Importance of Patient Engagement Solutions

4 min readJan 8, 2020

PATIENT ENGAGEMENT is a major issue for the healthcare industry. Recent studies show that there’s a basic demand for technologies or methods that can help patients delve deeper into matters of their own health. Today, patients expect continued support and guidance at each step of their healthcare journey. Therefore, health care providers are laying emphasis on the patient experience. About 72% of healthcare providers now consider an investment in patient engagement solutions a priority. Patient engagement strategies enable the patients to look after their own health and work on their communication with their doctors. There is evidence to support that increased engagement results in both beneficial results for the patients and cost-effectiveness for healthcare organizations. Therefore, by providing such resources, doctors can gain the trust of their patients, and reduce operational expenses.

LINKING PATIENT ENGAGEMENT AND EXPERIENCE

Several factors interlink patient engagement to patient experience, including:

Better results in patients who are more satisfied with their care
Patients receive better value for the money they spend on healthcare
Engagement follows a direct path to a better patient experience
Patients and caregivers divide the liability of informed consent between themselves, thus having a positive effect on experience

Below, we discuss some important strategies and solutions for patient engagement

MEETING THE PATIENT EXPECTATIONS

Communication and empowerment are known to be key forces that can enhance patient engagement. With the rise of advanced technology, the expectations, regarding health technology and effective services, have also increased. For instance, 72% of consumers realize how important technology is in managing their health. About 78% have even demanded improved access to health tools and similar facilities. Moreover, in a survey, 79% of patients preferred choosing providers with an option for online/mobile healthcare interactions. Thus, through patient-facing technology, healthcare providers can improve overall patient engagement.

ENGAGING FAMILIES AND NOT INDIVIDUALS

Patient-centric approaches aren’t just limited to the individual undergoing treatment. In fact, it may be ideal to involve their family and loved ones, for instance, during the treatment and recovery periods. Such an educational experience for the family helps them become more informed about the patient’s preferences and ideal practices for quicker recoveries. Research shows that doing so decreased readmission rate by 25 percent during the first 90 days after surgical procedures and other treatments.

An effective strategy is to provide guidelines when the patient is being discharged, keeping in mind that nearly 80% of written or paper based guidelines are forgotten. So, identifying a better way to engage and provide guidelines can increase treatment adherence. The guidelines would work as suitable instructions for the patients’s and their caregivers — to follow, post-discharge. According to some statistics, patients who were not given brief guidelines are 24 percent more likely to be readmitted.

APPLYING eHEALTH FOR EFFECTIVENESS

A digital engagement platform can broaden patient engagement further. Training should also be offered to both the patients and the staff on how to operate such portals. According to research from the Journal of General Internal Medicine, low wages made it difficult for patients to visit the hospital every time. But 71% of them would readily communicate with their healthcare provides electronically. About 19% of the patients used other informal means, such as texting, to communicate, as well. This indicates a willingness of the patients to improve their chances in the presence of certain risk factors.NURSE NAVIGATION FOR REGULAR FOLLOW-UPS

An ACO (Accountable Care Organization) can also use this method to answer questions and develop effective approaches for its patients. With just a call, nurses can ensure that patients are getting proper at-home follow-up care. They can also provide answers to common queries that patients may have following a procedure.

ENGAGMENT MADE DIGITAL

Salesforce reports more than 70% like the idea of an app to book appointments, reschedule, etc. Almost three-quarters of Americans now own smartphones. Many of them communicate via mobile 13 times in just one hour! Even then, this medium for highly interactive patient engagement remains under-utilized.

How can healthcare institutions shift towards digital solutions? Something as simple as mobile online forms that make it easier for patients to access healthcare information can do the trick! ACOs will find that patient flow improves and they can collect valuable feedback to further enhance the overall patient experience.

A 15–20% open rate for emails is considered good. On the other hand, the rate of compliance to a a text messages can be as high as 98% — the highest among all kinds of marketing materials. Mobile tech can help doctors provide better care, providers and healthcare organizations gain better adherence to treatment and patients receive answers to unanswered questions.

About the author

Wessam Sonbol is a life science entrepreneur, product coach and founder of Delve Health, a patient engagement solution, delivering more accurate patient outcomes and patient adherence to treatment.

Wessam Sonbol | wsonbol@delvehealth.com | @wsonbol