From the January/February 2018 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

You have a patient leakage problem
Are some of your patients seeking services outside of your health system, or being referred out of network by health care providers? Then you may have a leakage problem, which can impact your reimbursement and likely contribute to care gaps (when you don’t have access to complete patient data). One way to better manage and reduce leakage to outside competitors is by focusing on patient convenience from the perspective of the patient experience.

• Don’t just verbally suggest or give a paper order for a specialist, primary care physician or diagnostic test. Schedule the appointment for the patient or simplify their access by sending them a link to resources that they need (and happen to be within your health system). A referrals management solution takes the burden off the patient.

• Patient engagement can also help reduce leakage. Regular communication and proactive outreach keeps patients engaged and helps your patients see you as a valued resource for promoting wellness.

Your readmission rates are affecting your bottom line
Are readmission rates bringing your reimbursement down? The leading cause could be a lack of patient compliance and follow-up, or a gap in care due to incidental findings. Create a strategy to reduce readmission rates and emergency room “bouncebacks” due to noncompliance and care gaps. Patient compliance and follow-up may be the key. How do you maximize reimbursement and avoid costly penalties while demonstrating value to your community? A recommended practice includes implementing targeted, customized patient outreach campaigns aligned with quality and care initiatives that best support your population and individual patient compliance.

You don’t have enough staff or time to engage with every single patient
Your team takes the best care of your patients while they are in your health system or health care facility, but what happens once these patients leave? It makes sense to focus on your high-risk patients, but make sure you aren’t forgetting about those who may have rising risks to their health. Preventing and sustaining patient health and recovery “takes a village” – caregivers, patients and family members – but it can also require a lot of staff time and resources.

Consider an automated patient engagement solution with targeted campaigns to communicate with every single patient in your care community. The right patient engagement solutions should be able to:

• Uncover gaps in care, including missed appointments, screening tests, rising risk due to diagnostic results, etc.
• Communicate discharge plans and reminders to promote patient compliance and reduce readmission.
• Send links for scheduling follow-up appointments.
• Improve staff efficiency by automating, identifying and grouping patient contacts.
• Send information about potential diagnostic screenings to groups of patients that meet the criteria.
• Allow patients to add supportive family members to receive these communications and reminders.
• Allow patients to choose their desired means of communications – phone, text and/or email.
• Help optimize appropriate diagnostic test utilization, but also simplify the scheduling process for patients by identifying imaging locations with available appointment slots close to their home or office.

January/February 2018 Magazine

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