Avance Plastic Surgery Institute

Case Study

I always wanted to be a doctor. My dad had several surgeries done on his spine when I was little, and watching him go through it made me want to learn how to help people in similar ways. When I got to medical school, my favorite mentors were plastic surgeons, so I was drawn to that area of work. 

Plastic surgery is a diverse field that allows me to operate on people from across all ages, and for both cosmetic and reconstructive reasons. There’s an artistic component to the work, and I love seeing the results and making my patients happy. 

We have a tight-knit team at Avance that consists of me and two patient coordinators. We’re real people who get along with patients because we recognize the self-consciousness and stressful parts that go into deciding whether or not to get plastic surgery. 

A lot of our patients don’t want to answer the phone, so when I was searching for a solution to give them a more private and comfortable way to communicate with our practice, texting immediately stood out. With text, patients don’t have to worry about being overheard or interrupting their work day to talk with our clinic.

We went with Text Request, because we liked how it was easy to keep track of contacts and whether or not they’ve been responded to. Our response rates have significantly increased since using Text Request, and we no longer rely on a traditional answering system as much. 

Patients get annoyed when they call a clinic and are greeted by an answering service—but with Text Request we can make sure they get an autoresponse that prompts them to leave their information and start the process in a way that satisfies their immediate needs. We don’t have to immediately get back to them if it’s after hours, but they know they’ve made contact with us.

Patients can also send photos of the areas they want us to look at, and they enjoy getting scheduled appointment reminders from us. We even give them the option to make payments through texted links, plus they can reach out to us with any follow-up questions before and after their procedure. In plastic surgery, you want to know if there’s a problem before it happens, and text gives us the ability to quickly check-in on how patients are recovering post procedure.

From a medical standpoint, the other text service options are pretty expensive and they don’t offer as many features as Text Request. The Text Request customer support team is also incredibly helpful, and the other clinics I’ve referred to them have been happy with the results. 

Being a modern medical practice requires providing the best emerging treatments, and it requires us to communicate with patients the way they’re expected to be communicated with—which includes text. Our overall patient experience has improved, because our patients feel more secure when they know our medical expertise is just one, quick message away.