Upgrade for physical therapists: Communication with WhatsApp

In physical therapy practices, efficient communication between patients and practice staff is of great importance. WhatsApp can play an important role here to facilitate and improve the exchange. Many practices mainly communicate with their patients through time-consuming phone calls and are unsure how to use WhatsApp without violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In this post, we'll show you how using the WhatsApp Business API can simplify communication for physical therapists.

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Challenges in patient communication

Communication in the practice is often a challenge. Multiple communication channels must be managed simultaneously, including phone, email, and in-person patient care. A constantly busy phone can negatively impact the patient experience and is also frustrating for staff. Email communication is often tedious and response times are long. Emails quickly get lost in patients' crowded inboxes, and it's difficult to keep track of all communications. The percentage of practices' time spent communicating with patients is often far too high. There are much better alternatives to using practices' limited staff resources than in continuous phone calls with patients.

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WhatsApp is widespread - but for practices in the standard version not GDPR-compliant

Most people now prefer to communicate via WhatsApp. In Germany, more than 60 million citizens use the messenger several times a day. However, the use of WhatsApp in patient communication is subject to certain guidelines and requirements of the GDPR. The use of the classic WhatsApp or the WhatsApp Business App is not recommended with regard to the applicable guidelines. Both options access address and metadata of the stored contacts and are therefore not GDPR compliant. In addition, they cannot be optimally managed from multiple users or devices, which can lead to chaos in communication with patients.

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WhatsApp Business API as an alternative

The only alternative is to use the WhatsApp Business API, which offers extended and GDPR-compliant functions of the messenger. Mateo is a software that bundles relevant communication channels such as WhatsApp, SMS and email in the universal inbox, enabling efficient and individualized patient care. Message templates ensure highly efficient processing of requests. Even fully automated chats for simple topics, such as booking an appointment, can be implemented. This saves the limited human resources of practices in the healthcare sector. In addition, internal communication between employees is integrated in Mateo. With Mateo's WhatsApp API connection, there are no limits to the number of users and devices per account from a technical perspective. We make sure that each of your employees gets an access to WhatsApp, if you want them to. With Mateo, it is also possible to connect multiple phone numbers to the WhatsApp API. Even your existing landline number! This ensures fast and efficient processing of incoming requests. Different locations and mailboxes can also be managed.

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Keep your patients informed with the WhatsApp newsletter

Appointment reminders: Physical therapists can use WhatsApp newsletters to remind patients of upcoming appointments. Timely reminders allow more patients to keep their appointments. This makes efficient use of therapists' working time and increases the chance of follow-up appointments.

Health tips and recommendations: You can also use WhatsApp to educate patients about health issues. For example, send exercises to do at home or tips on which sports should be avoided for which complaints. This makes patients feel more connected to your practice and they are much less likely to switch to other practices.

Sending important information: Your practice wants to enjoy a well-deserved vacation? A therapist is absent due to illness? Or renovation work has to be carried out? Send important information to your patients with just a few clicks. This way, your patients stay informed and you massively reduce the communication effort.

Example WhatsApp newsletter of a practice for physiotherapy

Additionally collect more online reviews

Positive reviews are vital in the medical field to gain and retain patient trust. However, many practices do not have efficient processes in place to remind happy patients to leave a review on Google. Unhappy patients, on the other hand, often express themselves in negative online reviews. With Mateo, automated messages can be sent to patients to remind them to leave a review, improving the practice's online reputation.

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Field report of the practice "Physio Lola

Physiopraxis Lola uses Mateo to offer patients an easy way to contact them, to automate processes and to make the employees' daily work easier. Thanks to Mateo, the contact channel WhatsApp can now be used simultaneously by the reception and the attending physician. The integrated comment and assignment function allows a smooth flow of information in the process. Automatic reply messages make it possible to process a considerable proportion of incoming appointment requests automatically. For patients, the practice staff can be reached more easily and through a variety of channels via the web widget embedded on the website. Thanks to the Mateo mobile app, incoming messages can be answered quickly and reliably via smartphone, even when out in the field. Physio Lola has been able to reduce the number of unproductive phone calls by over 40% thanks to Mateo and reschedule cancelled appointments twice as quickly as before.
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Customer quote from a physiotherapy practice

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Efficient communication with patients via Mateo's WhatsApp API

At Mateo, we're your messaging experts when it comes to patient communication. Dozens of physical therapy practices already use Mateo and are enthusiastic about it. Our customers particularly appreciate the following benefits of Mateo:

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Central user interface

In addition to WhatsApp Business API, Mateo bundles many other communication channels such as email, Instagram, SMS or Facebook Messenger in a central inbox. On the intuitive and clear user interface, you will find various helpful tools for particularly efficient customer communication. A web widget with the messaging channels you support is available for your customers for particularly easy contact.

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Custom Message Templates

Thanks to various message templates that can be created individually, the amount of paperwork is minimized and the efficiency of customer communication is increased. This means that personnel resources in the service area can be deployed elsewhere.

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WhatsApp Newsletter

With Mateo's WhatsApp API solution, newsletters can be sent in a GDPR-compliant manner. Due to the first-class open rate of 98% for WhatsApp messages, marketing can thus be carried out significantly better than via email or other channels.

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More positive Google reviews

With Mateo, you create an outstanding customer experience. Mateo can automatically request online reviews from your customers. The more reviews you have, the better you will be found on Google, for example. Reviews also create trust in your company.

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Privacy

Mateo's messaging tool is compatible with all German and European legally binding data protection requirements. If the law changes, the software will be revised accordingly. For absolutely secure customer communication, all messages are encrypted end-to-end. You can read all the info about the GDPR when using WhatsApp in our article"WhatsApp Business and GDPR". This will help you avoid the warnings, severe penalties and expensive legal costs that often occur in the event of non-compliance with the GDPR (= use of the standard WhatsApp Business app).

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Scalability for all company sizes

The scalability of the messaging tool has been confirmed by the large number of companies already using Mateo with a high level of satisfaction. Whether customers have just a few employees or many hundreds, the software works smoothly and, depending on the package, with an unlimited number of end devices, users and phone numbers. The fact that Mateo significantly reduces the workload in the customer service area opens up new growth opportunities for many companies.

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Low cost provider for WhatsApp Business API

With an entry-level price of just 79 euros per month, Mateo is a cost-effective provider for WhatsApp Business API solutions on the German market. Combined with the integration of additional communication channels and various helpful tools, Mateo offers excellent value for money. Mateo's personal customer support assists companies with every step of the integration, ensuring very low barriers to entry.

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Upgrade for physical therapists: Reduce communication effort thanks to WhatsApp [July 2023].