By Kristen Jacobsen

When Covid-19 first emerged as a public health threat, the world seemingly changed overnight. Public safety risks mounted and people—including those working in every aspect of healthcare—quickly adapted while waiting for vaccines. Now many are vaccinated and this novel coronavirus feels relatively manageable, yet many challenges remain. Healthcare providers are still coping with virus variants, along with negative financial impacts, staff shortages and equipment procurement delays. But this story also has good news.

Specifically, many pandemic-related adaptations in healthcare are delivering measurable results and appear to be here for good. Patient communication, payment and even healthcare delivery solutions that arose (or finally took off) during the early days of the pandemic today provide real value for providers, patients and revenue cycle managers. These solutions are improving the patient experience and driving operational efficiencies and payment collections for providers.

It's hardly surprising that innovation was spurred by the Covid pandemic. History shows that innovation frequently results from serious crises, such as epidemics, plagues and war. The best of human nature often emerges in such situations, with large numbers of people intensely focusing on finding solutions to seemingly intractable problems. “Normal” is demolished and a “new normal” is spontaneously born as people realize there’s no time to waste. Examples of innovations that emerged during other historical challenges include:

• Hospitals and eye glasses were invented during the European Great Plague
• Blood banks first emerged during WWI
• Penicillin was first widely used during WWII

Those crises forced people in healthcare to do things differently. Innovation resulted from providers changing their ideas and behaviors. It also was facilitated by vendors providing breakthrough solutions that met pressing new needs.

Today’s pandemic-driven innovations
Innovation from companies that serve healthcare providers and revenue cycle managers, has ushered in a broad range of new technology-based products and solutions. These innovations empower providers to communicate with patients faster, and more efficiently and safely. They are transforming every aspect of the patient experience—preservice, point-of-care, payments and beyond—and driving cost reductions and improved payment collections.

Today’s new technology solutions empower patients to self-schedule appointments and communicate with office staff with two-way texting. This reduces stress on limited staff resources, and increases convenience and ease for patients. Remote check-in is another Covid-driven solution. It is an ideal option to keep both patients and staff as safe as possible. New digital solutions for completing registration paperwork and making co-pays remotely also are available in this new pandemic era.
 
Technology helps with financial pain
As inflation and interest rates continue to rise, financial uncertainty grows. While not the economic freefall that accompanied the early days of Covid, many Americans today are worried about their job security and long-term financial stability. Some are avoiding elective procedures (and even routine care) due to money worries. New, more accurate cost estimation tools help eliminate uncertainty about costs. More precise estimates mean patients can confidently move ahead with healthcare visits and procedures without the stress of financial unknowns.

It's also possible to enable patients to make payments without devices with secure point-of-service and contact center opportunities. And technology makes it easy to text or email links that take patients directly to the payment page within their patient portal. Some solutions even allow providers to store patients’ card information for frictionless payments after each care episode.

Negative economic impacts highlight the value of providers adopting a financial engagement strategy that includes digital. Research consistently shows that patients prefer to engage digitally and pay faster when digital payments are possible. Beyond the obvious benefit of receiving faster payments, digital payment options save providers time and money—even as they improve the patient payment experience.

While investing in new technology solutions during economic hard times may seem counter-intuitive, it’s paying impressive dividends for many healthcare organizations. One not-for-profit healthcare organization we work with is a prime example. Like many, this organization was experiencing lower volumes due to Covid. Leaders there chose to move ahead with a conversion to paperless billing as part of an OmniChannel communications strategy.

Their results include an almost immediate saving of $300,000 and a $5.2 million increase in self-pay collections. Revenue cycle leaders were delighted. They also told us they were happily surprised with the 65% digital conversion rate in the first year.

New solutions enhance safety, efficiency and the patient experience
Cost fears are only one of the reasons sick people avoid medical appointments. Some stay away because they are simply too ill to get to the clinic or hospital. This trend accelerated with Covid, as many sought to avoid exposure or were too sick to come in to healthcare facilities. Telehealth services helped by connecting patients and healthcare providers digitally and over the phone. Many providers have commented that plans to develop telehealth solutions had been languishing for years. When Covid hit, the practicality of telehealth solutions was quickly acknowledged.

New products that facilitate follow-up communication once patients return home are another recent innovation. Automated care plans help providers and patients stay connected regarding critical follow-up after each care episode. And automated patient-reported outcome surveys gauge patient health in the channel that’s best for them: online, text, or automated phone surveys.

While many of these innovations were developed in direct response to pandemic-related challenges, they also coincide with an important consumer trend: the desire for self-service and digital options. Data overwhelmingly prove that patients expect healthcare experiences to be as easy and seamless as their other consumer experiences.

Short-term innovations are now long-term solutions
Covid has ushered in difficulties unforeseen just a few years ago. New challenges that we cannot anticipate may still be on the horizon. Yet one thing is for sure: innovations that resulted due to Covid are here to stay—and that’s good news for providers and patients alike!

About the author: Kristen Jacobsen is the vice president of marketing and OmniChannel engagement at RevSpring.