Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience

Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience

Reaching and engaging your population is one of the most challenging components of patient-centered care. Despite the challenges, there are compelling reasons to strive for engagement. Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 2

A growing body of evidence shows that actively engaged patients experience higher quality care and incur lower costs. 1 Patient engagement has been defined in a variety of ways. Most now agree on this definition: The understanding of one s role in the care process and having the knowledge, skill, and confidence to manage one s health and health care and engaging in resulting behaviors such as obtaining preventive care or participating in regular physical exercise. 2 Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 3

To transform the patient experience into one that will lead to better outcomes, higher quality, and lower costs, providers need to put the patient at the center of care. By educating and inspiring patients to act, providers can make a positive difference in patient behavior that occurs outside the clinic. Educated patients get multiple benefits from being engaged with their health and health care. + + Increased patient satisfaction By putting emphasis on a patient s care experience, hospitals see improvements in their patient satisfaction survey data. 3 + + Fewer care gaps Engaged patients are more likely to participate in their care plans and get help navigating health and insurance settings. + + Reduced readmissions Highly activated patients reduce their hospital readmissions, overnight hospital stays, and use of the emergency department. 4 Conversely, patients who are less activated are twice as likely to have a 30-day readmission. 5 + + Improved outcomes Patients who are engaged with their providers and who understand and adhere to their care plans are proven to have better health outcomes. + + Enhanced discharge programs 81% of patients in a CMS study said they were most satisfied at the time of hospital discharge because they received instructions. 6 Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 4

Achieving the goals of improved quality, better outcomes, and lower costs means engaging patients with trusted, consistent, evidence-based communication at every touchpoint on the care continuum: Evidence shows positive associations between patient experience and clinical effectiveness that appear consistent across a range of disease areas and populations.7 + + Standardized yet personalized care Educational outreach opportunities include wellness visits, chronic care management, and urgent care. + + Care coordination It s carried out by a dedicated team that shifts work away from physicians and can bridge care gaps by helping patients navigate their care, including education, providers, and settings. + + Online communication Provide educational resources (self-care videos, symptom checkers, drug interaction checkers, afterhours contact information), self-assessment questionnaires, and decision aids through patient and marketing portals, texts, and social media. + + Automated messaging Deliver real-time education to your patients wherever they are, whenever it s convenient for them to interact with your practice, in a cost-effective way. Creating experiences that matter leads to engaged patients, which leads to outcomes that matter. In addition, improved patient engagement and the resulting positive outcomes drive higher job satisfaction in physicians. More satisfied doctors offer better and more thoughtful care, resulting in more satisfied patients and better outcomes 8, which keeps the care continuum flowing. Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 5

Read about the four game-changing elements of a patient engagement strategy that will transform your patients experiences. > Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 6

1 Create standard care plans that improve the patient experience. 72% of survey respondents said patient and caregiver education was the top strategy deployed to engage patients. 9 Patient education is the foundation for building a successful patient engagement strategy and has a major impact on patient experience and satisfaction. Don t leave this up to the whims of each clinician. Patients, their families, and clinicians all benefit when each provider has a consistent body of educational material to deliver at each visit. Patient education is even more powerful when it is consistent throughout your enterprise, so that wherever and however your patients interact with your practice, they ll receive the same health information every time. Standard care plans in practice A large health system, looking for ways to expand patient education through existing platforms, came to Healthwise to explore their options. We mapped our education to the organization s care plans to be delivered through their MyChart Bedside application. Combined with existing Healthwise videos and patient instructions, patient education now reaches across the organization s populations to fill care gaps, reduce readmissions, improve outcomes, and increase patient satisfaction. Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 7

Building a personalized and standardized experience for every patient, using proven care plans and education, ensures that all patients are reached and have valuable experiences at every visit. You can train your staff to make the most of their interactions with patients, offering personal support, education, and information relating to: + + Treatment options. + + Provider choices and locations and appropriate care levels. + + Prescription drug information. Standardized care plans offer: When standardized care is used, quality increases, variation in care plans decreases, and costs decrease. 10 + + Reduced errors. + + Increased use of common language. + + Improved communication. + + Simplified work processes. + + A user-friendly format. + + Improved outcomes. Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 8

And as the process of delivering standard care becomes more sophisticated, the care team can look for data coming back from the patient. Patient response data or patient-generated data can tell the care team if education and instructions have been opened and read. And more importantly, patients become contributors to their care, including treatment options, medical records, and short- and long-term care plans. This allows the care team to tailor care to the unique needs of individual patients and create personalized care plans that lead to quality outcomes, improved communication, and better and more user-friendly work processes. Standardization of any process of care through the use of protocols and checklists can be expected to achieve a reduction in harmful events.10 Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 9

