Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, is the only hospital in the state of Nebraska dedicated to pediatric care, serving the five-state area. In 2022, it nearly doubles capacity with the opening of the Hubbard Children’s Center, adding 100 more beds for a total of 243 beds.
That move expanded the operating suites, neonatal intensive care unit, pediatric ICU, hematology/oncology department and cardiovascular care center. The new facility also provides patient families with many premium amenities, including larger cafeteria spaces, family waiting areas, an expanded gift shop, and additional parking. for guests.
PROBLEM
“The expansion brings with it a host of new challenges, including how to make sure families can easily find their way from the local area,” said Jerry Vuchak, executive vice president and chief information and innovation officer. from one location to another on our campus. “Moreover, children with chronic or complex health conditions have needs that go beyond direct examination or care.
“Management of these conditions can be challenging,” he continued. “And given the large geographic area we serve, each in-person visit can require several hours of travel, depending on where the patient lives. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted health care. interactions between patients and family members, rapidly driving demand for more online while providing equally safe and high-quality care, along with an exceptional experience.”
Children’s Hospital & Medical Center need a way to engage patients and families virtually with a resource that allows them to quickly get the health answers they need when questions or complications arise, he added. It also needs to strengthen the connection with their childcare team by allowing them to communicate remotely on a regular basis, which, ideally, leads to better outcomes and experiences.
PROPOSE
“We wanted to combine all of our digital services for patients and families into a single umbrella app to create a more integrated care experience,” explains Vuchak. “Previously, parents had to log into multiple apps or websites to find the information they were looking for, which created a confusing and inconsistent experience.
“One tip we offer when developing a digital strategy for your health system is to find ways to reduce stress for the patient and family experience.”
Jerry Vuchak, Children’s Hospital & Medical Center
He continues: “Finding a provider in our network who is skilled in treating a particular condition is not difficult. “There’s no need to book appointments, ask questions with nurses, make telehealth appointments, or pay medical bills. And families don’t need to download a mobile app to find their way around locations. our facility and another app to access their medical records.”
Innovation is one of the core values at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center and staff believe they can facilitate a better care experience by connecting all the digital elements. consumer-oriented into a single mobile platform.
“We worked with a vendor to define short-term and long-term goals for a unified digital product,” says Vuchak. “We also sought feedback from our patient and family advisory boards to determine what they value most in the digital sense.
“We then set out to design a platform that would not only provide a more tightly integrated care experience for patients and families, but also reduce the administrative load on our team,” he noted. “In an age where teams are increasingly burned out, finding ways to reduce the administrative burden of caregiving is critical to safeguarding employee satisfaction.”
It also helps ensure providers can focus their attention where it is needed most: serving patients and families with excellence and compassion, he added.
MEET CHALLENGES ONLY
Children’s Hospital & Medical Center brought in new facility The kids’ GO route finder and the Children’s Connect app, Epic’s brand of MyChart for kids, work together under a single digital platform, working with Gozio Health.
“In doing so, we extended our digital capabilities to patients and families, and met them where they wanted to interact with us,” says Vuchak. “Parents can now use the app to navigate from their home to the point of care, remember where to park, find on-site catering, find the best provider to meet their needs their child and schedule appointments online, including virtual visits.
“When a question arises in or out of the clinical setting, they can message their child care team through the digital platform and get a timely response,” he continued. “They can also complete paperwork, access medical records, and pay bills from a single convenient location.”
The work the provider organization has done with Gozio Health in combining these digital elements into a single platform will establish the foundation for a comprehensive digital front-door strategy.
“It allows us to design digital strategies that work for families,” explains Vuchak. “It also offers an opportunity to reimagine the digital experiences we offer. One of our future plans, for example, is to add a bear walking tour that is friendly to the bear. children in the app.
He continued: “We will also incorporate services such as e-registration capabilities to make the care experience more convenient for families while reducing the number of administrative touches per patient by staff. “Urgent care on demand is also on our horizon.”
RESULT
Since integrating digital apps into a single digital platform, Children’s Hospital & Medical Center has enhanced digital interactions with patients and their families.
“This not only increases satisfaction, but also reduces non-medical claims for our employees,” Vuchak reports. “Prior to our partnership with Gozio Health, we achieved a 65% engagement rate through the patient portal, meaning that out of all the patient families for which we provide portal technology, 65% of them have activated their account and are using it.
He continued: “In the short time we were using the Children’s GO platform, we saw a 5% increase in engagement to 70%. “When you consider the national average engagement rate with patient portals of 40%, we’ve hit a great deal here.”
Additionally, in the first month since marketing the technology to consumers, the organization had 1,078 downloads, 4,124 care-engagement sessions, and 752 navigation-related sessions. In the second month, it is on track to at least double those numbers.
“Given that, according to the IQVIA report, 83% of the more than 350,000 health-related mobile apps on the market are downloaded less than 5,000 times – an indication that they lack perceived value for consumers. consumer – we believe our numbers show the perceived value of our digital services to the people we serve as we predict to eclipse standards that standard in a short period of time,” Vuchak said.
“We will continue to monitor mobile app downloads and usage to gauge the effectiveness and appeal of our digital services over time,” he added.
TIPS FOR OTHER PEOPLE
“One tip we give when developing a digital strategy for your health system is to find ways to reduce stress for the patient and family experience,” advises Vuchak. “At Children’s, we’ve focused on enhancing patient threading capabilities within the app to make it easier for patients and families to navigate our campus, indoors and out, and guide them through from one position to another in the required order.
“We make it easy for patient families to save their parking space in the app and find amenities when they arrive at the hospital, and we incorporate all the digital features that they may need before or after they stay on a single platform.” “Each of these efforts creates a digital experience that families appreciate – and this fosters continued engagement and satisfaction.”
Vuchak also recommends designing one’s digital program taking into account the staff as well as the patient.
“Our people empower our mission and make Children’s the leader in our region in pediatric specialty care, hospital care and primary care,” he said. head. “Our digital resources will support their ability to deliver intensive care by easing the administrative burden on clinicians and staff.
“That can be achieved by allowing patient families to schedule appointments online,” he continued. “That’s where the industry is headed: making digital apps useful for consumers as well as team members.”
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