- Shaharyaar K
- 12 Feb 2025
- 577 views
Do you know that patients who receive automatically generated, personalized communications are 60% more likely to use recommended clinical programs? (Source: Cigna Healthcare). Managing patient relationships is becoming critical for the success of healthcare companies. Though New York ranks third in the list of US cities with good healthcare after Boston and Los Angeles, NYC healthcare companies often struggle with chronic issues in managing patient relationships.
Can technology walk the thin line between creating humane interactions and justifying ROI, and not end up as just another layer that complicates things rather than simplifying it? CRM software for healthcare industry has emerged as a key enabler in improving patient communication and retention.
The healthcare CRM market, seen as a rapid growth market, is projected to grow to $28.89 billion by 2026, underlying the need for effective digital patient engagement models.
What is CRM software for healthcare industry?
CRM Software for healthcare industry is designed to streamline patient interactions and improve outcomes. CRM stands for Customer Relationship Manager. Most industries, from retail to finance, have been early adopters of CRM software with widespread use in the sales and marketing sectors.
Patients today seek personalized care, which means a healthcare communication experience akin to their online retail experience: seamless, customized, and, most importantly, with their needs in focus.
It not only adds humaneness to the ordeal of treatment in the US, where treatment costs are substantial if one is diagnosed with diseases like emphysema, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and asthma, but it also is a critical tool in patient retention for healthcare institutions and practitioners.
Studies suggest care gaps exist between healthcare providers and patients in the US due to a lack of convergence in patient-centric approaches. A healthcare CRM bridges the gap.
Situating CRM software for healthcare industry among its digital peers
In the US, EMRs appeared on the healthcare scene as the first digital systems to replace paper records within individual practices. The clinical practice and move towards digitalization started with basic functionalities like documenting patient history, diagnoses, and treatment plans.
Soon after, as the necessity of interoperable systems that allowed sharing of patient data (medical history, care, etc) across healthcare organizations became pronounced, EHRs followed EMRs as a work-saving tool. The 2009 passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act even incentivized its adoption.
Healthcare was expanding. Hospitals grew bigger and operations complex. We can see a wave of ERP (enterprise resource planning) integration in the US healthcare ecosystem and elsewhere in the world to better manage resources such as finance, HR, and supply chain. All the tools we discussed must fulfill the clinical and financial dimensions of the patient journey.
By the late 2010s, as patient care gained centricity and calls for better communication channels in light of burgeoning treatment costs, regulatory requirements, and fulfilling the over-documentation demands of insurance companies, CRMs use in the healthcare industry, albeit lately picked up and, since then, has been a continuing trend.
Benefits of CRM software for healthcare industry
As a custom software development company adept at designing human-centric applications that generate revenue for our clients and ease the adoption of technology for users at the last mile, CRM in healthcare, either bespoke or off-the-shelf, should fully address patient concerns, a truly patient-centric model at work. That's the secret to quality delivery and consolidating revenue. 
The patient-healthcare provider relationship has undergone a sea of change. Treatment costs are substantially high, while caregiving institutions have to deal with increasing operational complexity and competition. With a differentiating picture of the healthcare CRM in the medical narrative, specifically in the US, it's time to take a wider look at the many benefits of integrating a CRM into the workflow.
1. Enhanced patient engagement
Healthcare CRM maps a patient's journey—the precursor to charting our personalized care and better outcomes. It's a centralized repository capturing everything. Helps deliver personalized patient care—from appointment reminders to wellness tips.—the kind of service patients look for.
2. Offloading administrative burden
Even in the best hospitals, patient care can be a back-breaking task. Understaffing is a known issue in NYC hospitals. Overworked staff may consequently struggle to handle routine tasks such as follow-ups, scheduling, and getting feedback. Integrating a CRM saves precious hours for doctors, nurses, and admin staff by automating mundane tasks and significantly reducing administrative entanglements.
3. Improved data analytics and insights
From a point of vulnerability, patients want to be seen and heard and have their concerns handled swiftly by service providers. Good data management is a key aspect of healthcare CRM, where the system sieves through loads of sensitive patient details, analyses patterns, and predicts. It helps institutions develop robust strategies for top-notch care.
