Imagine a world where every communication across a patient’s healthcare journey is seamlessly coordinated without the confusion of overlapping messages or conflicting instructions. This ideal scenario is now increasingly possible with the integration of vendor partners through Artera Harmony, our award-winning patient communications platform.
According to our research, large health systems typically depend on more than 11 digital health vendors, each independently communicating with patients through various channels. Different departments often manage these interactions, resulting in a lack of awareness and coordination of messages that can hinder the patient experience.
In an effort to address these challenges, an Artera Heartbeat’24 panel brought together industry leaders to discuss innovative solutions for integrating vendors to create a thriving ecosystem and improve the patient experience.
Hosted by Zach Wood, Chief Product Officer at Artera, the panel featured insights from Amy Partilla, Digital Engagement Consultant at Hackensack Meridian Health, Marcy McDonald, Nursing Informatics Manager at Uintah Basin Healthcare, Chelsea Simon, Chief Operating Officer of Advanced Pain Care, and David Wright, CEO and Founder of Disruptive Innovations.
These four panelists have rejected the status quo of fragmented, patient communications. Instead, they’re on a journey to create a thriving ecosystem of vendor partners with us at Artera, bringing them together to create a seamless patient and staff experience. Let’s take a closer look at the key takeaways from this insightful conversation.
Overcoming Common Obstacles
In an effort to address workforce challenges, reduce costs and improve quality of care, health systems across the nation are increasing their focus on digital and AI transformation. Despite their priorities changing, executing on this transformation has presented major headwinds and relatively slow progress.
Conducted by McKinsey & Company, a recent survey of 200 health system executives noted the top three challenges to executing digital and AI transformation, including:
- Budget or capital limitations
- The digital switch is too challenging (from legacy systems)
- Workforce not ready to implement new technology
Our Artera Heartbeat’24 panelists weighed in on the subject, agreeing that while vendor integration offers many benefits, the journey to successful integration is often filled with challenges, including:
Navigating an Abundance of Vendors
For Partilla, one of her organization’s primary challenges is managing the extensive network of vendors they collaborate with. She expressed, “We work with numerous vendors and have multiple channels for communicating with patients. How can we gain a comprehensive overview and ensure we’re not overlapping or creating inefficiencies in our messaging?”
Wright echoed Partilla’s concerns, emphasizing that health systems should thoroughly evaluate every technology they’ve invested in to identify all capabilities, enabling the development of the most effective full-stack solution.
Addressing Legacy Systems
Many healthcare providers rely on legacy systems that are not easily compatible with modern communication technologies, and thus, make the digital switch more complex. Overcoming this challenge requires strategic planning and investment in scalable, interoperable solutions that can integrate seamlessly with existing systems.
Managing Change & Scalability
Introducing new technology and communication workflows can be met with resistance from staff used to traditional processes. This can create a lack of standardization across a health system, as different departments and areas of the organization use tools differently. Effective change management is essential to ensure smooth transitions and adoption of new technologies. Training programs and clear communication can help staff adapt to the new system.
Success Stories: Creating a More Seamless Patient Experience
Despite various challenges in driving transformation forward, many healthcare organizations have successfully integrated vendor partners to streamline communications and improve the patient experience. Panelists at Artera Heartbeat’24 shared several success stories that offer valuable lessons for other organizations.
Hackensack Meridian Health’s Journey
Partilla discussed Hackensack Meridian Health’s success in reducing communication silos across its network and resolving overlap in messages, which we’re leaving patients confused. “It’s one of those small things that will make a big difference to patients. If they feel like you don’t know the right hand’s talking to the left hand, that’s not going to build confidence in your healthcare system.” By addressing these issues and streamlining communication through Artera Harmony, they have achieved greater consistency in messaging – especially within its surgery module and care gap programs. For example, Hackensack launched a mammography campaign that led to significant increases in booked appointments and revenue, while critically identifying early health issues for many patients.
Advanced Pain Care’s Approach
For Chelsea Simon of Advanced Pain Care, “simplicity for patients and staff was key” when first starting on the journey. By focusing on user-friendly online scheduling through Artera ScheduleCare and conversational messaging, Advanced Pain Care saw a significant decrease in phone call volume and an increase in automated text messages, in addition to greater patient satisfaction. These changes allowed them to reallocate staff resources more efficiently and improve the patient experience.
Uintah Basin Healthcare’s Approach
McDonald shared how Uintah Basin Healthcare, a rural provider, also wanted to start by keeping it relatively simple, as the organization’s providers tend to travel to many places within the community. Ultimately, through the strategic use of vendor integrations, they were able to ensure patients received the right messages at the right time – from one trusted phone number. This has been particularly beneficial in ensuring patients arrive at the correct locations for their appointments, ultimately saving time and resources.
Best Practices for Creating a Thriving Ecosystem
Creating a thriving ecosystem for seamless patient communication requires careful planning and execution. The panelists shared several best practices that can help healthcare organizations achieve this goal.
Start with Patient In Mind
For Wright, looking at “people, process, technology and methodology across the entire patient experience life cycle is a crucial step” to start out. As the patient journey is not linear, health systems must better understand the intent of the patient, as well as their preferences, instead of merely recreating the same workflows. Take the time to build out and create new processes and workflows that benefit the patient and your operations. Leveraging AI is a potential tool to improve efficiencies.
Leverage Data to Improve Outcomes
Technology plays a crucial role in effective vendor integration. By leveraging AI-driven solutions and data analytics, organizations can gain insights into patient preferences and communication patterns, enabling them to deliver personalized messages that resonate with patients. For example, Partilla and her team regularly review the Harmony Insights Dashboard to identify opportunities to reduce over-messaging and highlight trends.
Establish Consistent & Branded Messaging
Organizations should aim to establish a consistent messaging strategy that aligns with their overall goals. This involves mapping out a cohesive framework for patient engagement and ensuring that every communication – regardless of what department it comes from – sounds consistent in tone and voice.
Engaging Stakeholders Across Departments
Successful integration is a team effort that requires input from various departments. Engaging stakeholders from IT, patient access, care management and compliance ensures that all aspects of communication are considered and optimized for efficiency.
The Journey Continues
While our panelists are still learning how to navigate their organizations’ patient communication strategies and ecosystems, they are confident their work is paying off toward a better staff and patient experience. By addressing common challenges and leveraging best practices, organizations can successfully integrate vendor partners and create a more streamlined, efficient communication ecosystem. This not only enhances patient experience but also delivers significant financial and operational benefits.
For healthcare providers looking to achieve these objectives, vendor consolidation is a key strategy that can unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation. By investing in the right technologies and engaging stakeholders across departments, organizations can create a patient communication strategy that truly makes a difference.
Explore more about how your organization can benefit from Artera Harmony and the Artera Marketplace. Together, we can create a future where patient communications are seamless, personalized and impactful.
