The High ROI of CipherHealth’s Outreach Solutions

Background

After a six-month period of using CipherHealth Outreach Solutions to engage their patients post-discharge, a health system with 16 locations and over 50 clinics saw markedly higher reach rates, short call back times and lowered readmissions, leading to an estimated $5M in annualized return on investment.

Challenge

There was a demonstrable need to reach patients post-discharge and provide timely, preventative care. In one documented story, a 68-year-old was discharged from this health system and, upon engaging with CipherHealth’s first outreach call, indicated they did not understand discharge instructions, had not obtained their prescription and had questions and concerns related to medication. Lack of clarity around post-discharge care put this patient — and others like them — at risk for further illness and readmission, potentially leading to higher costs for the hospital as well as the patient themself.

Goal

This national health system sought to prevent 30-day readmissions post-discharge and improve engagement with their patients beyond their hospital stay. Nursing staff would call back only those patients who flagged an issue, both saving resources and addressing the most time-sensitive patient issues faster.

Solution

By implementing CipherHealth’s Outreach Solutions, this health system increased engagement with their patients post-discharge and improved clinical outcomes. Moreover, staff saved time by prioritizing call backs to patients who reported issues and needed additional support regarding discharge instructions, medications, pain management, upcoming appointments or anything related to their specific condition and care plan.

Impact

CipherHealth’s Outreach Solutions prevented an estimated 532 yearly patient readmissions. This translated to enormous financial savings — the health system’s return on investment was an estimated $4,970,000.

Of 8,501 outreach calls made, 77% of patients answered the first clinical question, exceeding CipherHealth’s benchmarks for reach rates by an average of 30%. Those patients who answered the first clinical question had 28% lower readmissions within 30 days.

The health system’s nursing staff reached 86% of those patients who flagged an issue, creating opportunities to offer personalized support, intervene in a timely manner and prevent readmissions. The median call back time was one hour, surpassing the recommended time frame of less than two hours.

Conclusion

This national health system serves as a model program in excellent health. With CipherHealth’s Outreach Solutions, they lowered their annual readmissions by an estimated 532 patients. This led to hugely significant cost-savings for the hospital, nearing $5M, and underscores the importance of post-discharge engagement and faster nurse call-back times to patients who report a problem.

About CipherHealth’s Outreach Solutions

CipherHealth offers a robust suite of multimodal, targeted outreach programs that drive meaningful conversations among patients, providers and caregivers both in pre-care and post-care settings. Messages can be sent via Voice or SMS at a designated time and with a personalized script for the individual patient.