Advanced data analytics with AI is a transformative force. The case of radiology, a field witnessing increased AI use, is a good example of how AI and data analytics can unlock new paradigms in patient care. Some 30% of the radiologists in the US today are using AI, and in one case, AI tools diagnosed 24% more cases of brain aneurysm than manual investigations would reveal.
4. Regulatory compliance with security
The revenue of the top 25 hospitals in New York State exceeds $50 billion, with New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center alone garnering $6.8 billion. However, in 2013, it suffered from a leak of patient data online after a botched server deactivation. Columbia and New York Presbyterian were jointly fined $4.8 million.
Non-compliance with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), a law enacted in 1996 to protect the privacy and security of an individual's health data, is costly, with fines of up to $250,000, jail time of up to 5 years, lawsuits (civil and criminal), and irreparable reputational damage.
We have HIPAA-compliant CRMs today, which solve data and security concerns and have the necessary safeguards to protect ePHI (electronically protected health information), helping healthcare organizations meet regulatory requirements.
5. Cost Savings
Modern CRM software for the healthcare industry streamlines operations, offloads staff, minimizes errors, and brings convergence and collaboration between internal departments. Investing in a CRM is per-se an investment in the customer-experience. A robust CRM integrated with your larger IT infrastructure optimizes cross-departmental transactions, improves workflows, and saves resources, building trust in patients.
Achieving the primary twin aims through healthcare CRM
As a healthcare organization you should aim for creating strong patient communication channels. It is the key to patient acquisition and retention. Most healthcare organizations struggle with the first aim- patient communication. The healthcare CRM fixes this by creating actionable data easy enough for your staff lower in the chain such as receptionists to those higher up-the practitioners.
Patient communication
Patients prefer communication. And it is essential to explore the mindset of today’s patients. In the face of rising medical costs, changing insurance rules, and COVID-induced impressions, personalization helps to allay treatment frustrations and increase trust. After all, they trust you with their greatest asset- health!
A healthcare CRM, acting as a single platform, helps to achieve the level of personalization by holding usable clean data (patient’s contact, interaction history, forms, insurance and billing history, past appointments, patient-specific notes, medication history). Patients have a more trusted view of organizations with sound data management practices and less paperwork.
Bad record-keeping hurts time and revenue, while administrative overhead is as high as 33%. You can auto-pilot your simple marketing strategies for patient outreach, such as email, SMS, and phone (appointment reminders, medication reminders, and precautions) via a CRM, while your staff can concentrate on developing the human connection.
Patient retention
No-shows and missed appointments, which harm patients and the revenue of healthcare businesses, get reduced with automated, timely reminders and notifications. The model is similar to other industries, and repeat business is a huge advantage.
The CRM data fields, for example, can be tuned to collect the reason for no-shows, which can be as simple as access to transportation, and then marketing executives can act to solve it for a patient. This ensures the hospital doesn’t lose revenue.
Another case could be determining virtual or inpatient visits depending on health conditions. Uncovering these pain points and offering solutions work in favor of both parties. Healthcare CRM helps you develop a data-driven approach to patient care. Add to it human insights, and you have a value-based approach to acquiring new patients, engaging the patients you have, and keeping them longer.
Pain points of off-the-shelf CRM solutions
Some popular healthcare CRMs in the US are Salesforce Health Cloud, HubSpot for Healthcare, Zendesk for Healthcare, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Healthcare, and Zoho CRM. They offer a fair level of usability and a suite of functionality.
However, our US market research identified some key pain points of healthcare institutions using market solutions. Unfortunately, these issues have also been found in CRM solutions offered by established players. Let's look into it.
- Customers were disappointed by the basic functionality, complaining the CRM didn’t facilitate advanced functionality and regretting that due diligence in the evaluation phase could have saved accepting a misfit.
- Some customers had switched from one CRM to another due to cost factors. But other technical hurdles, such as longer than usual setup time (*unexpectedly long period of 3 months in some cases), inability to make easy updates, navigation problems, and hiring another internal resource for data import issues, marred their experience. Despite all the efforts, some teams could not fully meet or leverage reporting and functionality.
