Must-Have Strategies to Improve Patient Communication
Even in an age of digital apps and patient portals, phone calls remain the backbone of healthcare communication. Whether a patient is calling to book an appointment, ask about a referral, or follow up on test results, phone conversations are where trust is built.
Unfortunately, too many calls still go unanswered. One study found that up to 35% of calls to healthcare practices are missed, costing practices tens of thousands of dollars annually in lost revenue and eroded patient trust. And with 88% of patients still preferring to schedule appointments by phone, according to industry research, every missed call is a missed opportunity to serve a potential patient and to drive revenue for the health system.
Improving communication with patients begins with understanding what's being said and how patient service staff handle those interactions. The following strategies are based on Marchex’s perspectives on healthcare conversation analytics, which aim to understand patient expectations and improve operational performance while keeping compliance and privacy front and center.
Real-Time Call Visibility for Operational Improvement
For many health systems, visibility into patient calls ends the moment the phone rings. Without solutions to track and analyze high-level call trends, it's nearly impossible to know if patient services are consistently providing the correct information, why appointments are not being made, payer information challenges, and other issues.
These are avoidable blind spots, but they come with a cost when not addressed. Research shows that practices can lose more than $90,000 a year because of missed calls alone (T2 Group). From a reputational standpoint, the damage is even greater: nearly 90% of patients say they would consider switching providers after a poor phone experience (Simbo.ai).
However, with HIPAA-compliant solutions like Marchex's conversation intelligence platform, health systems can monitor call performance and engagement patterns in real time while safeguarding sensitive patient information. From data extrapolated from patient calls, health system leaders can gain access to actionable insights regarding patient access challenges, such as scheduling bottlenecks, response delays, and unmet service needs. Immediate benefits of such insights can be smarter staffing, better resource allocation, and a more responsive patient service-level experience.
Automated Follow-Up Communication to Prevent No-Shows
No shows and late cancellations create ripple effects throughout healthcare operations, from wasted appointment slots and idle clinical time to delays in diagnosis and care. Fortunately, effective, timely communication can play a central role in preventing these breakdowns.
Studies show that SMS appointment reminders can reduce no-show rates by 30–40%, while proactive follow-up phone calls significantly boost patient satisfaction. In one pediatric quality-improvement study, proactive calls increased satisfaction scores from 85.5% to 95.6%.
While many health systems already use reminder technologies, they often lack real-time visibility into which patients are most at risk of not showing up. That’s where conversation intelligence can come in.
Marchex’s AI-powered platform, tailored for healthcare, can detect subtle conversational cues, such as patient hesitation, confusion about appointment logistics, or mention of schedule conflicts, that may signal a no-show risk. By analyzing these interactions at scale, health systems can generate actionable process improvements that can help close the loop before care is missed.
Marchex conversational intelligence solutions can deliver targeted operational insights based on metadata and conversational context while minimizing the processing of any personal health data. These insights can be used to trigger automated outreach, like a text or call, or can be integrated into front-office workflows to prompt timely human follow-up.
Additionally, organizations can track patterns over time: Are certain service lines or appointment types seeing less engagement from patients? Are specific teams or locations more likely to leave next steps unresolved? By identifying these friction points, healthcare leaders can target training and process improvements to further reduce no-show rates.
The outcome: improved access to care, more predictable schedules, higher patient satisfaction—and stronger revenue protection without the need for patient-level data or manual review.
First-Call Resolution: Coaching Staff Without Manually Reviewing Calls That May Contain PHI
In healthcare, the stakes of a single phone call can be significant, whether it’s a patient trying to schedule a time-sensitive appointment or a caregiver seeking clarity on coverage. Despite this urgency, only about 70% to 75% of issues are resolved on the first call, according to industry averages. Each missed opportunity to resolve a concern in real time leads to unnecessary follow-ups, increased administrative burden, and patient frustration.
Improving first-call resolution has clear benefits: it can streamline operations, reduce wait times, and strengthen trust between patients and providers. But, for many health systems, coaching staff on phone performance has traditionally meant manually reviewing recorded calls, raising both efficiency and privacy concerns.
Marchex changes that equation. Its AI-powered solution tailored for healthcare can analyze non-clinical conversational patterns across large volumes of calls, and surface key insights such as:
- Where handoffs break down between schedulers and service lines
- Which staff members consistently struggle to explain insurance coverage
- How often calls require escalation or repeat contact
Marchex enables operations leaders to scale training, identify systemic workflow issues, and improve failed call rates without compromising patient privacy.
By helping teams reduce callbacks and resolve issues during the first contact, healthcare organizations can protect both clinical capacity and revenue while delivering a better patient experience that aligns with today’s expectations for accessibility and responsiveness.
Communication Is Care
Today’s patients expect healthcare interactions to be seamless, responsive, and personalized, possibly more so than any other industry. Yet many providers still struggle to meet patients where they are, whether that’s via text, phone, or other preferred channels.
Research shows that 41% of patients would consider switching providers if they couldn’t communicate through their preferred method, underscoring just how critical communication is to patient loyalty and retention. To meet these evolving expectations, leading healthcare organizations are investing in AI-powered, HIPAA-compliant communication intelligence. These technologies can identify operational themes and service friction points at scale: Where are patients getting confused? Which teams are underperforming? What causes missed opportunities to convert or retain patients?
By turning phone calls into a source of near real-time insights, health system leaders can:
- Pinpoint workflow inefficiencies
- Improve staff training without surfacing sensitive patient data
- Reduce no-shows and abandonment
- Protect capacity by minimizing avoidable callbacks
- Deliver a more responsive patient experience
The result? More informed decisions, higher operational performance, and a tangible edge in a competitive landscape.
Ready to See What Smarter Communication Can Unlock?
Marchex can help healthcare organizations extract the full value of their phone interactions by helping teams improve performance, reduce missed opportunities, and deliver a better patient experience, at scale. Contact us for more information.