This summer, three hospitals have announced consumer-facing mobile apps intended to improve the patient experience by helping them engage with other patients, schedule emergency visits, and track their medical itineraries.
No one could have predicted that the breakout mobile app of the summer would be a game where a cartoon Kim Kardashian guides users on a quest for virtual stardom, complete with photoshoots, Twitter wars, and questionable strategic dating.
And yet, Glu Mobile's Kim Kardashian: Hollywood does just that, and is raking it in—the game is projected to gross $200 million in its first year and is already one of the top five downloaded apps on iTunes.
While I've heard several arguments against the game for perpetuating the controversial Kardashian franchise, it's a compelling case study from a business perspective. The app's developers identified an opportunity in the market, created a product to fill that gap, and it took off.
The strategy sounds simple enough (an app SWOT analysis, if you will) but, when it comes to hospital and health system-created applications, marketers often skip the step of identifying what patient needs a mobile app can fill, choosing instead to focus on creating whatever app is currently in-vogue.
But this summer, three hospitals have announced consumer-facing mobile apps that are on track to actually improve the patient experience.
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital's Innovation Center
New York-Presbyterian Hospital is furthering its effort to work with local tech companies to create patient-centered application by opening an Innovation Center at Blueprint Health, a New York City-based co-working space for health tech startups.
"To consistently deliver the best care for our patients, we need to develop forward-thinking technology and build applications that are both sustainable and scalable," Aurelia Boyer, senior vice president and chief information officer at NYP, said in a media release. "We also know that New York City is a growing hub for technology innovation in healthcare, and collaborating with the companies and technologists from Blueprint Health will help NYP deliver innovation more rapidly and with a fresh, entrepreneurial spirit. We could not be more excited about this collaboration and look forward to providing more engaging experiences for our patients."
The Innovation Center will focus on developing a number of platforms created during the hackathon the hospital sponsored earlier this year. The winning submission is an app called PresbyHangouts, which will allow patients staying at the hospital to connect with other patients with common interests, allowing them to play games with one another and communicate via instant messaging and video chat.
The goal of the app is to enhance the feeling of a patient community as well as enable clinicians to deliver educational material through video chat.
The Mount Sinai Hospital Patient Itinerary App
Mount Sinai is currently piloting an iPad app it developed that gives patients a detailed schedule of their upcoming treatments, procedures, and tests. The goal of the app is to alleviate patient stress by keeping them informed with a real-time snapshot of their clinical care information.
"The ultimate goal with our Patient Itinerary app is to provide a real-time snapshot of clinical care information to make the hospital stay less stressful, and to make our patients better informed, all towards ensuring a good health outcome for those in our care," Kumar Chatani, chief information officer for the Mount Sinai Health System, said in media release.
"Our information technology and nursing departments will continue to work together to refine an already successful rollout, and we believe Patient Itinerary will soon become a standard that other hospitals emulate."
The health system has rolled out the app's pilot program to 100 patients, giving them HIPAA-compliant access to patient information free of charge. In addition to their personalized schedules, patients can use iPads to access health education materials that are customized for each clinical department.
The tablets are also pre-loaded with general entertainment apps, such as Facebook, e-newspapers, and video on-demand to help patients fill their waiting time. Patients can also use the iPads to submit feedback regarding their experience and satisfaction.
Dignity Health's ED Scheduling App
Northridge Hospital Medical Center in Northridge, CA, and other Dignity Health hospitals have begun using an emergency room scheduling app in an attempt to both streamline care and improve the patient experience by allowing non-urgent patients to avoid spending hours in a chaotic emergency department waiting room. The scheduling app takes the typical ED wait time app one step further in a move to enhance the patient experience.
The app, of course, is intended for patients who do not have life-threatening emergencies. In order to schedule an appointment online, they must check a box saying they are able to wait for treatment. Patients can also use the app to schedule appointments at Dignity Health's urgent care locations and primary care offices.
About 12,000 patients have schedule ED visits online at hospitals in California, Arizona, and Nevada. The 40-hospital system is marketing the app in print, online, and radio using the slogan "Wait for the ED from home."
Marianne Aiello is a contributing writer at HealthLeaders Media.