Ochsner's Chief Consumer Officer Emphasizes the Value of Connected Health

Jennifer Bollinger says healthcare organizations are paying too much attention to technology and not enough on the people and processes that make virtual care work.

To Jennifer Bollinger, the patient experience shouldn't be defined by technology, but by the value of interactions with the care team. For that reason, she's ditching the term "digital health" in favor of "connected health."

"Digital really isn't our strategy," says the senior vice president and chief consumer officer at Ochsner Health. "It is one of the key levers for transformative care, but it's just one part of [an equation] that includes people and processes. Connecting them and making those connections seamless and personal is our goal."

Bollinger's work in digital consumerism with the New Orleans-based health system highlights another underlying challenge as well: connecting with the consumer, rather than the patient. As healthcare organizations move toward value-based care, they need to look beyond the idea of connecting with patients of the health system and focus more on connecting with consumers of healthcare services.

That ecosystem is much larger and more complex, encompassing not only the individual moments that require healthcare interactions but the whole journey.

Jennifer Bollinger, senior vice president and chief consumer officer at Ochsner Health. Photo courtesy Ochsner Health.

"Consumers really don't know how to figure out that they don't want a lot of choices," she points out. "They want ease and guidance. They want someone to guide them."

In the midst of this shift from periodic to value-based care, healthcare providers have been undergoing a change of perspective as well. The emergence of telehealth and digital health tools and strategies has given the consumer more control over healthcare choices, which in turn has flooded the market with new healthcare locations and opportunities. Healthcare organizations can no longer sit back and expect the consumer to come to them; they need to reach out and market their capabilities, competing with other hospitals and health systems, health plans and telehealth vendors with their own providers, retail health clinics, and large companies like Amazon.

In this atmosphere, health systems have to see the consumer, or everyone within reach of their healthcare services, rather than the patient, or someone who has used their services. And the strategy is shifting from 'You're going to need healthcare services and here we are,' to 'We're better at this than the others.'

And part of being better is using technology to make healthcare more intuitive.

"The pandemic was certainly an enforcing factor" in identifying the value of virtual care, says Bollinger, noting the nationwide shift to telehealth and digital health tools to facilitate easier healthcare access at a time when in-person care was risky. And now that the pandemic is waning, she says, health systems are asking themselves, "Are we going to be able to cash the check that we wrote?"

At Ochsner, which has forged a path in digital health that goes back long before the pandemic, the key isn't highlighting these new tools and platforms, but showing their value. An RPM program works if it improves medication adherence and reduces trips to the doctor's office; a messaging program works if it boosts scheduled wellness visits or vaccinations or reduces no-shows for appointments; and a patient portal is effective if it channels patients to the right place without the need for extra clicks or a phone call.

On some of those occasions, "if I have to pick up the phone and talk to someone, something has broken down," Bollinger says. "Now there are times when talking to someone is a positive, but not when you're just trying to do something quickly."

In many cases, consumers already know about patient portals, messaging platforms, and virtual care, Bollinger notes, but they haven't seen how it can help them. The health system has to connect the dots.

"We've done a lot of 'one-size-fits-all solutions," she says. "Now it has to be made personal."

Bollinger points out that consumers have seen how technology improves the experience in other businesses, like banking, travel, and shopping. But how does that translate to healthcare? Making a bank deposit, planning a vacation, or buying a jacket isn't the same as conferring with a doctor about a health concern.

"It's sometimes hard to get them to articulate their expectations for healthcare," she says.

That's where connected health comes in, and where consumer strategy is important. Health systems need to focus not on the technology but on the people and processes that make it work. Instead of talking about the digital ecosystem of consumer tools, talk about the connections that these services offer with providers and care teams, and the opportunities those connections offer to improve health and wellness.

That's especially important when noting that larger percentages of the population—particularly younger consumers—aren't wedding themselves to one primary care provider or health system, and are instead shopping around for the most convenient and accessible providers.

"We aren't paying enough attention to the up-and-coming generations," Bollinger says. "The pandemic offered them a lot of choices, and they’re taking advantage of that."