Complex physician practice workflows are not only stressful for medical staff, but also have a negative impact on patient outcomes and satisfaction. Healthcare organizations need access to digital tools to simplify workflows and improve organizational efficiency—but some solutions are more effective than others, and choosing the right tools for your practice can be daunting.
Here are six healthcare solutions that help significantly streamline internal workflows, improve care delivery, and enhance the patient experience:
1. Patient Portal Solutions
Today, 90 percent of healthcare organizations offer patient portal access to their patients, and for very good reason. Consumers today want and expect access to convenient, self-service tools that empower them to take charge of their health. The patient portal offers just that and more—and the benefits extend well beyond empowering consumers.
Using patient portal technology enables providers and staff to work more efficiently by reducing administrative work, streamlining scheduling, and allowing for simplified patient outreach. Patient portals simplify workflows in several ways, from cutting down long phone conversations to making it easy to schedule appointments and authorize refill requests.
2. Digital Intake and Registration Forms
Many healthcare practices use healthcare tools to digitize and automate elements of the patient registration and intake process. Embracing digital intake and registration forms reduces staff workload, eases stress associated with inefficient processes/manual tasks, and is a contact-free means of gathering patient data during times like a pandemic.
You can also automate the collection of payments through your intake process and verify insurance eligibility electronically. Plus, you can eliminate waiting room backlogs and delays by automating the entire patient processing workflow—and both your patients and staff will thank you for it!
3. Automated Patient Outreach
Strong patient communication is a cornerstone to driving meaningful engagement and satisfaction, and the vast majority of healthcare organizations agree. Data reveals that two-thirds use automated text message reminders in their practice; however, of the 24 percent that have yet to adopt text reminders, most said it was because they don’t have the technology to support this function.
Automated patient outreach tools decrease the administrative burden for staff, reduce the number of patient no-shows, and allow practices to deliver on-demand communications to patients via their preferred contact method, whether it’s text messages, emails, phone calls, or even by mail.
4. Survey and Reporting Tools
Physicians spend an average of 2.6 hours a week dealing with quality reporting. According to research, that’s enough time to potentially see nine additional patients. Using technology to automate satisfaction surveys and reporting tasks can help simplify processes and free up time for providers to spend with patients.
Automated survey and reporting tools make it simple for practices to measure satisfaction, reported outcomes, and more—without taking time away from patients. Many even allow you to take it a step further by targeting specific populations and creating automated events based on patients’ survey responses.
5. Automated Population Health Workflows
A study including more than 800 healthcare professionals revealed that 70 percent do not have a technology solution that allows automated patient interventions across patient populations. Additionally, 20 percent feel unsure about their current technology’s capabilities for managing population health.
Fortunately, many providers are discovering healthcare tools that allow them to take a proactive approach to population health management workflows. By automating patient management, you can guide your patients between office (or virtual) visits and influence them to take actions that lead to better health.
6. Telehealth Solutions
Telehealth has played an instrumental role in adapting care delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic. Providers are seeing 50-175 times the number of telehealth visits in comparison to a pre-COVID era. In addition, 57 percent of providers now view telehealth services more favorably than they did before COVID-19, and 64 percent are more comfortable using it.
That said, the rapid adoption of telehealth has required physicians to rethink their workflows and how they use healthcare technology. Telehealth solutions have empowered providers to embrace virtual care options and will likely continue to do so for years to come.
Choosing the Right Healthcare Tools to Simplify Workflows
The most effective healthcare workflows combine all of these tools with a single integration and API. This not only enhances how solutions communicate and work together, but also means fewer systems to manage at one time. Working with one vendor that provides multiple solutions drives orchestrated patient engagement—or everything you and your patients need in one platform.
If you’re searching for tools to automate manual, time-consuming tasks, simplify workflows, and improve the patient experience, you’re in the right place. Learn more about our Healthy Outcomes suite of patient engagement solutions.
