keep a healthy bottom line.
The patient experience can be significantly improved by adopting digital transformation in healthcare.
If you satisfy 1 patient
that reaches
4 potential patients.11
If you disappoint 1 patient
that reaches
10 potential patients.12
The percent of new patient referrals coming from the existing active patients in a well-run practice.13
Learn more about how to improve the patient experience through digital health transformation to help your business thrive.
Learn More
Reference
- About Healthcare, Inc “Central Logic Survey: 96% of Healthcare Executives See Patient Leakage as a Priority” Oct. 8, 2020
- About Healthcare, Inc “Patient Leakage and Keepage Report 2021-2022” Oct. 8, 2022
- Ibid
- Ibid
- Hubspot, “Here’s why Customer Retention is So Important for Customer Loyalty and Growth,” March 11, 2022
- Ibid
- About Healthcare, Inc “Patient Leakage and Keepage Report 2021-2022” Oct. 8, 2022
- Ibid
- intakeQ “Boosting your patient retention rate” March 16, 2020
- Ibid
- ExpertBox “9 Patient Retention Strategies That Work” Oct. 29, 2021
- Ibid
- Henry Schein Professional Practice Transitions, “The Most Important Number — Active Patient Count”
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