- Purchased software does not match the layered levels of users, forcing teams to go for a workaround.
- Lack of reliable support after sales led to user frustration, with some even calling it a “disaster.” In other cases, the system didn’t fulfill the commitment made in the sales phase.
- In one case, the system was sending out the wrong appointment reminders, while in another, the system was not able to differentiate admissions calls from other calls, showing every call as a lead in the database.
Why should you choose Custom CRM for your healthcare company?
Off-the-shelf healthcare CRMs address common challenges based on a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Designing off-the-shelf solutions follows a macro view and may perform well for most basic tasks. Also, the initial cost may be lower, making it an attractive option.
But that's the only good thing about it. As healthcare organizations grow and the complex nature of evolving practices, they may not support customizations or offer only limited customization. The add-ons, integration, and routine maintenance add cost components, taking the cost higher. In other cases, vendor lock-in issues may arise.
Lastly, the whole aim of a healthcare CRM is personalized patients for increased retention. Off-the-shelf CRM might suffer from poor personalization as it's not a bespoke solution built on broader needs. The downside is that a poor customer experience hinders quality outcomes.
The solution: take up a custom CRM development service to build a custom CRM that optimally meets your organization's unique needs. You can have each feature worked out, from demography-based customer segmentation to loyalty programs.
Choosing custom software development over off-the-shelf variants provides ample scope to unlock differentiated patient engagement in a competitive market. Custom-built CRM's ROI is impressive in the long run as your business scales and the platform grows with it.
How to Choose the Right CRM Partner
Integrating a healthcare CRM is a strategic decision that requires a significant cost investment. Choose a reliable software development company that understands your unique concerns to develop a custom healthcare CRM that seamlessly integrates with your organization's existing workflow and legacy elements like EHRs, EMRs, billing systems, and communication tools for unified data access. Previous CRM deliveries would be a good starting point. What are the other points you shouldn't miss?
Industry expertise
Here, we mean understanding the healthcare landscape, its demands and dynamics, and the proven expertise to deliver healthcare-specific CRM solutions. Ask lots of questions, don't make any assumptions!
Customization
The platform should be a one-stop solution. It is only possible when it fulfills all your day-to-day requirements, from tracking lead generation and conversions to appointments, all in one platform.
HIPAA compliance
As discussed before, issues arising out of non-compliance can make or break your reputation. Assess the partner's team's capability to deliver HIPAA-compliant CRM software with top-notch security.
Scalable CRM
As your business grows, so should your CRM. It should match the pace of organizational deliverables to avoid operational bottlenecks and costly interventions.
Transparent pricing
Pricing should not deter you from choosing a custom solution. Every cost component from the initial to the completion stage should be discussed openly and transparently.
Ongoing Support
Successful operations go beyond tech integration, especially in healthcare. The CRM software should be easy to use for personnel and practitioners. The implementing team should be able to handle training requirements, 24/7 support, and upgrades.
Future-ready solutions
As AI makes massive inroads into healthcare, the CRM partner must integrate AI, telehealth, and analytics into their CRM software for a modern market positioning.
Case Study: A custom CRM for remote patient monitoring (RPM) services
Proquantic delivered a custom software solution for remote patient monitoring (RPM) services for one of our clients. Remote patient monitoring, also called remote physiologic monitoring, uses digital technologies such as sensors, apps, IoT-based devices, blood pressure cuffs, and ambulatory cardiac monitors to capture medical details and transmit them to service providers for better management. Today, around 50-60 million people in the US use remote patient monitoring devices.
We built a custom CRM that streamlines the client's three core services- remote patient monitoring (RPM), chronic care management (CCM), and annual wellness visit (AWV) programs.
The solution increased sales by 35%, while product queries from prospective customers rose by 50%.
Why partner with us?
We have proven competence in developing custom CRM software for the healthcare industry for clients worldwide. From discovery to deployment and further support, including your marketing initiatives, we are invested and equal partners in your commitment to delivering patient-centric care through our CRM solutions.
Get in touch to maximize the value of your CRM investment with a one-stop solution for patient communication and retention.