Revenue cycle leaders from ProMedica and University Health Kansas City joined HealthLeaders for a candid talk on their strategies for improving patient engagement.
Health systems are being forced to rethink patient engagement whether they like it or not. Patients are demanding more consumer-friendly, tech-based tools, while government regulations like the No Surprises Act require more transparency around prices. What strategies are revenue cycle leaders exploring to improve patient engagement without sacrificing operational efficiency?
Shannon Ducat, associate vice president of patient access at ProMedica; Seth Katz, vice president of revenue cycle and HIM at University Health Kansas City; and Katie Onorato, Solution Strategist at Waystar shared their thoughts on patient engagement during the HealthLeaders Revenue Cycle NOW Online Summit, sponsored by Waystar.
Creating a more patient-friendly experience
“Patients want their healthcare experience to be as seamless and as convenient as online shopping and online banking,” Ducat said. “So, for strategic initiatives, we’re focused on expanding those self-service tools.”
One patient engagement initiative at ProMedica established automated workflows that give patients greater control over scheduling.
Less than two years ago, the centralized scheduling team at ProMedica was a wholly outbound operation. It felt like the team was chasing patients, often calling while they were at work or otherwise unavailable, Ducat said.
Today, ProMedica is using technology to automatically call and text patients the day after a provider places an order.
Patients have the option of connecting at that time, or at a future time of their choosing. They also receive self-registration links and cost estimates via online portal ahead of their visits. The automated system makes five attempts to contact patients over 90 days.
“We kind of turned our scheduling center around and went from a completely outbound call center to a completely inbound call center,” Ducat said.
At University Health Kansas City, investments in new payment systems mean patients now have additional payment options, like Apple Pay and Google Pay. The academic medical center has also invested in technology to enable accurate cost estimates.
Investing in consumer-friendly digital tools and in-demand tech goes beyond meeting regulations like those in the No Surprises Act, however.
“It’s a key strategy to grow and to retain your patients,” Katz said. “Hospitals that don’t lean into that mode and that idea are going to be left.”
Benefits to patient engagement initiatives outweigh drawbacks
As part of its patient access redesign, ProMedica established a fully remote pre-registration team that calls patients five to ten days before their appointments to complete most tasks typically done day-of-service.
While the approach streamlines patient visits, there has been some resistance to the change. For instance, patients used to traditional patient access models may be reluctant to share personal health or payment information over the phone.
“It’s something new,” Ducat said. “I think some patients have a little bit of a trust issue with just the legitimacy of the phone call.”
Of course, resistance to change also comes from internal sources. While many clinicians are excited about the potential to improve patient engagement, some prefer the level of control afforded to them in under traditional models.
The success of patient engagement initiatives depends on buy-in from senior leadership and from physicians.
“It is a culture shift,” Katz said. “That can be a challenge for some organizations or for some people within those organizations.”
While resistance has been a challenge, the benefits to these patient engagement initiatives can’t be denied.
Since implementing new scheduling and pre-registration processes, ProMedica has seen a decrease in eligibility denials and an increase in pre-service collections.
Similarly, University Health Kansas City has been able to improve the accuracy of the data it collects since providing patients with more tools to update their information via online portals and self-serve kiosks. This has reduced friction in the prior authorization process.
“Everything that happens up front has major implications through the rest of your revenue cycle,” Katz said.
Luke Gale is the revenue cycle editor for HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Investments to improve patient engagement are “a key strategy to grow and to retain your patients.”
Fear of change, both internally and externally, can serve as an obstacle to patient engagement initiatives.
Improving front-end processes delivers benefits throughout the full revenue cycle.