By Suzie Sfarra
A Consumer-Driven Approach to Healthcare
Increasingly, patients are also consumers and they expect better, digital experiences that offer the same seamless experience and personalization they find in countless other industries. Given this trend, health systems need to find innovative ways to engage patients that are as convenient.
Most day spas, where you go to get a facial or massage, are also focused on consumer loyalty and overall experience. There’s an easy booking process on your mobile device. A clear confirmation of appointment is shared. Expectations are provided before the appointment. Your personalized information is gathered. There’s a simple check out process. They know how to keep you engaged post-appointment. And they apply what they learned about you as an individual next time you come back.
Of course, there is a vast difference between voluntarily attending a spa appointment and seeking medical care. But why is it that a day spa might be better positioned to connect with me and know my preferences, more so than my doctors? How can we meet healthcare consumers where they are, engage them with effortless, memorable experiences and connect with them to keep existing patients in-network and bring new patients to our doors?
These, and many other timely questions, are at the core of why we created CipherConnect, our new conversational engagement solution. It automates many of the critical interactions that patients have with their healthcare providers as they prepare for their appointments while also allowing patients to feel known and welcomed from the very first interaction. Through a faster, frictionless experience, CipherConnect transforms the way providers engage with patients, truly delivering personalized consumer-driven healthcare at scale.
Making It Easy for Patients to Access Care
Generally, patients want their mobile devices to be their digital front door. They want to do away with using pen and paper to fill out medical forms and spending extra time in waiting rooms. They prefer to provide personal information and relevant documents virtually, that are retained for future visits, eliminating the need to re-introduce themselves at every new appointment.
Completing administrative work before arriving at their appointment boosts patient satisfaction by saving 18+ minutes of in-person data collection, per encounter. Additionally, patients benefit from clear outreach from healthcare providers so they can stay on track with follow-up appointments or return for care after a period of disengagement. And why shouldn’t providers make it easy for patients to meet their healthcare needs and access care?
CipherConnect captures data through web-based, conversational engagement prior to a patient entering a healthcare facility. Much like in the ideal day spa booking experience, the patient receives a Booking Confirmation on their mobile device. Prior to that date, she also receives an Appointment Reminder that prompts her to confirm, cancel or reschedule as needed. Then, Appointment Preparation and Procedure Preparation details are shared, informing her about next steps on the day of arrival, such as safety instructions, remote registration and check-in.
The patient will be able to provide everything the healthcare system needs for Data Intake via their mobile device—consent forms, screeners and other paperwork, as well as images of her health insurance card, ID card, documents related to billing or from a previous provider. This information will be stored for future visits. This is not only convenient for patients; by automating 80% of pre-visit admin tasks, the healthcare provider’s staff can save up to 20 minutes per patient visit.
Mitigating the Staffing Shortage
We’ve also created CipherConnect to address the glaring challenges healthcare systems are facing today. In particular, burned-out staff have chosen to retire or resign from their jobs at historic levels. Addressing staffing shortages and the mental well-being of remaining staff continue to be top priorities for healthcare systems.
Stress, anxiety and depression are rampant. Leaders are looking for ways to relieve undue stress and administrative burdens on staff by replacing manual, repetitive work with workflow automation solutions.
We built CipherConnect to improve background operations for staff by automating scheduling, intake and virtual waiting room tasks that consume their time and efforts. By doing away with rote administrative duties, staff can use their time towards more proactive care coordination activities.
Collecting data digitally also makes it available sooner than handling hardcopy materials that need to be manually uploaded into systems of record, which can often introduce errors. This gives office staff and clinicians access to the information ahead of and during appointments, leading to better, more nuanced care, and an improved patient experience.
CipherConnect Improves Healthcare Systems
Between growing patient/consumer expectations, overextended healthcare staff and pervasive financial losses across the industry, removing friction in the pre-care workflow has never been more important. Offering convenience and personalization right from the start translates to consumer driven healthcare systems generating long-term loyalty with their patient base.
CipherConnect adds value for healthcare systems struggling to recapture lost revenue by maximizing patient engagement, saving staff time, improving clinical outcomes by ensuring patients attend their appointments and bringing back hard-to-reach populations for care.
