Dialog Health has published a complimentary eBook for human resources professionals that shares best practices for using text messaging for employee engagement, communication, education, and satisfaction as organizations work to navigate the uncertainty caused by the health crisis. Best practices covered in the eBook cover the following valuable uses for human resources departments: Emergency Alerts: Support your business resiliency program by ensuring an emergency communication channel Mass/Group Alerts: Plans to resume business operations and changes to policies and procedures Survey Alerts: Check-in with your staff with a question that requires a response Health Plan, Provider, and Benefits Information: Health insurance FAQs and increase engagement during enrollment Links to Telehealth Providers and Information: To provide safe healthcare for employees Language Preference: For texting in preferred language COVID-19 Updates and Resources: Keeping staff abreast of the most significant developments Emotional Support : Staff morale As is noted in the eBook , "This is a time when the value and effectiveness of text messaging really shines. Throughout the nation, organizations are reopening offices, changing office procedures, updating remote work policies, and needing to share constantly changing information. For those organizations that leverage text messaging, resuming operations will prove more streamlined and successful." The free eBook is available for download by clicking here . You can also access it below. Organizations interested in adding text messaging should visit email info@dialoghealth.com , call (877) 666-1132, or fill out this form .

Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health, explains why ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) should emulate the usage of text messaging by the financial industry to communicate with patients about their financial obligations in a new ASC Focus column. As he writes, "Banks, credit card companies and other service providers need to communicate regularly with their customers regarding their financial obligations. Like ASCs, these businesses have relied on phone calls, physical mail and email for this purpose. Unlike many ASCs, these businesses now embrace texting." The column discusses why text messaging is an effective strategy for surgery centers to engage with patients about financial responsibility, shares different ways ASCs can use texting in a similar fashion as financial institutions, and lists several of the benefits of leveraging text messaging for communicating about money matters. Daniell concludes his column by explaining how ASCs can adopt texting and outlining other valuable uses for text messaging. Download the column as a PDF here or view it below. ASC Focus  is the official magazine of the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA).

