Yearly check-ups and minimal information no longer define modern healthcare. Today’s patients seek ongoing connection with their providers and readily available insights about their own healthcare.
As a result, patient engagement in 2025 was driven by digital-first tools that kept patients involved in their care journey and connected to their practices and providers. Not only did patients want the tools to communicate with their care teams, but they also wanted resources to stay securely connected to their health information.
A review of patient engagement in 2025
From discovering a practice to actively visiting and following up with care, patients expected a digital-first approach to the care journey.
An online presence is a vital first step to a patient-centric approach. Utilizing a platform that allows patients to learn more about the organization and also schedule their own appointments without calling an office is key to convenience and accessibility.
Additionally, personalization and transparency were key difference-makers for patient engagement in 2025. From relevant communications to easy-to-use patient portals, today’s patients want to be in control of their healthcare journey.
What really drove engagement in 2025?
Accessibility and communication were the main drivers of patient engagement in 2025.
When patients have access to their healthcare information and data, they are empowered in the care journey. A strong patient portal that houses lab results, messaging, scheduling, and relevant health history puts information at patients’ fingertips. This helps create a more successful care journey as patients have the tools to invest in their own health.
Additionally, timely communication boosted patient engagement and connection. Patient engagement in 2025 saw an increased emphasis on relevant communication and two-way channels, such as appointment reminders and virtual check-in links. When these messages align with patients’ appointments, they minimize no-shows and support streamlined intake for patients and staff.
Moreover, as technology has progressed, it has elevated two-way messaging. Chatbots with advanced natural language processing can seamlessly respond to patient messages and questions, further boosting patient connection to their practice, all while alleviating strain on practice staff.
Tools that transformed patient engagement in 2025
Automation, AI, and connectivity emerged as key functionalities driving patient engagement in 2025.
Automated messaging creates a smooth intake process with actions like appointment reminders that help practices reduce no-shows and promote patients’ continuity of care. Additionally, many of these messages can include secure links to intake forms. This helps minimize the time that patients spend in waiting rooms on the day of their appointment, bolstering a positive experience.
Even after appointments, AI-driven messages can initiate steps for follow-up appointments, prescription reminders, and patient surveys. These help patients stay on top of their continued care coordination and allow them to offer feedback to their practice. This feedback gives practices actionable insights into improving operations and care delivery.
Beyond messaging, AI-powered call bots can field and resolve common questions and concerns over the phone. This helps relieve staff to attend to more pressing matters while keeping patient wait times low and satisfaction high.
Similarly, patient self-scheduling allows patients to secure an appointment at their convenience, eliminating the need to contact staff members during business hours. Automated waitlists then help get patients in the door for earlier appointments without staff intervention.
Patient engagement in 2025 also saw the continued importance of remote care and telehealth. Devices that enable remote patient monitoring and chronic care management help patients achieve stronger care outcomes and minimize hospitalizations. Virtual visits and telehealth further emphasize how the patient experience can be improved by increased accessibility to practices and providers.
Key features of successful patient engagement systems
When selecting a patient engagement platform, integration is an integral part of making the right choice. When your patient engagement solution is seamlessly integrated into your EHR, it makes for more accurate and streamlined processes for your team.
For example, with patient self-scheduling, appointments should automatically be added to the calendar without staff involvement. Additionally, many patient engagement solutions can work with your practice management (PM) system to securely send intake forms to patients in advance. On the back end, this allows providers to have patient intake information in advance.
Your engagement system should put patient needs at the forefront. Ease of use, accessibility, and responsiveness are important considerations. A successful patient engagement platform has a strong usability for patients across demographics.
Features to include:
- Intelligent patient self-scheduling
- Quick-response communication channels
- Integration with PM systems
- Simplified bill viewing and payment options
- Language preferences
- User-friendly interface
Keeping these functionalities and features top of mind can help you execute a strong patient engagement plan. At the same time, it is important to keep in mind these common barriers.
- Message fatigue: Stay mindful of how often communications are being sent to patients. There is value in keeping messages timely, relevant, and important.
- Privacy and trust considerations: Ensure that your platform maintains current privacy and secure standards for protecting patient and practice data.
- Integration: Unlocking integration and efficiency may be an ongoing learning process. Choosing a platform that integrates with your EHR is an important first step.
How NextGen Healthcare expanded patient engagement in 2025
NextGen Healthcare offers a patient journey that drives better care outcomes. Our platform includes a fully integrated and comprehensive suite of patient engagement offerings in collaboration with Luma, including:
- Patient self-scheduling
- Automated appointment reminders
- Automated recall
- Smart waitlist
- Secure text messaging and broadcast messaging
- Pre-appointment intake and OCR scanning
- Automated patient surveys
In 2025, we also released new AI-powered solutions, like NextGen® Navigator AI and NextGen® Scheduler Assist. Navigator Voice AI leverages natural language processors to serve as a virtual front desk for your practice.
This technology fields the most common patient questions to help free your staff from the phone and minimize dropped calls. The results speak for themselves. Users have reported 700 staff hours saved in 6 months, and average call lengths have dropped to just 2.5 minutes.
Similarly, automated waitlists have helped practices fill 30 – 45% of appointments on average. One large gastroenterology practice even saw a 30x return on their investment after implementing Luma patient reminders.
What’s next for patient engagement in 2026 and beyond?
AI and automation accelerated more efficient engagement for patients and practices this past year. As the new year begins, voice technology, AI assistants, and predictive models will continue to be key drivers in the patient engagement space.
At NextGen Healthcare, our products and partnerships are designed to connect patients and practices. If you want to discover our patient engagement solutions in more detail or discuss how they can play a targeted role in your practice, connect with a member of our team.
