information technology

Chapter 2: Personalize every patient interaction N O V 1 0 , 2 0 2 1 . 7 . 5 M I N R E A D

Patients managing health issues often feel vulnerable. Personalized attention and easy

access to care are of the utmost importance.

When clinicians and support staff have the information they need at their fingertips, they can

deliver the best care possible, which builds relationships, deepens trust, and translates to

better health outcomes. From agents handling inquiries to doctors discussing care plans,

everyone has full visibility into the situation to personalize the patient experience. Here’s

how:

T A I L O R P A T I E N T C O M M U N I C A T I O N S

Keeping patients on track with communications tailored to their health journeys can support

positive behavioral change. Proactively sending messages about upcoming appointments,

lab results, and wellness- and disease-management programs can improve patient

satisfaction, promote care plan participation, reduce costs, and ultimately help lead to better

health outcomes. When data is integrated from EHRs and other systems of record, you can

personalize marketing communications. The system identifies, segments, and delivers

targeted communications to patients on their preferred channels.

A U T O M A T E P A T I E N T J O U R N E Y S

CRM helps administrators determine how well their communications are working. If patients

don’t read or respond to certain emails or text messages, administrators can update those

communications with messaging that better captures patients’ interest. Automate journeys

so that long-COVID or hip-replacement patients receive relevant communications at the

right point along their health journey to recovery for greater engagement and adherence.

E M P O W E R E V E R Y P A T I E N T

With tools like HIPAA-compliant self-service portals, you can support every patient on their

health journey. Patients can complete tasks like making appointments, checking test

results, and settling bills, managing logistics when it’s convenient for them. If they need

additional guidance, they can reach out directly for support by phone, email, text, or through

the app or portal.

U S E D A T A T O I M P R O V E C A R E

Identify social determinants of health to help patients beyond medical care. For example,

Piedmont Healthcare, which serves more than 2 million patients across Georgia,

uses Health Cloud to gain a complete view of each patient. That includes information about

their living conditions which lets in-home care providers know which patients might need

healthy meals or transportation to their appointments. Addressing these issues improves

care outcomes and reduces rates of hospital readmissions.

Piedmont also uses data to encourage patients to adhere to their care plans between

appointments. Health Cloud delivers personalized appointment reminders and prescription

refill notices through an automated process that securely accesses electronic health

records.

When the pandemic hit, they adapted the system to handle an influx in patient calls. They

trained 80 new triage nurses and call center agents on new COVID-related call scripts and

flows and used dashboards to monitor symptoms and outcomes. Whenever information or

guidance changed, they updated the system and pushed out communications to internal

teams and patients so everyone had the latest visitor policies or social distancing

guidelines.