How SCL Health and Community Health Network are reinventing patient relationships — 5 insights

Today's consumers expect outstanding digital experiences in every aspect of life, including with healthcare providers.

Leading healthcare organizations now recognize that without a digital-first, patient-centric engagement strategy, they cannot compete.

During a January webinar hosted by Becker's Hospital Review and sponsored by Salesforce, LaShonda Anderson-Williams, EVP and chief revenue officer of global health & life sciences, and Sindhu Pandit, MD, global clinical lead for healthcare, both at Salesforce, moderated a discussion with two healthcare executives about using technology to reinvent the patient and caregiver experience:

  • Patrick McGill, MD, EVP and chief transformation officer, Community Health Network in Indianapolis
  • Craig Richardville, SVP and chief information and digital officer, SCL Health in Broomfield, Colo.

Five key insights were:

1.) Health systems need nimble systems of engagement that drive coordinated, value-driven care. Salesforce Health Cloud is an experience platform for healthcare organizations that intuitively personalizes interactions, intelligently drives adherence and measurably improves outcomes. "The Salesforce platform serves as an EHR extender, enabling health systems to make use of valuable EHR data. It connects the front and back doors for digital engagement," Ms. Williams said.

2.) Exceptional caregiver experiences lead to exceptional patient experiences. Community Health Network employs approximately 16,000 caregivers and 2,500 physicians. "To deliver outstanding caregiver experiences, we focus on the entire continuum, from onboarding to training and the workplace culture," Dr. McGill said. The pandemic unfortunately has created and exacerbated employee burnout. To address this, both Community Health Network and SCL Health are using their technology ecosystems to automate manual work wherever possible.

3.) The pandemic has highlighted the need for frictionless patient journeys. SCL Health recently partnered with Salesforce to transform its contact center. "Patients can engage via many different channels, depending on their communication preferences. We must ensure that both the patients and contact center staff have a single, unified experience, no matter how they engage. If someone calls to pay a bill and we see that they are overdue for a mammogram or some other preventive care, we try to assist," Mr. Richardville said. To create longitudinal patient journeys that are frictionless and seamless, Community Health Network is eliminating common obstacles and stitching together point solutions and technologies.

4.) Change management is essential when deploying new digital tools. Healthcare organizations must be mindful when launching new digital tools, especially for caregivers. As Mr. Richardville noted, "When tools are intuitive and integrated into existing workflows, they become part of the rhythm of life for caregivers. We spend a lot of time on human-centered design." Health systems must also demonstrate the benefit of new tools and show that they won't contribute to burnout. "You can't just send out an email. We spend a lot of time educating through training at the elbow or training videos," Dr. McGill said. 

5.) Digital transformation puts healthcare services into patients' pockets. Historically, if people needed healthcare services, they had to travel to a doctor's office or hospital at a time that was convenient for providers. "That's all changing and healthcare organizations are no longer a destination for patients. Mobility and telehealth are becoming increasingly important. In addition, we are also starting to bring services to patients," Mr. Richardville said.

The shift to digital is happening quickly and healthcare organizations need a single source of truth across all the touchpoints where patients enter the healthcare system. "This is why Salesforce created Customer 360, which is a completely digital-first platform," Ms. Williams said. "You can meet patients literally anywhere they are."

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