Partnership will enable Sharp HealthCare to offer HIPAA compliant text-based patient communication to manage care and collect feedback and online reviews

The healthcare sector faces a vexing dichotomy. Experts agree that patient-centric care is the key to improving outcomes and reducing costs. At the same time, many providers face challenges in delivering patient-centric care across the entirety of the traditional care continuum, especially in an environment of value-based healthcare. For providers to deliver the best possible care and to thrive in this environment, provider-facing challenges must be addressed.

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic began causing disruption and rapid change in the healthcare industry, trends like rising out-of-pocket costs and healthcare consumerism highlighted the growing importance of the patient financial experience. Many patients today are directly responsible for a significant portion of their healthcare costs, and they may want or need more information and support to help them manage these costs effectively. At the same time, they may expect some of the flexibility, convenience and personalization that are often available when making other kinds of purchases.

Patients were more likely to report good communication with surgeons who wore clear masks instead of standard cloth medical masks in a study published March 11 in JAMA Surgery.

It is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged healthcare in almost every conceivable way. It has had a powerful impact on the key metrics of any healthcare organization. Quality, financial, employee engagement and patient experience metrics have all been affected in ways we are still trying to understand.

Americans' comfort with visiting a hospital or physicians' office is growing amid the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, according to Healthgrades' latest COVID-19 Patient Confidence Study published Feb. 18. 

CMS has extended its deadline for hospitals to submit third-quarter 2020 Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems data to March 17. The original deadline was Feb. 8. 

Health systems are continuously striving for ways to boost engagement with patients, employees and patients. 

The preeminent healthcare headline of 2020 was, of course, the pandemic. But a deeper dive into consumer data reveals a much more nuanced, multifaceted story of the year—along with some important developing trends.

There's no doubt about it: We are in that long, dark winter many predicted with COVID-19. 

The term Centers of Excellence (COE) is used broadly throughout the healthcare industry. Generally, a COE offers specialized programs within healthcare facilities that aggregate high concentrations of expertise and related resources centered on particular medical areas and delivered in a comprehensive, interdisciplinary fashion. 

A few weeks ago, my director of sales forwarded me an email. It was from a prospect whose current technology vendor had failed to support his hospital in a consistent way. “Please plan on discussing how you support your customers after the sale (WELL after the sale), including how that support doesn’t degrade over time,” the email read.

The Children's Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Lebanon, N.H., is utilizing remote-controlled robots that deliver iPads to patients for telehealth and communication purposes — an effort that has helped limit physician and patient exposure to COVID-19 and preserves personal protective equipment. 

Whether a patient suffers from paralysis caused by a traumatic injury or a disorder like Guillain-Barre Syndrome, or has limited strength and dexterity from a stroke or other condition, one common side effect is the loss of independence. What was once a simple task, like changing the TV channel or turning out the lights now requires help.

With a host of digital tools and marketing metrics at your fingertips, it can be hard to know which ones matter the most. Tracking the following eight marketing metrics will help you stay on target for the budget and patient acquisition goals of your healthcare system.

Experience matters. Now more than ever. Covid-19 and this time of great change vividly spotlights what matters most for health care team members, providers, patients, and their loved ones, and creates a rare—once-in-forever—opportunity for health care systems and leaders to change everything for the better.

Digital display technologies currently deliver providers important, clinically relevant information and enable patients to navigate the hospital, watch television in their room and much more. But Ken Honeycutt, Samsung's senior business manager for healthcare displays, believes display technologies can do even more in hospitals. He envisions a new generation of solutions that will improve patient safety, transform the patient experience, and increase workforce productivity.

Although it has struggled to keep pace with other industries in digital adoption, the healthcare industry can move fast when it must. The industry’s response to COVID-19 makes that clear.  Almost overnight, the healthcare ecosystem took action to provide care for those in need and expanded access through telehealth at a scale never seen before.  Looking ahead, there is an opportunity to use this tragedy as a spark for positive change – to sustain and accelerate the digital advances made to engage patients more effectively and reshape healthcare.

Digital display technologies currently deliver providers important, clinically relevant information and enable patients to navigate the hospital, watch television in their room and much more. But Ken Honeycutt, Samsung's senior business manager for healthcare displays, believes display technologies can do even more in hospitals. He envisions a new generation of solutions that will improve patient safety, transform the patient experience, and increase workforce productivity.

Patient satisfaction has become a widely accepted healthcare quality measure. With the consumerization of healthcare, patients have higher expectations than ever about timely and efficient delivery of medical services. Emergency care in particular presents challenges to patient satisfaction. Surges in volume are unpredictable and wait times are often long.