Think of standardized care plans as a two-sided coin standard care plans aren t effective without a standard of education in the care plans. Engage your patients with consistent, evidence-based education, delivered in plain language. And receive response data from your patients that makes them contributors who inform your medical practice. Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 10

2 Create a care coordination team based on a care team model. Care coordination is defined as a team dedicated to working with your patients to ensure that their health needs are being met and that the right person is delivering the right care at the right time. 11 Care coordination allows the organization of patient activities and the sharing of information to all of the care team involved with a patient s care. The care manager can send patient education that answers questions the patient may be reluctant to ask, gives greater understanding of symptoms, and explains options for treatment. The entire care team has visibility into what was sent and opened by the patient. Shifting to a care team model that includes more non-medical staff interacting with patients means being able to reach patients in between visits with education and care. It also means being able to identify and reach specific populations (e.g., high-spending, low-utilization, high-risk, and chronic care) with education, treatment planning, benefit management support, healthy behavior reminders, and utilization reporting. To shift coordination tasks away from medical providers, your team needs to be composed of medical and non-medical staff. Your entire multi-disciplinary team can then share expertise, knowledge, and skill to solve the complex problems of coordinating patient-centered care. Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 11

Specialists on the care team can use their expertise to shift coordination tasks away from physicians and engage patients by addressing behavioral changes and providing administrative support. More than one-quarter of health care organizations said their case manager had top responsibility for patient engagement efforts. 12 Behavior Changes Providing evidence-based, engaging educational resources Helping to develop plain-language care/ treatment plans Administrative Support Helping patients to navigate providers Providing benefit management support Motivating patients to follow care plans Identifying specific populations and focusing on those that are high-risk or that suffer from chronic conditions Identifying and helping to overcome psychological, social, financial, and environmental barriers to treatment and engagement Ensuring that electronic health records are up-to-date Nearly two-thirds said care management is a top strategy for engaging patients. 12 Following up with patients in between care episodes Facilitating communication between team members Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 12

Think of a care coordination team as creating a path within your organization s workflow that moves some coordination work away from physicians and still delivers coordinated care at the right touchpoints to engage your patients. As a result of the team s efforts, information is exchanged, care gaps are closed, and good health outcomes are delivered to your patients. 68% of hospitals say they have a care transition function. Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 13

Web-based intervention demonstrated a positive and significant effect on patient activation levels of participants in an intervention group. 13 3 Go beyond traditional ways of reaching your patients by embracing new media and online resources. Whether your patients are using texts, mobile apps, social media, or your portal, reaching them where they are and when it s convenient for them is key to getting and keeping them engaged. Your education reaches them across all touchpoints and pushes them back to your website so your patients trust and value the information you provide. They have no reason to visit Dr. Google. About 50% of U.S. hospitals and 40% of U.S. physicians in ambulatory practice own some type of patient portal technology. 14 In order for people to come to you for the patient education you provide, it has to meet a certain bar. Is it: + + Evidence-based? The health information you provide must be accurate, up-to-date, and from a trusted source. + + Unbiased? Your patient education needs to be impartial and free from corporate affiliation and influence. + + Easy to understand? Ensure that you don t miss opportunities to provide the education your patients seek. Use resources that are written in plain language so your patients will understand the first time they read it. + + Consistent? If the education you provide is consistent, it reinforces your patients total experience, no matter who they talk to, what follow-up instructions they receive, or what information they get from your website. Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 14

Portals The important elements of a successful portal are the ability of patients to request a service, obtain information, and submit information requested by their provider. And it s essential that the portal be promoted and routinely used by the practice so patients know it s there and see it being used. Portal usage is expected to grow significantly over the next few years, and it s expected to remain a primary stage for patient engagement. 43% of millennials access health care portals via a mobile device. 15 56% of people ages 55 to 65 want to access online health information. 15 Among patients who don t use online portals, 35% didn t even know their provider offered one. 15 Other important factors of portal adoption are provider acceptance and promotion, and ease of use. 16 Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 15

35% 64% Texting and social media channels 2011 2015 Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) own a smartphone, up from 35% in 2011. 17 61% of consumer respondents are likely to trust information posted by providers via social media, and 41% are likely to share with providers. 18 62% of all smartphone users have used their phone in the past year to look up information about a health-related condition. 17 90% of 18- to 24-yearolds would engage in health activities and trust health information found via social media, and 56% of 45- to 64-yearolds would engage in health activities. 18 As smartphone growth is increasing in the U.S., so too is the growth in texting and social media as channels to promote health education, share information, and deliver automated reminders. Many social media tools are available for providers and health systems. Tools such as social media platforms and blogs can be used for organizational promotion, patient education, professional networking, and public health programs. Having an active social media presence allows practices to share information quickly in real time on everything from news, medical tips, clinic capacity, local outbreaks, and technology. It lets the practice engage with the public and get patient reactions by following feedback on sites. The practice can then use the information to improve quality and foster relationships. Think of online communication as a way to educate and connect with your patients 24 hours a day with trusted, unbiased, consistent information that will bring them back to your practice time and again to create a loyal patient base. Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 16

