New technologies are making it easier for providers to reach patients wherever they are and empower them to continually improve their health outcomes.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on Allscripts Blog: It Takes a Community.
A new strategy and technology platform have enabled Femwell Group Health, Florida’s leading Management Services Organization (MSO), to help its physician practices succeed with value-based initiatives.
With Allscripts FollowMyHealth® patient engagement platform, on the Microsoft Azure cloud, Femwell reduced no-show rates by more than 20%, which also relieves pressure on employees to schedule appointments and make callback reminders.
Patient engagement: Before, during and after each visit
Femwell’s solution and strategy empowers patients to make the right choices and ensure compliance with medications, treatment regiments, referrals and follow-ups. A digital system seamlessly engages patients across all levels of the healthcare continuum.
“We decided to figure out where we wanted to start and where we wanted to go from a holistic standpoint,” Chief Healthcare and Innovation Officer for Femwell Group Health Geeta Nayyar said. “We looked at the patient visit as before, during and after interaction.”
A recent case study shares Femwell Group Health’s success and highlights a few key steps to improving patient engagement.
1. Before
Pre-care engagement starts prior to the office visit. Femwell’s mobile strategy is highly effective, such as enabling real-time appointment scheduling and confirmations.
Pre-visit texts can educate patients about what they can expect and remind patients what to bring with them to their appointments.
A mobile check-in option streamlines the registration process, saving time for both patients and physician practices.
2. During
Point-of-care engagement helps optimize time during the patient’s visit. Femwell provides tablets to help patients check-in.
Tools help simplify patient participation in assessments and screenings. They also can help hospital patients prepare for discharge.
Femwell’s strategy helps patients to pose the right questions and interact with the doctor in a way that encourages decision-making.
3. After
Post-care engagement ensures patients adhere to their care and treatment plans. Femwell’s mobile discharge instructions reach patients on their phones. Clinically guided outreach, education and follow-up help create new opportunities to engage patients.
Secure text messaging also may provide patients with referrals to any other specialists in their network and links to make appointments with them.
Measuring patient engagement success
Femwell is measuring key benchmarks including no-show rates, appointment confirmations, payments collected, appointment volume, portal enrollments and patient satisfaction. Since implementing its new patient engagement strategy, results show compliance improving in almost every measure. Femwell anticipates that increases in efficiencies will enable facilities to schedule an average of two-and-a-half new appointments per day per doctor.
“We want to make sure that our patients are healthy, have a good experience and have a quality and valuable experience that doesn’t cost a whole lot,” Nayyar said.
Learn more about improving the patient experience.