Unfortunately, it looks like our experience with COVID-19 will only get worse before it gets better. Although the total number of new daily cases of the novel coronavirus in the United States has slowly been declining over the past few weeks, some states have experienced significant upticks. We're likely to see more hotspots popping up as states continue to proceed with reopening plans, including in-person education, and people experience fatigue with wearing masks and social distancing restrictions. We're seeing this occurring in Europe, which is now in the midst of its second wave of the health crisis. Pair surging COVID-19 infections with the looming flu season, and this one-two punch — which some are calling a " nightmare " scenario — has the potential to overwhelm hospitals and lead to new shutdowns and the reduction of non-essential services. Even a best-case scenario is still likely to result in significant challenges and pressures for healthcare providers, which is why now is the time to take the steps necessary to strengthen your emergency preparedness. One of the most significant aspects of emergency preparedness that requires increased attention before the nightmare hits is communication. Healthcare providers that successfully navigated the unchartered waters of COVID-19 placed a priority on ensuring effective communication with patients, staff, vendor partners, and, more broadly, the communities they served. And they did so by leveraging a range of tools, with a growing number of providers relying on texting to get timely messages to the people who needed to receive them. The experiences from the first six-plus months of this pandemic have taught us a great deal about what must happen if provider organizations want to put themselves in a position to respond effectively to the challenges of the next six months and beyond. Here are four of the lessons learned from the health crisis that you can use to improve your organization's emergency communication preparedness. 1. Address emergency communication weaknesses sooner than later The several weeks that followed the declaration of the pandemic and the issuing of restrictions and stay-at-home orders put emergency preparedness plans to the test. Many came up short. For those organizations that struggled with communication, they lacked the ability to inform patients, staff, and vendors effectively and efficiently about rapidly changing closure guidelines and safety rules. The mechanisms relied upon by such organizations to provide updates — such as phone, email, website, social media — were worthwhile, but often failed to get that information to a majority of targeted recipients in a timely fashion. When an organization needs to get an urgent message out to a significant number of people fast and with a high degree of confidence that the intended audience will receive and process it, there's no better means than texting. It's a proven method for quickly reaching and successfully engaging with stakeholders. We say that the time to deploy texting is well before it is needed. If you're not already using a texting platform, the time to add this valuable communication mechanism is now. 2. Never assume an emergency message is received When organizations were forced to shut down their operations, sometimes on relatively short notice, there was often a scramble to inform everyone affected — from patients who had their treatments postponed to staff members who were directed to stay home or still come in to the facility to vendors whose appointments were canceled. For organizations without text messaging, they relied upon the aforementioned mixed of emails, phone calls, and online posts. Unfortunately, organizations were often left unsure about whether stakeholders received or saw this messaging. Phone calls — the mechanism typically leaned upon for urgent messages — are increasingly ignored these days, largely due to robocall fatigue . And there's no guarantee that a voicemail will be listened to any time soon, if at all. When stakeholders missed messages providing new instructions, they typically proceeded with their original plans of coming to the facility, only to learn once they arrived that the facility was closed or appointments and shifts were canceled. This was not only frustrating but also led to an increased risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus. Two-way text messaging can help an organization dramatically reduce the likelihood that a message will be missed. Two-way texting allows recipients to respond to a message via text. If an organization wants to confirm that recipients received a message, they can ask the recipients to reply with a simple "yes" and the text messaging platform will record this confirmation. If any recipients fail to respond within a set amount of time (e.g., one hour), organizations can then reach out via phone and/or email. Considering more than 96% of Americans own a mobile phone of some kind, all of which can text, and research has shown that 98% of texts are read and 95% are read within just three minutes of being sent, the number of people who will require outreach via phone or email will be significantly lower. If the information that needs to reach recipients is too long for a text or needs to be provided in a format other than text, organizations can easily include a hyperlink to this information in a text message — another benefit. 3. Be prepared for before, during, and after the emergency Significant attention with emergency preparedness is paid to the initial response. What often receives less attention is what needs to happen during and after the emergency, as was the case with the pandemic. Organizations focused heavily on responding to the announcement of the pandemic and subsequent regulatory guidelines and recommendations, including stopping non-essential services and developing mechanisms to safely reduce the number of in-house staff to better support social distancing without harming care. Once this work was accomplished, many organizations, like much of the country, took a wait-and-see approach to developments. Unfortunately, in many cases, this was lost time that could have been spent preparing for the efforts that would be required for a successful reopening and gradual resumption of operations. As states began to announce when restrictions would ease and organizations began receiving information about when they could expect to begin reopening their facilities or individual departments (e.g., outpatient surgery), some organizations found themselves rushing to get timely messaging out to stakeholders about what this meant and how they would be affected — critical aspects of any successful business continuity plan. For patients, this information covered everything from when the date when the facility or department would reopen and how that would affect postponed treatments; what patients needed to do to reschedule appointments; changes in safety policies and procedures that patients and visitors would need to follow; and contact tracing surveys . For providers with a telehealth program, they worked to spread the word about the availability of such services. For staff, information disseminated covered everything from scheduling of shifts; new policies and procedures; steps leadership was taking to better ensure safety; and availability of services to help staff manage their own response to the pandemic, including COVID-19 testing and mental health support. For vendors, messages typically spoke to rescheduling of appointments and changes to policies and procedures representatives would need to follow during on-site visits. In the days and weeks that followed the initial reopening phase, what was understood about the novel coronavirus constantly evolved, affecting how organizations approached their response and modified their rules and guidelines. As this language changed, affected stakeholders needed to be informed. In many cases, this meant significant time spent on phone calls — sometimes multiple calls, if initial calls were missed — and emails that may or may not have been read. But for those organizations already using a text messaging platform, getting frequently changing updates out to a majority of affected stakeholders proved simple and effective. Writing the message, selecting targeted recipients, and clicking send was all it took to inform recipients about how to reschedule appointments, masking requirements, a no-visitor policy, new pre-screening rules, and more. Texting platforms could confirm the delivery of the messages and two-way texting helped document when recipients acknowledged the message. Staff — already stressed and often at reduced capacity — had their communication responsibility workload greatly reduced, permitting more time to focus on other critical matters. The organizations themselves were able to more easily ramp back up operations and begin capturing sorely needed revenue. As the possibilities of a second wave (or continued first wave, as some consider it) looms large, coupled with the flu season, organizations must need to strengthen their plan for how they intend to respond to a return of operational restrictions and the possibility of a second lockdown as well as identify what they can also do to further simplify and streamline reopening and resuming operations. Text messaging must be a part of this equation. 4. Don't overlook the value of staff support The final emergency preparedness and communication lesson learned from COVID-19 that we'll cover is that the need to provide emotional support to staff becomes elevated during times of great stress, such as this pandemic. As important as it is to keep staff informed about changes in their work schedule, new rules, and other developments that affect operations, it is perhaps just as important to remind staff that their hard work and dedication during such an uncertain time does not go unnoticed. To provide emotional and inspirational support to personnel, organizations are sending uplifting messages via text that are having a positive impact on mental health. One such organization is New Mexico's Lovelace Health System. It sent more than 46,000 text messages to its staff over a two-week stretch in March. While these messages covered a range of topics, including updates on changes to protocols, reminders about recommended safety practices, and information concerning the employee assistance program, Lovelace also sent texts that shared uplifting messages and inspirational quotes. As Serena Pettes, vice president of marketing and business development for the health system notes , "Sending texts to our employees … during COVID-19 has been an easy, quick, and effective way to provide support, encouragement, and guidance during a challenging time." It can be easy to overlook something like showing support for staff when there is so much work to be done (often with reduced staff), but the benefits of a simple message of appreciation can make a significant difference in morale and productivity. Strengthen Your Emergency Preparedness With Text Messaging While communication is just single component of emergency preparedness, it's one of the most important. When an organization can communicate effectively and in a timely manner about what it needs staff, patients, and vendors to do in response to ever-changing and -evolving emergency developments, execution of emergency preparedness and business continuity plans becomes easier and more successful. Text messaging helps make this happen. To learn about how to add Dialog Health text messaging to your organization, fill out the form here , email info@dialoghealth.com, or call (877) 666-1132.

Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health, identifies emergency communications lessons hospitals have learned from the pandemic that can improve their emergency communication plan and preparedness in a new Becker's Hospital Review column . As he writes, "The experiences thus far of hospitals working to manage the health crisis have taught us a great deal about what must happen if hospitals and health systems want to put themselves in the best position to respond effectively to the challenges of the fall, winter, and beyond." The column discusses the following lessons: Address vulnerabilities due to reduction of in-person communication Attend to emergency communication weaknesses Never assume an emergency message is received Prepare for before, during, and after the emergency Don't overlook the value of staff support As Daniell notes, "Communication is one of the most important aspects of emergency preparedness and business continuity. When a hospital or health system can communicate effectively and in a timely manner about what staff, patients, and vendors must do in response to rapidly changing developments, execution of an emergency plan becomes easier and more successful." Access the Becker's Hospital Review column here .

The recordings of all sessions from the 7th Annual ASC and Healthcare Management Virtual Symposium are now available on YouTube, including the panel discussion on crisis communications featuring Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health. Daniell was joined by Chris Kralik, administrator for AMSURG, and Serena Pettes, vice president of marketing and business development for Lovelace Health System. Their session was titled "Emergency Communication Lessons Learned From Covid-19 and Best Practices for Improvement." Watch it here: Other sessions covered topics including revenue cycle management, OSHA enforcement, private equity, and information technology. To access all of the Symposium's recordings, click here . They are available through the YouTube channel of Garfunkel Wild, P.C., host of the meeting.

More than 200 million Americans are currently under winter weather alerts as this historic storm inflicts substantial damage to large parts of the country. Another storm is on its way. Many of our clients have been affected by this severe weather. We are grateful that they have been able to use text messaging to help execute their emergency response plan and better ensure the safety of patients, staff, and visitors. Here are a few examples of texts our clients have sent over the past 24-48 hours: I regret to inform you that the center will be closed now through Thursday February 18 with plans to reopen Friday February 19 due to inclement weather. Safety for our patients, drivers and employees are a top priority. Please contact your Physician at your earliest convince to reschedule. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have cost you. All employees, unit 4 will be set up with cots, blankets and pillows for your use in case of inclement weather and you wish to stay instead of driving home. Please notify your on duty supervisor if you are wanting to stay and they will help get you set up in a room. Thank you all for everything you do! The Center will be closed tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday due to the power outages and inclement weather. If you have PTO, you are welcome to use it. If you do not, please talk to your supervisor directly. Stay tuned for updates. Stay WARM! Thank you. Due to inclement weather and unsafe road conditions your appointment for tomorrow has been CANCELLED. Please contact your doctor directly to reschedule. Thank you. About a year ago, I wrote a blog titled "Your emergency preparedness plan: Why it needs to include text messaging." The events of 2020 and now the early part of 2021 have further cemented this belief. To everyone affected by these storms, please stay safe! To our clients: If you need any assistance with sending emergency texts, call or text me at (615) 429-4252.

Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health, identifies some of the most common ways that hospitals have incorporated text messaging into their pandemic response efforts in a new Becker's Hospital Review column. In " 8 ways hospitals are using text messaging to navigate the pandemic ," Daniell discusses the following: Case volume Vaccine distribution Protocol education Pre-screening Telehealth Contact tracing Communication with caretakers Staff support As he concludes, "There's every reason to believe that hospitals will continue to leverage text messaging in the coming months to help them further overcome the many challenges brought on by the public health emergency." Access Daniell's column in Becker's Hospital Review .