4 Enhance your reach with automated and consistent health content and messaging. Automated content and messaging support the need to provide more patients with education and care between office visits. It means keeping in contact with and reaching more of your patients with basics like appointment reminders and medicine schedules, and with more sophisticated education like patient instructions, education about their conditions, event information, and remote monitoring. Its name may sound impersonal, but automated messaging is personal and relevant. It provides timely contact delivered to the device of each patient s choosing. It enhances the patient experience away from the clinical setting. In a randomized study, subscribers who received a reminder were twice as likely to report that they were vaccinated against influenza. And 99% of them said they would recommend the service to a friend. 19 In addition, subscribers reported that: + + The service gave them useful health information. + + It helped initiate conversations with their health care provider. + + It reminded them of important appointments and milestones. + + It helped provide access to services and resources. Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 17

The primary benefit of an automated messaging program is to increase patient engagement by providing more patients with the support they need to manage their health. The basics of a successful structure are: + + Messaging programs that fit with your care needs and are easy to administer. + + Tools to support patients pre- and post-appointment needs, providing patients with education ahead of their appointment that helps them be better prepared and then following up with prescription reminders so these tools can easily become part of your patient s routine. + + Online documentation of interactions with patients, so both you and your patient have well-documented health records. The benefits are: A successful automated service texts pregnant women 3 times a week through their baby s first year with messages aimed at nutrition, prenatal care, immunizations, milestones, and more. The messages are tailored to each woman based on her due date or her baby s date of birth. Launched in early 2010, the service had enrolled more than 930,000 women by 2014. 19 + + You reach more of your patients outside the clinical setting at critical times immediately before and after visits enhancing their experience with information and education. + + You make relevant contact using patient education that fills information gaps with trusted, evidence-based information. + + Your patients will get consistent education no matter where they touch your organization. Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 18

Numerous studies show positive effects of text messaging on selfmanagement and behavior changes for several conditions as well as on treatment compliance, medication adherence, and appointment attendance. 20 Think of automated messaging as personal interactions with your staff that can be opened at any time that s convenient for your patient and that arrive via whatever portal, smartphone, or tablet that the patient wants. Because your patients can open the information when and where it s convenient for them, they re more likely to be engaged. Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 19

Summary For a patient engagement strategy that reaches your population at every touchpoint, improves outcomes, closes care gaps, and increases satisfaction, leverage these four elements to attract and retain an engaged patient base: A standardized, A dedicated care The ability to reach Consistent yet personalized, team that addresses more people in health content care plan that specific populations different ways by and automated ensures that all your with education embracing new messaging that patients have a tailored for those media and online inspires patients valuable experience patients. resources. to act on the with your practice information that every time they they receive. visit. Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 20

Resources 1. http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/ reports/issue_b riefs/2013/rwjf404446 2. http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/ 32/2/207.abstract 3. http://www.ihi.org/education/inpersontraining/ thepatientexperience/pages/default.aspx 4. http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/ 32/2/207.full.pdf+html 5. http://healthleadersmedia.com/page-1/ QUA-320048/Meeting-the-Challengeof-Patient-Engagement 6. http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/ hospital-discharge-instructions-boostpatient-satisfaction/2011-06-06 7. http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/3/1/ e001570.full 8. http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/ accountable-care-organizations/the-futureof-healthcare-patient-engagement-as-asuccess-strategy-for-acos.html 9. www.hin.com/library/ registerpatientengagement2015.html 10. http://www.acog.org/resources-and-publications/ Committee-Opinions/Committee-on-Patient- Safety-and-Quality-Improvement/Clinical- Guidelines-and-Standardization-of-Practiceto-Improve-Outcomes 11. http://familiesusa.org/sites/default/files/ product_documents/care-coordination.pdf 12. http://www.hin.com/library/ registerpatientengagement2015.html 13. http://www.jmir.org/2012/1/e32/ 14. http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/patientportal-biz-big-money 15. http://www.nextech.com/blog/how-to-achievepatient-engagement-with-a-patient-portal 16. http://www.jmir.org/2015/6/e148/ 17. http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/ussmartphone-use-in-2015/ 18. http://pwchealth.com/cgi-local/hregister.cgi/reg/ health-care-social-media-report.pdf 19. https://partners.text4baby.org/index.php/news 20. http://www.hrsa.gov/healthit/txt4tots/ environmentalscan.pdf Healthwise Four Game-Changing Strategies for Transforming the Patient Experience 21

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