Patient Keepage
What is patient keepage?
Patient keepage refers to patients continuing to receive care within a healthcare location or network instead of seeking care outside the network. It is the opposite of patient leakage.
Increasing patient keepage involves making it as easy as possible for patients to continue accessing a location’s services and ensuring that the services the patient needs exist within the healthcare system.
Furthermore, patient leakage may also occur if there is a lack of effective care coordination to establish the next step of the patient’s care journey. Patient keepage encourages physicians to not only refer patients but also make it easy for them to schedule the next appointment.
How does patient keepage improve healthcare?
By making sure that patients follow up with referrals, patient keepage ensures they receive timely medical care. Additionally, keeping patients in-network makes it easier to share their health records with each practitioner and continually have an up-to-date version of their medical records. This saves the patient from answering the same questions with each physician they see or getting repeat tests.