Proactive Patient Engagement – Are Healthcare Organizations Doing Enough?
By Vance Clipson, Senior principal, healthcare solutions for Nuance (formerly Varolii)
It’s a fact that consumers want more real-time information and communications on everything from their bank account balance to flight status updates to an instant download of the newest episode of their favorite show. And, in the healthcare industry – that desire is even more apparent. With the rise of calorie-counting smartphone apps and activity trackers like Fitbit and Nike’s Fuelband, Americans are clearly taking a more proactive interest in their health. And beyond treating them when they’re sick, they expect their healthcare providers to actively help them stay healthy.
Frequent, proactive patient outreach is now essential in light of changing consumer demands. And, increasingly, as emphasis shifts from transactional to holistic care and reimbursement structures evolve to tie quality of care to financial reward, healthcare providers who do not proactively reach consumers will fall behind.
Recent research commissioned by Varolii (now part of Nuance Communications) found that 65 percent of healthcare consumers are interested in receiving reminders from their doctors or health providers for procedures such as annual flu shots, vaccinations, recommended tests for screenings associated with chronic disease, etc. But today providers are not delivering – only 48 percent of patients say providers make reminder calls to them before appointments, tests and shots. Additionally, only 40 percent of patients say that their doctor is involved in their day-to-day health and wellness.
Patients further report that they view digital outreach from their doctors as a way to prevent health problems. More than half of consumers (53 percent) believe communication over text, email or via a smartphone app could have helped them avoid a health problem in the past.
The desire for increased patient engagement is a positive development for providers. With preventive measures a top priority for financial incentive programs and performance measures alike, the pressure is on to find ways to effectively motivate patients to take action. The research indicates reminders are a welcome and using cost-effective digital channels could successfully drive deeper patient activation.
A Prescription for Personalized Communications
However, proactive outreach only works if it is done in the right way. Optimal care is defined as the right care, at the right time, in the right setting. This mantra holds true for optimal patient engagement – it should be the right message, at the right time, via the right “channel.” Effective outreach means interacting with patients on the communication channel patients prefer. And, the research shows that communicating by preferred channel remains an area of growth for providers. For example, forty-seven percent of patients say they prefer emails from their providers, but only 29 percent of survey respondents are receiving them.
Adoption of newer digital channels is another opportunity area for providers. While 17 percent of consumers want text messages, only nine percent are currently receiving them from their doctor or provider. Encouragingly, healthcare providers are sending more text messages to millenials – those born between 1980 and the early 2000s – but the gap between what these patients want and what they get is still substantial. For this demographic, 30 percent prefer text messages but only 18 percent say their provider has communicated with them via text.
Beyond the Doctor’s Office
As consumers become more dependent on digital channels, push notifications and alerts in their work and social lives, we see the same dependence taking hold when it comes to their health. In fact, research shows that there is an increasing reliance on healthcare providers to be the patient’s memory. For example, when asked, 45 percent of patients admit to forgetting to schedule a preventive or wellness appointment in the past 12 months. Among millenials the rate it is even higher – 58 percent forget to schedule this type of appointment.
This “digital amnesia” shows an increasing need for providers to proactively remind patients about important preventive and wellness services. However, only 25 percent of patients today say they’ve ever received a text message or email reminder for an upcoming appointment. The bottom line? The road to illness is paved with a patient’s good intentions.
To help consumers stay healthy and to meet key quality measures, providers will need to do more than make services available. Because consumers are so accustomed to frequent updates from the majority of the businesses they interact with, patients now expect their doctor or healthcare provider to remind and prompt them to take care of their health. If healthcare providers fail to proactively engage their patients on the channels they prefer, they face the challenges of rising costs, low satisfaction ratings and patient turnover. However, embracing advances in automated outreach and self-service solutions have the potential to yield numerous benefits – from happier, healthier patients to significant financial reward.
About the Author
Vance Clipson, senior principal, healthcare solutions for Nuance’s outbound division (formerly Varolii), brings more than 20 years of experience translating healthcare industry needs and data into market strategy and programs. Prior to joining Varolii, Clipson held marketing and sales positions for companies such as Milliman Care Guidelines and PacifiCare Health Systems. Clipson holds a MBA with Honors from the University of Notre Dame and a BA from the University of Washington.