Within just minutes after the governors of Texas and Mississippi announced they were lifting their states' mask mandates, several of our healthcare provider clients reached out to us asking for urgent assistance. Their request: add a text message to preop campaigns to remind patients of the requirements for entering their facilities and how these requirements contrast with the newly issued mandates. The text message now going out from the Dialog Health texting platform to patients in these states essentially reads as follows: "The health and wellbeing of our patients and staff remain our top priority. While the statewide mask mandate has been lifted, our commitment to your safety remains steadfast and we will continue to require patients and family members to wear masks at our facilities per CDC recommendations and guidelines." Sending such a message helps these facilities in at least three ways: It communicates clearly to patients the rules for the facility, irrespective of state rules. It acknowledges the mandate and explains why the facility is not following it. This can help reduce the need for discussions with patients who arrive at the facility unmasked and those who question why the mandate is not being followed. It saves staff from making additional phone calls to explain how rules differ and why. As mandates are lifted and revised nationwide, communicating how facility rules differ from state rules will be imperative to patient and staff safety and satisfaction. Reach out to Dialog Health and we'll help ensure your facility is prepared to leverage texting to communicate efficiently and effective about masking rule changes and other timely developments with its patients.

FRANKLIN, Tenn., March 30, 2021 – Dialog Health, a two-way texting platform that enables information to be pushed to and pulled from patients, staff, and caregivers, announces it is expanding support for healthcare organizations adding and leveraging text messaging to recover patient volume that has declined during the pandemic. In recent months, Dialog Health has seen significant increases in clients using texting grow their patient volume, schedule services, and generate much-needed revenue. Texting is being used to support the following: Helping patients reschedule cases that needed to be postponed over the past year, largely due to COVID-19. Streamlining the scheduling of routine services, such as lab tests, imaging, rehabilitation, and physical therapy. Driving recall programs for services such as immunizations, mammograms, colonoscopies, and prostate cancer screenings. Healthcare providers are also using text messaging to help "unfreeze" patients who are hesitant to come to a facility for in-person services because of fear about contracting COVID-19. These texts explain what the organization is doing to best ensure patient safety and provide guidance and reminders leading up to appointments to reassure patients about safety and the importance of keeping their appointments. By adding the Dialog Health platform, providers can communicate quickly and efficiently with patients about making and following through on appointments via texting — the preferred communication method for a growing number of Americans. The increased attention being paid to replacing lost patient volume and revenue is not surprising considering recent reports that have highlighted the significant financial losses suffered by hospitals, health systems, and other providers due to COVID-19. Such losses have been attributable to factors including forced shutdowns and slowdown of regular operations, costs associated with investments in safety and infection prevention efforts, and added expenses due to supply chain and labor market disruptions. Hospitals and health systems have also incurred considerable costs associated with preparing for the surge of coronavirus patients, the slowing of regular operations for non-emergent care, and treating COVID-19 cases. For healthcare organizations whose bottom lines have been affected by the public health emergency, text messaging is a valuable communication mechanism that will help accelerate their financial recovery, says Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health. "Prior to the pandemic, providers were increasingly implementing texting solutions and depending on texting to drive more of their communications," Daniell says. "COVID-19 has further spurred usage of texting, and for good reasons: It's fast and affordable. More importantly, it's very effective, with a majority of text messages being read within just minutes of their delivery and almost all text messages being read on the day they are received. There's every reason to believe that providers will continue to leverage text messaging in the coming months to help them further overcome the many challenges brought on by the pandemic." Healthcare organizations interested in adding text messaging to support patient volume growth should visit Dialog Health , email info@dialoghealth.com , or call (877) 666-1132. "By embracing the speed, convenience, and ubiquity of texting, healthcare providers can increase patient participation and engagement in their care, which benefits patients, staff, organizations, and the healthcare system as a whole," Daniell says. About Dialog Health Dialog Health is a U.S.-based company that provides a two-way texting platform to organizations which they can leverage as a communication and engagement channel. Two-way texting is a convenient, fast, effective, and affordable communication resource for stakeholder engagement. For more information, visit www.dialoghealth.com, call (877) 666-1132, and follow Dialog Health on LinkedIn .

Dialog Health's Director of Sales Spencer Kelpe will be presenting at AMSURG's " 2021 Annual Business Office Conference ," scheduled for April 21–23. Kelpe will be speaking on "Improving the Patient & Staff Engagement Experience." The presentation will discuss how Dialog Health's two-way text messaging platform has helped AMSURG facilities improve patient and staff communication. The theme of this year's conference is "focus." AMSURG is the Envision Healthcare solution for ASCs. The company collaborates with physicians and health systems across the country to provide and promote quality patient care. AMSURG is currently partnered with nearly 2,000 specialty physicians providing outpatient surgical services in more than 250 facilities in 35 states.

