6 Benefits of Partnering with a Patient Engagement Technology Provider

Many of today’s electronic health records (EHR) vendors recognize the value in enhancing their platform with patient engagement technology. When looking to do this, they typically have three choices: either build the technology in-house, partner with an existing company, or buy a new solution by way of an acquisition.

This article highlights the numerous benefits that partnering with a patient engagement technology vendor can provide:

1. Speed of Execution

Building an array of user-friendly, functional, and effective patient engagement tools certainly doesn’t happen overnight, and the development stage can take a significant amount of time and resources—and there are no guarantees that patients will even be more engaged after the fact. Purchasing a new solution also takes a lot of time, as it requires finding a technology, negotiating with company leaders, and taking the legal steps necessary to acquire another company.

On the other hand, partnering with a patient engagement technology provider is much more efficient than building in-house or purchasing a solution. Typically, integration between EHR and patient engagement systems is a quick, painless process powered by a single application programming interface (API) that reaps instant benefits for everyone, from the EHR vendor to the providers and patients who ultimately use the tools.

2. Cost Savings

The cost of purchasing or building patient engagement tools is incredibly high, not to mention the resources required to do so effectively. On top of purchasing or developing the initial tools, there’s also the cost of ongoing development efforts to meet the evolving needs of modern healthcare consumers.  

Alternatively, the patient engagement technology vendor takes care of ongoing development and product updates, while EHR vendors can focus on their own primary product. As such, the partnership route offers substantial cost-saving benefits to EHR vendors that wish to enhance their products with patient engagement tools.

3. Resource Optimization

Then there’s the question of resources, which is really important as well. A partner who already lives and breathes patient engagement technology can do the heavy lifting. Meanwhile, without development or acquisition hurdles to worry about, EHR vendors can have more time to focus on their primary product offering and doing what they do best.

4. Industry Knowledge

Patient engagement technology companies possess specialized knowledge and expertise that EHRs lack—just like patient engagement companies don’t specialize in documenting and digitizing patient data. Partnering with experts in patient engagement is a sure-fire way to achieve success for EHR vendors that are inherently disconnected from the patients who ultimately use their tools.

5. Competitive Edge

Another great benefit to partnering with a patient engagement technology provider is the competitive edge it offers EHR vendors. Because many EHRs offer built-in patient engagement tools with very limited functionality, expanding and enhancing these solutions can be a game-changer in the industry—and all at a very little cost in terms of time, money, and resources with the right partner.

6. Revenue Impact

The economic impact is significant. EHR vendors can save a substantial amount of time and money by choosing to partner with rather than build or purchase patient engagement technology. They can also see an impressive return on their investment by enhancing their primary product, mitigating customer churn, building their reputation, and ultimately attracting new customers.

Partnering to Achieve Patient Engagement Success

Perhaps the biggest benefit of all is patient engagement success. When EHR vendors partner with the right patient engagement technology provider, they may also gain access to a full platform of tools designed to engage and activate patients, designed by the experts in patient engagement.

That means no more guessing games about what patients today want and expect from digital healthcare technology. Instead, EHR vendors can fill the patient engagement gap at very little cost or risk to their business. Partnered with the right patient engagement technology, EHR vendors can benefit in the myriad of ways we’ve listed above—all while enhancing their product and achieving patient engagement success in the process.

Interested in enhancing your EHR with patient engagement technology? Learn more about InteliChart’s partner program.