Engaging Healthcare Consumers

January 3, 2018

I read somewhere that health happens in real time – we need what we need when we need it. This means that healthcare consumers are seeking information 24-hours a day. Healthcare organizations should look at this as an opportunity to engage with the patient/consumer to help solve their issues.

Increasing consumer engagement is a strategy that many healthcare organizations are using to develop loyalty for their organization and gain a competitive edge. Organizations that successfully engage with their patients focus on how they prefer to interact with the organizations - whether it is through traditional, social media, and mobile touch points.

Enabling patient engagement takes many forms. It can be as simple as implementing a Nurse Hot Line that a patient can call to discuss a medical concern. Something that is becoming more commonplace is providing patients access to an online portal to make an appointment, pay a bill, email care providers, or get access to one’s medical record.

Some of the healthcare organizations that I work with are integrating unified communications, patient data and business processes to provide enhanced patient engagement. They have embedded links in their web site to provide consumers with the option of having a video discussion with a “Care Agent” who may be a nurse, a medical assistant or even a call agent who triages the call before connecting the caller to the appropriate resource. Due to the patient data being integrated with the communications system, the Care Agent has the medical information needed to assist the patient. If the patient has forgotten the physician instructions the Agent can refer to the physician notes and re-explain it to the patient; if the patient has a question about her medical condition the Agent can share a relevant video with the patient and answer any questions; or perhaps the patient is wondering if the wound on his arm requires a doctor appointment – the Care Agent can request the patient place it in view of the video camera so she can make an assessment. These services are available 24-hours a day and the added element of video gives a higher level of “touch” over that provided through a telephone call.

Other organizations are building custom apps that they “push out” to visitors in their facility. This app can provide access to the Guestnet, ED wait times, step-by-step directions to their appointment, cafeteria menu, calendar of educational events, survey on how to enhance services, physician rating tools, and other information that consumers are interested in. These organizations are anticipating consumer pain points and reaching out to them before they become an issue.

And lastly, many customers are using their Interactive Voice Response system to push messages out to their patients, whether it is medication, appointment and flu shot reminders, healthy messages, community events or other information.

Engaging a consumer means interacting with them in the manner and at the time that they need it in order to create positive experiences and outcomes for them. This leads to building and maintaining meaningful relationships that help insure healthy and loyal patients.

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