Patient and Client Communication Best Practices for Providers

You communicate with patients or clients every day in your practice or business, but how effective is that communication? It’s not always as easy as it seems, yet truly connecting with others can be a key factor in delivering optimal health and wellness services.

According to the “Trends in Patient Communications” survey by Artera, 43% of patients reported that communication challenges negatively impacted their health.¹ And 59% said they are willing to switch doctors if they are provided a broken communication experience.¹

There are ways to improve your communication skills, among them active listening, using clear language, personalizing communications and leveraging technology and more to reach patients or clients with methods they prefer.

Benefits of Effective Patient Communication 

Both you and your patients or clients could reap the benefits of effective communication. This could include better treatment compliance and an enhanced patient experience that can lead to positive outcomes and higher satisfaction.² Patients and clients may also become more empowered in their own healthcare, asking more questions, sharing their concerns and making lifestyle changes.²

As a result, your patients or clients are more likely to stay with your practice or business.³ And those who are happy with their experience may refer others to you, which could help grow your business.³ 

To establish effective communication with patients or clients, consider these best practices and how they might fit into your day-to-day operations.

Establish Trust and Rapport 

Making a good first impression sets the stage for patient-provider communication. This should start the moment they call for an appointment or to get more information. The goal is to establish a positive connection by building trust with your patients or clients. Some ways to do this include:

• Active listening. Pay attention to your patients or clients as you talk with them. Don’t try to multitask, look through patient files or read notes. Give them your full attention.  
• Express empathy and compassion. When your patients are explaining their situation, encourage and show understanding. Resist any impulse to interrupt them as they speak. Instead, ask questions only after they are finished talking.  
• Project positive non-verbal clues. Demonstrate you’re listening by making eye contact, nodding in response and showing concern in your facial expressions. If you are talking with a patient or client on the phone, acknowledge what they are saying with an affirmative “yes,” “I see,” or “Mm-hmm” so they know you are listening. 

Use Clear and Compassionate Language 

Learning how to communicate with patients and clients is another best practice for effective communication. This means talking with them in a manner they can understand and avoiding medical jargon. Instead, use analogies and simple explanations when discussing diagnoses, possible treatment plans and potential complications. 

You can ensure your patients or clients understand all you have discussed by using the teach-back method. This technique involves asking your patient or client to repeat back what you told them using their own words. This can reveal misunderstandings and provide you with an opportunity to clarify information as needed, so they leave with a full understanding of what was discussed.⁴ 

Personalize Communication 

Another best practice is communicating with patients and clients in a personal way. In patient-provider communication, recognizing and respecting cultural differences is necessary to deliver health and wellness services that can help you go beyond meeting the patient’s or client’s physical needs.⁵ You may also want to meet their social, cultural and linguistic needs as well. 

To do so, you may want to adapt your communication style to meet these diverse needs. That may include addressing language barriers by enlisting the help of a translator, or differentiating how you speak to children vs. how you communicate with elderly patients and clients. 

Your specific type of health and wellness specialty could also dictate how you communicate with your patients or clients. According to language-focused research conducted by the American Veterinary Medical Association, for instance, how vets talk about veterinary care can influence owners’ perceptions about the value and importance of care.⁶ 

The study found that 41% of pet owners prefer that veterinarians use the term “checkups” when referring to wellness visits.⁶ Eighty percent prefer that vets use the words “routine” and “regular” as the best way to promote consistent preventive care.⁶ 

Leverage Technology to Enhance Communication

Technology continues to change how providers work in their health and wellness space. A large part of that encompasses how they communicate with their patients and clients, especially since many prefer to use telehealth and virtual consultations.⁷ According to a 2023 BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making study, 29% of patients surveyed stated they preferred telemedicine.⁸ Offering this service can provide options for your patients or clients.   

Another avenue for effective — and convenient — communication is utilizing a patient portal. These secure online websites offer a variety of methods to relay and receive information to your patients or clients, including:⁹

• Access to electronic health records (EHRs)
• Appointment scheduling
• Prescription management
• Real-time lab results
• Secure messaging

Text messaging is also on the rise as an effective communication method — one that goes beyond automated text reminders for appointments. Instead, 79% of patients surveyed say they want their healthcare provider to improve their healthcare experience by enabling them to initiate conversations via text on any topic.¹ As such, being willing and able to engage in interactive, digital conversations with your patients or clients can help improve their overall experience. 

Navigate Financial Conversations

Paying for health and wellness services can be a challenge for many patients and clients. Addressing this challenge is another best practice for effective communication. Having financial conversations early and throughout a patient’s financial journey can help set the right expectations for their financial obligations and assist in their decision-making. 

It also provides an opportunity to mention flexible financing options, such as the CareCredit credit card. Fifty-five percent of patients surveyed say they want to learn about payment options before they even schedule an appointment; another 33% cite the time of appointment scheduling as an optimal time to have such a discussion.¹⁰

Learn More: Check out CareCredit's patient financial communication tips and scripts to help prepare your team for these conversations.

Encourage Patient Participation and Feedback 

One final best practice in patient communications is engaging patients and clients in their care and seeking their feedback afterward. Empowering patients and clients in their health and wellness journey can lead to improved patient outcomes and adherence.¹¹ Here are some tips for motivating their involvement in care decisions:

• Ask open-ended questions to encourage your patients or clients to voice their concerns. 
• Encourage them to ask questions.
• Include your patients or clients in the decision-making process for tests, treatments and care plans. 

Asking your patients or clients to provide feedback is also crucial because it can reveal not only your strengths but also where you can improve in the care you and your staff provide.¹² Fostering an environment for open feedback can be as simple as asking, “How was your visit today?”

Following up with email or text requests for feedback allows time for your patients or clients to reflect on their experience. In turn, you can use their feedback to improve the delivery of your services, as well as your communication strategies.¹² Responding to feedback shows you are listening to their concerns and taking steps to make improvements, which can work toward strengthening trust with your patients or clients.¹² 

Implement Training for Continuous Improvement 

Improving your communication skills with your patients or clients takes practice through ongoing staff training. Some tools for communication training include: 

• Having clear communication guidelines for staff
• Providing tip sheets with communication cues
• Using scripts for specific conversations, such as ones about cost and financing 
• Engaging in role-playing exercises so staff can work through sample conversations 

Feedback and self-assessment can help improve your communication skills by revealing how others perceive your messaging, highlighting strengths and weaknesses and tracking your progress. To help strengthen communication skills for you and your staff, use available professional development resources such as workshops, seminars, videos, worksheets and online courses.

Effective Communication Can Build Strong Relationships

Effective communication is essential to helping patients and clients move forward with recommended care. Implementing best practices for communications may help lead to positive outcomes and a better experience. The end result could leave your patients or clients feeling more involved in their health and wellness.

Offer Flexible Financing at Your Practice

If you are looking for a way to connect your patients or clients with flexible financing that empowers them to pay for the care they want and need, consider offering the CareCredit credit card as a financing solution. CareCredit allows cardholders to pay for out-of-pocket health and wellness expenses over time while helping enhance the payments process for your practice or business.

When you accept CareCredit, patients or clients can see if they prequalify with no impact to their credit score, and those who apply, if approved, can take advantage of special financing on qualifying purchases.* Additionally, you will be paid directly within two business days.

Learn more about the CareCredit credit card as a financing solution or start the provider enrollment process by filling out this form.

Author Bio

Karon Warren is a freelance writer and editor with more than 20 years of experience covering small business and personal finance. In addition to her B2B writing experience in the healthcare industry, she has researched and written about finance topics related to banking, mortgages, credit cards, savings and more.

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