A recent ruling by the Supreme Court should help alleviate any lingering concerns for healthcare providers about adopting text messaging for patient communications and engagement. On April 1, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid , which concerned how "automatic telephone dialing system" (ATDS) was to be defined under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA). The ruling reversed a previous decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that held the following : "To qualify as an 'ATDS' under TCPA, a device must have the capacity either to store, or to produce, a telephone number using a random or sequential number generator." A JD Supra article summarizes the key takeaway of noteworthy ruling as follows: "This is big news. This precedent will likely be relied on by other defendants in TCPA class action litigation to argue that the technology used to send text messages does not constitute an autodialer and, therefore, the TCPA does not apply." What does this mean to healthcare providers that have been on the fence about whether to add texting? The ruling essentially removes TCPA from the picture. Since providers are not likely to use an ATDS for patient communications, they will avoid running afoul of the court's interpretation of TCPA's regulations. Without the risk of potential litigation from using healthcare text messaging, providers should feel even more comfortable adding the technology for communication and engagement. If you're with a healthcare organization ready to explore how you can leverage texting, reach out . We'd love to tell you about our two-way text messaging platform and the many ways our clients use texting every day to improve their operational, clinical, and financial performance.

FRANKLIN, Tenn., March 11, 2021 – A new data analysis shows that more than four out of every five patients will participate in satisfaction surveys administered by healthcare providers via text message. The data comes from Digestive Health Center (DHC) of Dallas, an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) owned and operated by AMSURG. DHC of Dallas sent about 7,400 Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey text messages to patients in 2020. Texts were delivered via Dialog Health, a two-way texting platform that enables information to be pushed to and pulled from patients, staff, and caregivers. The survey text stated the following: "Would you mind rating your experience with us between a 1 and a 5, with 1 being low and 5 being high? Simply reply with the number." The engagement results were as follows: About 82% of patients replied with a 4 or 5 About 1% replied with a 1, 2, or 3 The total percentage of patients who participated in the survey exceeded 83%. In addition, more than 200 patients provided commentary when they replied with their number. Improving Net Promoter Score With Text Messaging The 82% of patients who responded with a 4 or 5 were subsequently texted a link to a web page where they could leave online reviews of DHC of Dallas. This has helped the ASC strengthen its online reputation. "We are proud of the excellent patient-centered care provided at our centers each and every day," says David Shackelford, MHA, regional vice president of operations for AMSURG. "One important way we measure our effectiveness is through our NPS survey to patients. Our strong partnership with Dialog Health allows us to leverage a texting-outreach platform, which has demonstrated an incredible rate of response." "Based upon the experience of clients who use text messaging for patient surveys and achieve great outcomes, we were confident that texting would deliver DHC of Dallas the results it was looking for," says Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health. Adding Texting for Patient Surveys The decision by DHC of Dallas to employ two-way texting for its NPS surveys was easy. The ASC was already finding success using Dialog Health to perform a post-appointment patient communication campaign via text messages. The center's leadership expected that texting would provide a fast, efficient, and cost-effective way to gather real-time feedback from patients the day after surgery. "This feedback loop is so important as is provides visibility into our successes and also areas for improvement," Shackelford says. "Ultimately, this patient communication solution allows us to celebrate the dedication of our entire care team to achieving high-quality care with a great patient experience." Organizations like DHC of Dallas are growing increasingly reliant on text messaging for patient and staff communications. Email communications have become less dependable due to the proliferation of spam and sheer number of emails most people receive daily. Phone calls take up significant staff time and resources while also delivering poor results because of the increasing tendency for consumers to ignore calls from unfamiliar numbers. "We are pleased that this analysis further validates the effectiveness of text messaging for communicating and engaging with patients," Daniell says. "By embracing the speed, convenience, and ubiquity of texting, surgery centers and other healthcare providers can increase patient participation and engagement in their care, which benefits patients, staff, organizations, and the healthcare system as a whole." To learn more about how DHC of Dallas and other healthcare providers are benefitting from two-way text messaging, access Dialog Health case studies here . About Dialog Health Dialog Health is a U.S.-based company that provides a two-way texting platform to organizations which they can leverage as a communication and engagement channel. Two-way texting is a convenient, fast, effective, and affordable communication resource for stakeholder engagement. For more information, visit www.dialoghealth.com, call (877) 666-1132, and follow Dialog Health on LinkedIn .