Irvine, California, Oct. 03, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PrescribeWellness, a leading provider of software and services that expands the role of pharmacy to deliver population health and chronic care management services, today announced the PrescribeWellness Message Center, which allows pharmacy teams to collaboratively engage with their patient population to provide personalized care and improve health metrics.
The company also today released the results of a survey reviewing Americans’ communications preferences for pharmacies and other healthcare providers, as well as their values and habits surrounding the pharmacy experience.
For today’s pharmacy patients, convenient means of communication is an important part of their overall experience and contributes to their choice of a pharmacy. Text messaging tops the list of preferred communication methods, followed by a phone call and thirdly, communicating through a mobile application. Over half of Americans (55 percent) would choose a pharmacy based on its ability to communicate via text message, and 84 percent of respondents would like to receive medication-related or refill reminders over text message.
Introducing the PrescribeWellness Message Center
The PrescribeWellness Message Center provides a unified place for pharmacies to communicate with patients through text messaging, right from within the PrescribeWellness platform. This new feature allows pharmacy teams to streamline their communications with patients while providing a convenient way for patients to get in touch. Housed within PharmacyGrowth and available now, the PrescribeWellness Message Center includes the ability to:
- View all incoming texts conveniently in one place, including each patient’s conversation thread
- Send text message communications to patients with the option to use the pharmacy phone number or a local number
- Initiate custom communications to better interact real-time with patients
- Provision a dedicated phone number to receive text and images, allowing for a new communication channel to attract new patients and engage existing patients
Consumer’s Top Priorities for Texting and Healthcare Experience
Seventy-three percent of Americans would not opt out of text messages sent by a healthcare provider. Patients would like to receive text messages regarding the following:
- Medication/refill reminders - 84 percent
- Drug/product recall information - 52 percent
- Drug manufacturer coupons - 39 percent
- Product coupons - 37 percent
- Pharmacy services - 26 percent
- Information on upcoming health-related events - 22 percent
Among respondents, 43 percent visit the pharmacy monthly, and 14 percent visit multiple times a month. Patients’ top priorities for their experience with a health care provider include: being cost/budget-friendly, having convenient ways to get in touch, using modern technology and tools and a caring staff team.
The survey of 1,000 U.S. adults was conducted online by Pollfish on behalf of PrescribeWellness in September 2018.
“As the most accessible health care provider, pharmacists are in the position to expand patient care and improve the health of their communities,” said Al Babbington, CEO of PrescribeWellness. “We are proud to provide solutions to enhance this ability and the introduction of the Message Center is yet another vital tool pharmacists can utilize to improve adherence and loyalty while also streamlining operations and workflow.”
“The Message Center has been invaluable to streamlining my daily workflow, and the best part is, it’s so easy to use,” says Steve Hoffart, Owner and Pharmacist at Magnolia Pharmacy in Magnolia, Texas. “My patients are thrilled that I have yet another way to communicate with them. They especially love that they can text the pharmacy’s landline number and get a response in real time. By staying up to date on the latest communications capabilities, I am empowered to better impact patient outcomes, and also stay competitive in the ever-changing world of pharmacy.”
About PrescribeWellness
PrescribeWellness is a leading provider of software and services that are expanding the role of pharmacy to deliver population health and chronic care management services. The company’s cloud-based technology is used by over 30,000 healthcare professionals in all 50 states to streamline the delivery of care and improve health outcomes. With behavioral science and interoperability at its core, the proprietary technology helps clients more effectively engage their patients. The platform currently connects more than 40 million patients and over 800,000 prescribers. PrescribeWellness has been named an Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Privately Held Company for the past four years. For more information, please visit www.prescribewellness.com.