7 Key Issues to Tackle in Patient Engagement
Posted by
Liz Lake on Thu, May 09, 2013 @ 08:07 PM
Seamless Medical Systems is excited to participate in the MedCity ENGAGE Innovation Showcase, taking place in Washington, D.C. this upcoming June 5th - 6th.
MedCity posted a great article on key issues pertinent to the convergence of patient engagement and healthcare, critical to contributing to the improvement of patient outcomes.
What are the most important issues in patient engagement and healthcare delivery?
Is one a way to help patients get the best prices for everything from massages to complex medical procedures?Should we add smarter ways to teach doctors to the list?
Or maybe the complete electronic records system that covers everything from gathering basic registration information to patient education to digital magazines for the waiting room?
There are thousands of organizations offering solutions to scores of challenges around engagement.
Below are 11 companies who have taken aim at seven of the key problems. They’re all on to something.
All 11 will be part of the Innovation Showcase at MedCity ENGAGE, our summit on patient engagement and healthcare convergence on June 5-6 in Washington, D.C.
These are private companies of all stages that think they’ve found a path to improve patient engagement and healthcare delivery. When it’s all said and done, the ENGAGE showcase will have a collection of 18 startup companies, government pilot programs and non-profit experiments dedicated to taking on the most important challenge in healthcare (we’ll unveil the final seven in the coming weeks). Some of these I’m sure you’ve hard of. But, I guarantee there are others that have never crossed your radar.
The list is a testament to how many factors play into engaging patients and negotiating healthcare in an ACO world (and what key factors are left on this list?).
We hope you join the audience of payers, providers, policymakers and others passionate about patient engagement.
Here’s a sneak peek at some of the challenges (and solutions) that will be on display.
1. The waiting room experience: Digitized, upgraded and streamlined
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Seamless Medical. Its platform, SNAP, digitizes registration and other medical forms, adds a patient education system and – for the ultimate recreation of the waiting room experience – packages in popular magazines and games for patients to review. The cloud-based system transfers registration and other patient information into the a health system’s electronic records system.
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Case Network. The company seeks to reinvigorate medical education and adjust to a world where doctors don’t get to meet face to face as often as they used to. Faced with bigger educational demands and bigger workloads, doctors can use Case Network and its six-part education system to better apply best practices in medicine and cut readmissions.
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SiMCare Diabetes. Their simulation gives physicians a challenge: treat 18 unique diabetes patients and get their disease under control within 180 days. Understand where the patient engagement is, prescribe and change their medications, and get feedback with every move you make. If enough doctors win the game the country gets the real win: help the estimated 35 percent of new diabetics who are improperly cared for (according to SiMCare).
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PokitDok. Think of it a little bit like Priceline’s name-your-own-price approach. Anyone with a high-deductible health plan requests a quote from doctors but can specify payment by cash, health savings account or insurance. Patients know the price before they ever walk into their doctors’ offices.
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Zeel. See above, but for massages. Patients book same-day, in-home massage appointments with vetted, licensed, insured, and bring a portable massage table. Price – including tip – are already handled before massage begins.
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Health Recovery Solutions. Armed with a calculator to pinpoint patients who are more likely than most to be readmitted to the hospital, Health Recovery Solution provides a tablet-based tool to patients to show them how to live better, reminding them to take medications, monitoring key vitals like weight, and offers rewards for doing things right. The hope: those high-risk readmission patients don’t come back.
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MedDirect. Think of it as healthcare delivery improved by better billing. MedDirect provides patients with a clear idea of the costs of their healthcare visit, solicits immediate feedback from patients on their doctor visit, and cuts down on the number of patients who don’t pay what insurance did not.
5. Take your meds •
HealthPrize Technologies. One of the most interesting companies leveraging gamification, HealthPrize mixes gaming and rewards to get people to stick with their medications. It then doubles down on working with patients by using quizzes and other tools to educate patients about their conditions.
6. Clarity, transparency and honesty
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Advanced Patient Systems. Why don’t patients better understand what they’re getting into when they see a doctor? It’s not just the details, but how they’re delivered. Advanced Patient Systems mixes gaming and avatars to educate patients and deliver the informed consent information necessary for patients to OK medical procedures or clinical trials in a way they will better understand what’s happening and be ready to participate in what’s coming next.
7. Be safe and relax