Since its founding more than 60 years ago, Community Health Network, a nonprofit health system based in Indianapolis, has worked to stay true to its tagline: “Special Care. Simply delivered.”
A team of approximately 16,000 healthcare professionals share that mission by providing a full range of healthcare services with a particular focus on population health management. Spanning more than 200 care sites statewide, the organization unites hundreds of physicians, acute and specialty care hospitals, surgical centers, home care, behavioral health, and employer health services.
PROBLEM
The rapid shift to consumer-centric care, fueled by the pandemic and the emergence of Big Tech, has created a competitive landscape in the healthcare sector. Patients are becoming shoppers with more choices in the marketplace, creating a novel sense of urgency to improve the way care is discovered and accessed.
“Patients want access to care to be easy, personal and intuitive, and we recognize that,” said Dr. Patrick McGill, executive vice president and director of transformation at Community Health Network. Our digital front door must better meet consumer expectations.” “Furthermore, an internal data analysis presents a tremendous opportunity to meet consumers where they begin to seek care and optimize our experience to expand markets and patients. that we serve.
“We found that about 75% of consumers looking for on-demand primary care at one of our locations initiated a search on Google, while only 17% initiated a search through the site. our web, the most digitally enabled search and appointment place,” he continued.
To engage, reach and engage with patients, Community Health needs to make it easier for online consumers to find, discover, and access care. Because consumers prioritize convenience and ease of use, any sticking points must be eliminated to eliminate leaks and site abandonment to drive purchases.
“We also see an opportunity to further enhance the virtual care experience to better serve patients,” notes McGill. “So we set out to build a digital ecosystem to improve the way customers discover, find, and access care.
“It will be critical infrastructure – platforms that are easy to integrate, intuitive and flexible – that will address fundamental challenges like coordinating supply and demand to deliver a prioritizing customer experience. “
Dr. Patrick McGill, Community Health Network
“We needed a solution to improve the reach and discoverability of our care services by selling services online, enhancing the user interface experience, and optimizing throughput. system,” he added. “This combination of front and back is what brought us to the DexCare provider.”
PROPOSE
The provider team shared Community Health’s understanding that access to care begins with a multimodal approach and requires both increasing supply and creating demand to move the needle in a meaningful way. meaning. After assessing the vendor’s background and Public Health areas of opportunity, it quickly became clear to McGill that the vendor provided the right technology.
“The DexCare platform optimizes patient discovery and access to care while balancing system capacity,” explains McGill. “The company offers a variety of solutions that combine digital discovery, smart navigation, and care sales capabilities – all the ingredients we are looking for in our digital transformation journey.
He continued: “The ability to take care of digital goods across services and modalities has caught our attention. “And this newly discovered capability allows us to intelligently care for surfaces to direct patients to the most appropriate options.”
The provider’s approach echoes retail best practices, he added, to deliver a “buyable” experience that’s easy to navigate and find the highest value, cost-effective care. lowest fees.
“A fast mobile UI experience, driven by Google to drive organic traffic and reduce friction, makes finding and choosing care a breeze,” he said. easy”. “When combined with capacity optimization, we know that DexCare will be the vehicle that brings more patients to Community Health and allows us to provide seamless, exceptional care. distinction that the patient deserves.”
MEET CHALLENGES ONLY
The Public Health Network has deployed this technology to enhance new patient acquisition, increase service utilization, and deliver the highest quality care in the most efficient way possible. It deploys technology for the first time in an area where consumers have the highest expectations for digital-first experiences.: on-demand care in virtual, retail, urgent, and primary care environments.
“In terms of the user interface, DexCare has optimized the ability of consumers to find and book care at a Community Health location,” said McGill. “On our website, technology powers our urgent care directory and care discovery experience. When a consumer selects a specific location, DexCare’s Care Tiles technology will remove it. Eliminates the step of booking care and gives consumers access to real-time scheduling to find the care they’re looking for, fast.
“In addition, our urgent care pages use quick pages technology to expand reach and visibility in Google care searches,” he continued. “Technology acts as a bridge between a Google search and booking of available care – like the healthcare OpenTable, but equipped with data intelligence and matching capabilities.”
These capabilities, he added, allow the provider organization to engage consumers anywhere in their care journey and provide a new level of access to the health system. Community Health has more patients who might have missed it before, now find it via Google and conveniently schedule care on site, to get higher.
“On the back end, the system’s load balancing technology,” explains McGill. “This frees up time for providers and care teams, and increases availability, giving consumers more choice, choice and flexibility,” said McGill. “DexCare works in harmony with the legacy systems we have in place. The platform integrates seamlessly with our EHR for consistency and interoperability to optimize efficiency, collaboration, and collaboration.” , visibility and ROI.”
RESULT
Community Health Network now provides a unified and discoverable digital experience that eliminates friction to increase patient admission.
“With DexCare, we automatically allocate and optimize resource usage to best meet consumer needs and business goals,” McGill reports. “The expansion of our online presence and virtual care services has also increased accessibility for patients in communities around Indianapolis in need of care.
He continued: “As part of this initiative, we have measured significant growth. “Since implementing this technology in April 2021, we’ve saved 377 hours of doctor visits per year as a result of increased efficiency and usage of our virtual care services.”
Furthermore, the health system has achieved a 300% increase in virtual care capacity thanks to the technology’s intelligent data and automatically optimizes resource utilization, patient balance, and capacity management. , he added.
“And on the patient acquisition front, we’ve seen a 12% increase in the number of new patients actually accessing the health system, and 30% of our patients are now returning for medical or video visits. within six months of their first visit,” he said.
TIPS FOR OTHER PEOPLE
“Health systems have no choice but to change the way care is discovered and accessed,” McGill stated. “Consider what’s at stake: Demand for care grows while supplies of doctors and nurses remain short. System capacity is available, but inaccessible due to inadequate deployment of resources. And the arrival of Big Tech is poised to disrupt the way consumers seek and be cared for.
“Different point solutions are expensive, burdensome, and fundamentally incapable of addressing the system’s challenges of accessibility, capacity, and patient engagement,” he advises. “It will be critical infrastructure – platforms that are easy to integrate, intuitive and flexible – will address fundamental challenges such as coordinating supply and demand to deliver a priority customer experience.”
Access to care is mission critical, he said, and the solution is digital. He concluded that while the problems related to access to health care are complex, there is no need for a solution.
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Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
