3 great reasons to use email templates in your healthcare practice

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Although each day is unique in a healthcare practice, some things are always the same. Like the repetitive emails you send to clients, other providers, and insurance companies.

Many healthcare practice owners and administrators struggle with how to approach these types of frequent emails. When you welcome a new client, for example, the message is much the same for everyone, but each email must be sent individually and personalized.

Faced with this problem, many choose to write each email from scratch. Others open a blank message then cut and paste text from an older version into the new one.

These processes are time-consuming, inconsistent, and can create unintentional errors.

Email templates are the answer to this dilemma. They help increase efficiency and minimize errors, ultimately upgrading your practice's professional standards. 

What is an email template?

An email template is a pre-made email with a specific structure and customizable elements. It always contains text (including the email content and subject line) and may also accommodate images and other attachments.

Templates provide structure while also offering flexibility because they can be customized as needed.

For example, a healthcare practice administrator may use a template when welcoming new clients. It might include a warm greeting, directions to the practice, any relevant rules, and helpful resources. The administrator would pull up the template and add the client’s name and email address before sending.

Although a template could be as simple as text saved in a Word or PDF document, many email providers allow users to store and open templates directly in their systems.

Hushmail will soon launch email templates! With this upgrade, users will be able to open a blank email and select a saved template from a drop-down menu. Text and any images, forms, or other attachments will then immediately appear in the email.

In addition, Hushmail will offer a directory of pre-written email templates tailored to healthcare practices. But you don’t have to wait until this new feature is live to use templates. Check out our Must-have email templates article and get up to 10 for free!

Now that we’ve covered what email templates are, let’s take a look at their benefits.

Templates help save time

Writing a new email for every single request or hunting for the right phrase in a previous message is time-consuming. Using templates is simply much faster.

With a template, you know exactly where to look for all the information you need. Since it is pre-populated and edited, you only need to customize a few fields before sending. Storing templates directly on your email system saves even more time.

When you cut down on email writing, you can focus more on your clients and other aspects of your practice.

Templates reduce errors and potential HIPAA violations

Templates also help to cut down on several types of mistakes and may save you from an accidental HIPAA violation.

If you frequently copy and paste information from previous emails, you run the risk of unintentionally sharing client data by copying the wrong information. This would be considered a HIPAA violation.

With a template, only generic information is used, and there’s little risk of sending client names or data to the wrong person.

Another frequent error is omitting key information.

If you write all your emails from scratch or use the copy-paste technique, it can be easy to miss something important. This can lead to wasted time or communication gaps.

For example, say you forgot to include your appointment cancellation policy in a welcome email. Your client could be surprised when an invoice for a missed appointment arrives unexpectedly.

With a good, thoroughly reviewed template, you never have to worry about missing vital information. Since most email templates allow you to add attachments, you can rest assured you won’t forget to include additional resources either.

Using templates also helps prevent the pesky typos and grammatical errors that can occur when writing emails in a hurry.

Templates boost professionalism

Templates support you and your team in meeting high professional standards by increasing efficiency, consistency, and accuracy.

First, templates establish competence by reducing errors. You create a culture of excellence when you always share client data appropriately and include all the necessary information in your communications.

Templates can also help you implement a consistent style or voice for your practice. For example, you could use a specific greeting or a unique sign-off with every email. This gives a sense of cohesion and reliability.

And templates help support practice growth. As your team expands, you won’t need to worry that emails aren’t well-written. Instead, you can trust that the quality of your communications remains high.

Since templates save time, they also come in handy as your email traffic increases when your practice gets busier. Templates can also help improve client relationships by reducing response time. Answering emails promptly shows how much you care about your clients and their concerns.

Types of email templates

You can create an email template for any scenario that frequently arises in your practice. Pelletier uses templates to remind clients to complete paperwork, notify potential clients when the waitlist is updated, and solicit feedback from new clients.

Here are a few other ideas to help you get started.

Consider creating a template for:

• Responding to a prospective client
• Welcoming a new client
• Invoices
• Payment reminders
• Availability notices
• Requests for client forms
• Referrals
• Third-party correspondence, including emails to insurance providers or medical billers

For even more inspiration, head to our Must-have email templates article!

Templates are an excellent investment

Setting up email templates can take some time at first. You must budget time to write the templates, proofread them, and put them in your email system. But the effort does pay off once you start using them.

Templates are well worth the effort because they save time, keep error rates low, and help maintain high professional standards.

Send secure, professional emails with Hushmail.