Rethink Your Online Strategy in an Unprecedented Post-COVID Landscape for Skilled Nursing Facilities
As the impact of COVID-19 rocks the industry in 2020, and its ripple effects continue to be felt far beyond Skilled Nursing Facilities into 2021, how does any SNF administrator and operator continue to improve their operations, maintain and grow census, and increase margins moving forward?
There’s no denying that most SNF marketing teams are facing an uphill battle today. Growing a patient census is going to require a lot more than a healthy referral partner relationship and a friendly smile. As more and more savvy customers and their families rely on social media and online reviews for decision making, a few poor reviews can overwhelm good patient care and well intended internal practices.
So how does a savvy SNF stay ahead of their online reputation?
Opportunities knock for Ignite Medical Resorts
“Initially, we were struggling making post-discharge calls. For compliance reasons these discharge calls needed to be made in a timely manner.” says Jim White, Chief Culture Officer at Ignite Medical Resorts. Ignite turned to Cortex for a team of Registered Nurses who could complete these calls with expertise and greater consistency, and they quickly found value in the opportunities that followed with these calls. As each follow-up call is made and responses recorded in real-time, Opportunities were generated within the Cortex platform. It’s these opportunities that Jim at Ignite found invaluable.
“Let’s face it. People are consistently busy. As a busy skilled nursing facility, our workday has changed to a different dynamic. No one has the time and resources to make a dozen phone calls a day. Having a company that offers follow-up call services, that analyses the feedback and presents them as actionable opportunities is priceless.”
In addition, patients struggling with the transition to home care, whether it’s with equipment operation, scheduling additional rehabilitation, or med adherence, Cortex’s platform quickly identifies these at-risk patients for quick action by Ignite. While these actions don’t immediately impact metrics such as NPS or patient satisfaction scores, it has positively and directly impacted patient care.
And during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team of registered nurses at Cortex was able to ask probing questions during their follow-up calls, for symptoms related to COVID-19. “It’s been great to have Cortex making these post-discharge calls, we were able to stay on top during the pandemic and check for symptoms such as high fever, cough, and difficulty breathing.” It’s an extra layer of flexibility and customization CheckUp Calls provide.
Cortex Solutions
By using Cortex’s Check-up™ calls, Ignite Medical Resort was able to stay ahead on their social media and online presence with actionable alerts.
Check-Up Calls™ provide follow-up calls made by Registered Nurses. By using powerful analytics tools, Cortex gathers information from these calls to create real-time data and provide opportunities and alerts to help Skilled Nursing Facilities track patient satisfaction and post-discharge care.
With Cortex, Ignite’s hospitality and marketing team are alerted when a follow-up call identifies an “opportunity.” According to Jim, “It’s the ‘Opportunity’ that keeps things going. The alerts we get are a precursor to action by our team.” Whether the opportunity is to re-acquire a patient when they’re readmitted to a hospital, or identify a satisfied patient, these actionable opportunities allow the team to reach out to a patient for a positive review online, or reach out to a hospital to discuss care plans for a patient, or when appropriate, re-acquire said patient.
