With the proliferation of smartphones, and the instant downloads and apps that accompany such an innovation, getting everything at the click of a button is becoming the new norm.
Consumerism is driving the need for convenience at a low cost, even in healthcare. Telemedicine is a growing trend in this new patient-driven reality. It's estimated that more than 800,000 online patient consultations will be provided this year, with upwards of 450,000 patients served. In fact, according to the American Telemedicine Association CEO Johnathan Linkous, "Telemedicine has skyrocketed in the last year in this country and abroad. We see it most commonly being used for primary care and mental health care." Linkous also added, "It's convenience that's driving this trend. When you have a regular doctor's appointment, you're sitting in a waiting room for a good 45 minutes with other sick people before you see a doctor for a few minutes."
Recent advances in telecommunications technology have created opportunities to enhance the quality of healthcare services through telemedicine. An interactive voice response (IVR) system is a simple, yet effective telehealth application that improves access to healthcare by continuing care beyond the hospital setting, and that is easily accessible to patients around the clock. Research conducted by Arrow System Integration shows that using IVR calls to enhance health system capability is on the rise. Once used primarily as an economical tool for simply directing telephone calls, IVRs are now taking a more proactive role in patient and member communications. IVRs are allowing healthcare systems to engage with their consumers, simplifying information access and collaboration. Practical applications in telemedicine abound, ranging from simple appointment reminders to automated scheduling, medical transport coordination, and patient education.
However, the functionality of an IVR system is limited by the way the prompts and announcements are written, read, and structured. Patients often find themselves on calls misrouted to the wrong place, which results in additional patient transfers. Frequently, patients have to start again when speaking to a second clinician, causing a high degree of caller frustration and poor patient experiences. In fact, a recent survey has found that more than 20 percent of patients rank being transferred as their top dissatisfaction when interacting with their health system.
The Impact of Being Transferred
According to the American Hospital Association, there are currently 5,627 registered hospitals in the United States. Research conducted by First Care Medical Services shows that, on average, hospitals waste approximately 207 hours in productivity annually due to misrouted calls. According to PayScale.com, the average hourly rate for a contact center employee is $12.83/hr. This results in an estimated average cost of wasted productivity of $2,655 per location or $14.9 million annually across all registered hospitals.
Besides the financial cost, the most significant challenge patients face today is the ability to access their providers when they need them. Research has found that approximately 23 percent of patients do not feel that they have a relationship with their provider. This can happen for a variety of reasons that telemedicine practices work to alleviate. Research from The American Telemedicine Association illustrates how IVRs as a telemedicine tool can help rural and other underserved populations by providing access to medical and health information, medical education information or remote consultations.
For underserved markets, this can create a challenge. Patients who use an IVR to access information, make appointments or seek a consultation may not be able to find what they need. An example is when a patient calls to schedule an appointment they are asked a few simple questions and then routed to another area within the IVR to respond to their needs. In many cases, the patient's intent is not understood and they are forced into an area of the IVR that will not allow them to schedule an appointment. They have two choices – hit '0' and speak directly to a clinician or hang up and start over again. In either case, the conversation may be repeated multiple times. Health systems may feel they have made their patient facing processes easier to use, but the reality is a frustrated patient with limited healthcare options.
This patient frustration directly impacts HCAHPS scores and ultimately bottom line profitability. Accenture and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also share this opinion. In fact, they have shown that superior patient experiences can increase hospital margins by as much as 50 percent over net profit margins. However, the reverse is also true. Health systems with an HCAHPS score of six or lower, on average are seeing net margins fall by more than 50 percent. Creating patient-centered experiences is the key to long-term financial success of any telemedicine program.
Building Patient-Centered Experiences
Conversational virtual assistant solutions are changing telemedicine experiences. According to Grandview Research, this technology is successfully transforming patient interactions. From a patient's point of view, conversational virtual assistants use natural language technology to gather more accurate and timely information and allow the patient to speak in their own words to describe what they need. Conversational virtual assistants are responsive to the caller, and their response isn't governed by a rigid decision tree. Instead of getting held up in an endless series of menus and options, patients can simply contact their healthcare provider through their channel of choice and have a natural conversation to describe what they need faster than using a conventional IVR. Health systems not only benefit by efficiently gathering more accurate and timely information from patients to support their care plan, but also create a positive impact to bottom line results with higher HCAHPS scores.
Finally, conversational virtual assistants allow patients to do more in self-service due to their advanced understanding and personalization capabilities. This shifts the experience to be truly patient-focused and avoids limiting patient interaction. Conversational virtual assistants, and the health systems that use them, have an unprecedented opportunity to positively change telemedicine programs to build better patient experiences within rural and other underserved populations.
About the Author
Kathleen Schroeder, Senior Marketing Manager – Healthcare at Interactions, is a seasoned healthcare professional with an MBA in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin. Throughout her extensive career, she has worked tenaciously to represent the voice of the patient through numerous social outlets, speaking engagements and customer encounters. By educating health care systems on the value of putting patients first, she is committed to improving the patient-provider experience.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker's Hospital Review/Becker's Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.