Do You Have a Patient Retention Plan? Here’s Why You Need One

If you are building a new medical practice or if your practice is stagnant or, worse yet, declining, it may be time for you to explore and implement some solid patient retention strategies. Why is patient retention so important? It’s difficult to maintain a successful practice without it.

Estimates show that it’s six to seven times more expensive to acquire a new patient than it is to keep a current patient coming back. (4) It’s also estimated that upwards of 80% of future profits come from just 20% of existing customers. Furthermore, big gains can be made by retaining patients because increasing patient retention rates by just 5% will increase profits anywhere from 25 to 95%. (8) That means that focusing on patient retention is one of the smartest financial strategies your clinic will ever have.

Patient retention in healthcare

There is no question that it’s exciting to acquire a new patient. After all, that’s another new person that can be helped by your clinic. But if most of your focus and money is placed on lead generation and getting new patients, your existing patients may feel neglected and your clinic’s bottom line can suffer significantly. In addition, giving returning patients extra attention will also positively influence their health outcomes.  

And it’s not only less expensive to keep an existing patient coming back, it’s easier. Research shows that the chances of converting a new patient to a loyal patient are 60 to 70%, whereas the probability of converting a lead to a new patient is only 5 to 20%. (5) 

Patient retention rate

The fact is, the 12 to 15% of patients who keep coming back to a health clinic represent 55 to 70% of total appointments. (6) And yet, one study on patient retention showed that the national patient growth rate was 45%, but the patient churn rate (loss of patients) was 48%, so most healthcare clinics were losing patients faster than they could keep them. (2) 

The first step to protecting patient retention is calculating patient churn. To do that, look at a single period during the year such as three, six, or 12 months, then divide the number of patients that did not come back to the clinic by the total number of patients at the beginning of that period. If that percentage is higher than your growth rate, then your clinic is like most clinics—you’re losing patients faster than you can keep them. (2) Growth rate is calculated by taking the number of patients in one year, subtracting the previous year’s patients and multiplying by 100. So if you had 100 patients this year, 50 patients last year, your growth rate would be 50%.

Patient retention looks at the number of patients you retain over a period of time. If your clinic starts with ten patients and loses two patients during the time you’ve chosen to look at, that means your retention rate is 80% for that period. Keep in mind, however, that if you start with ten patients, lose two and gain four, that doesn’t mean you have a 120% retention rate because you should not rely on offsetting churn by acquiring new patients. (1) Remember, focusing solely on acquiring new patients takes attention away from retaining existing patients and is not good for your clinic’s bottom line. That’s why it’s so important to have strategies in place to improve your patient retention rate.

How to improve patient retention and encourage patient loyalty 

Many effective strategies can help increase patient retention, and thereby patient outcomes, beginning with the physical design of your clinic. 

1. Make a good first impression

Take a serious look at how your clinic is laid out and what type of first impression new patients get. Everything from the parking lot to the front desk, to your waiting room, will help determine if a patient will come back to your clinic. (4) How important are these first impressions? Very. In fact, a 2019 survey found that an unpleasant waiting room was the most cited reason a patient would not return to a clinic. (7) 

2. Establish trust 

It’s also important to build a trusting relationship with your patients. Surveys show that 82% of patients will keep going back to a practice if they feel they can trust the doctor and the clinic staff. (6) 

3. Understand the patient experience 

In addition to building trust and nurturing the patient relationship, when it comes to patient retention, it’s equally important to put yourself in the patient’s shoes by honestly evaluating every step of their experience with your clinical practice. Take yourself through their journey—from filling out intake forms and scheduling appointments to their in-office visit and the follow-up they receive. (2) 

4. Gather feedback 

It’s also critical to stay in touch with your patients by getting their honest feedback about their experience with your clinic. You can send the patient a quick survey after their visit or simply have your front desk staff ask how they felt about their experience with your clinic. (3) Getting this type of ongoing feedback will hopefully help fix a problem before it gets worse and potentially costs you even more patients.

The bottom line

Patient retention not only increases profits, but it also cuts costs. Just a mere 2% increase in patient retention has the same effect on your bottom line as decreasing your overall clinic expenses by 10%. (6) Financially, focusing on patient retention just makes sense on both sides of the equation.

Patient retention begins with an honest evaluation of the patient experience. And remember that the patient retention journey is a never-ending exploration of how to best keep your patients happy and coming back to the clinic. Satisfied patients are also more willing to refer family and friends to your clinic, which will help you meet your patient acquisition goals as well.

What’s the true secret to proactive patient retention? Many physicians would argue that it all comes down to delivering exceptional patient care. But some may not consider that patient care goes way beyond diagnosis and treatment. Exceptional patient care is ensuring that the patient experience from start to finish is stellar. This is not only good for business, it’s good for the patient. Just as integrative practitioners look at health from a holistic, comprehensive standpoint, so too should their clinic’s business model. And that’s when patient retention will be mastered.