For most patients, undergoing surgery is a significant life event. They bring a series of expectations, anxieties and questions with them that providers are instrumental in shaping. Medical teams are often busy with clinical duties and not available to answer every question, and that can leave patients feeling uncared for and can damage reputations.
Today’s empowered patients have multiple options in the providers and treatment options they seek and are quick to listen to their intuition and switch providers if they feel uninformed or unengaged in their own care. More than 40% of Generation X and millennial patients say they are likely to switch providers in the coming years.
Opportunities for patients to drop out of the process begin before patients schedule their first appointment and continues until they have undergone a procedure. The need for engagement continues until a full recovery is made, as post-operative care is a vital component to achieving positive outcomes, and patients are quick to share negative experiences with friends and on social media. It is in your practice’s best interest to keep patients actively engaged from the moment they begin their searches for care until they have made complete recoveries with optimal outcomes.
The problem is that there are very few, if any, practices with the necessary personnel to provide concierge-level service for every patient throughout the care journey. Technological solutions that guide patients down evidence-based care paths can be a tremendous resource by freeing providers from dedicating resources to handle routine inquiries while keeping patients engaged and informed. This engagement also provides caregivers with information they need to customize paths and the time they need to do it.
The Chicago Institute of Advanced Bariatrics realized gains in the volume of new patients it drew by using an engagement platform to track progression through its bariatric program and keep patients moving seamlessly through a complex system of requirements. Many insurance companies request that patients perform specific steps — such as sticking to a diet regimen for up to eight months — before they will approve bariatric surgery. Keeping patients engaged for the duration of pre-operative routines required by payers is key for the practice to ensure that patients are qualified to receive the surgery within an optimal time frame.
Track engagement during the onboarding stage
Patients should enter your engagement funnel the moment they visit your website to seek information. Online information sessions for prospective patients are excellent for nurturing interest. Recorded seminars can be made available for viewing on demand. A series of seminars that include videos, surveys and quizzes is also useful for guiding patients through pre-operative stages, giving them the most relevant information for their specific phase in the journey and providing hospitals with a feedback loop that proves patients comprehended the information presented to them.
Proving patient compliance with pre-operative requirements implemented by insurers is often mandatory for securing authorization for bariatric surgery. Patients who fail to meet these requirements fall out of the process and present significant opportunity cost to the hospital because the investment in pre-operative care could have been applied to a patient who eventually would undergo a procedure and require post-operative care. Tracking the status of patients through every step of the program gives care teams the information they need to help patients satisfy payer requirements and set patients up to achieve positive outcomes.
Establish evidence-based care pathways
Once patients embark on their care journeys, engagement keeps them on track by delivering relevant information at the right time. Each step of that progression is triggered by fulfilling specified requirements of the milestone that preceded it. Monitoring this progression keeps providers informed of where patients are on their journeys and identifies points where they may require additional engagement or a change to their care plan. Integration with the hospital’s EHR platform gives every caregiver real-time visibility into what plan changes were made and keeps staff on the same page with providing the right care at the right time.
This coordination is especially vital for journeys that involve large care teams. A patient preparing for bariatric surgery may receive care from a primary care physician, a nutritionist, a psychiatrist and many other clinicians. Tracking the performance of these providers keeps the patient moving through the process swiftly and avoids the chance for human error that could add time to the journey or result in a negative outcome. Sharing aggregated specialty knowledge also empowers workflow efficiencies that enable better adherence to evidence-based care plans and simple communication of care plan adjustments. Remember that individual medical, social and lifestyle needs can necessitate changes to even evidence-based pathways. Visibility in EHRs that illustrate what was changed and why results in fewer complications and better outcomes.
Automate to ease the burden
For years, many providers have used automated voice calls to remind patients of upcoming appointments, but mobile devices have made new levels of automated engagement possible. Text messages are often seen as less invasive than a phone call, and many patients see them more immediately. While it may not be appropriate to call patients at midnight to remind them not to eat or drink anything until after lab work has been completed the next day, a text message with this reminder is generally well-received. The digital nature of text messaging also presents opportunity to provide additional information. For first-time patients, you can send a link to a page offering directions or even one that will automatically activate a navigation app to provide turn-by-turn driving directions to the office.
These types of reminders can help keep patients on track during long care pathways where a diversion can add weeks to the process. Regularly engaging patients with their progress and quickly alerting them to any obstacles can eliminate bumps in their pre- and post-operative care.
Ochsner Health System in Louisiana boosted the number of patients who scheduled colorectal screenings by sending text messages where patients could schedule an appointment by pressing a single button on their phone. Of the 578 patients who scheduled screenings this way, 25% of them had precancerous polyps removed that might have developed into cancer had they not been provided a fast and easy way to obtain colonoscopies. Every step of engagement that is automated frees up clinicians and office staff to concentrate on other tasks.
Patients achieve better outcomes when engagement keeps them on track and gives caregivers necessary visibility into patient journeys. It also improves satisfaction rates by giving patients confidence that caregivers are experts in their field and immediately reactive to patient needs.
This engagement gives the Chicago Institute of Advanced Bariatrics a competitive advantage over the multitude of practices that offer similar treatments as well as practices offering alternative options. Real-time visibility into patient adherence to evidence-based pathways gives providers the ability to optimize workflows by identifying gaps in care early, adjusting course when necessary and analyzing aggregate data to improve processes and procedures continuously.
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