WELL Health Improves Patient Access to Virtual Care During COVID-19 Pandemic at Houston Methodist Through Patient Communication

WELL Health Delivered More than 260,000 Text Messages in a Single Day to Houston-Area Residents to Coordinate Virtual Visits During Pandemic Shutdowns

HOUSTON, June 18, 2020 — WELL Health, a patient communication platform, helped Houston Methodist coordinate a surge in virtual care visits during the coronavirus pandemic, amounting to 183 times more virtual visits than prior to the pandemic.

In a single day, WELL enabled Houston Methodist to send more than 260,000 text messages to patients to educate them about virtual care, schedule visits, and answer questions about care options during COVID-19.

“The ability to communicate back and forth, assuring patients that we are here for them both virtually and in-person is crucial as we continue to safely provide care in the midst of this pandemic,” said Tesha Montgomery, vice president of operations and patient access at Houston Methodist.

During March, Houston Methodist used its new Center for Innovation Technology Hub to quickly train hundreds of providers on how to deliver virtual care. Daily training within the Houston Methodist Physician Organization over a two-week period led to the number of virtual providers skyrocketing from 66 to nearly 900 across 37 different specialties. This allowed the health system to reach a daily average of over 2,200 virtual visits, compared with an average of 12 virtual visits per day prior to the pandemic.

“Houston Methodist is an innovator in everything — one of the very best. They move quickly, they move decisively, and they are great co-development partners. Truly some of the best in healthcare,” said Guillaume de Zwirek, WELL founder and CEO.

For in-person appointments, WELL enabled Houston Methodist to create a “virtual waiting room” for over 30 different outpatient clinics. This allowed patients to safely wait in their cars upon arrival and receive text messages instructing them to enter the building when their visit would begin. A virtual waiting room reduces viral transmission and reassures patients who are fearful of entering a hospital waiting room.

WELL and Houston Methodist have also collaborated on text-based referral scheduling and in the coming months, WELL is helping Houston Methodist with patient appointment coordination around essential routine care and new self-scheduling capabilities.

About Well™ Health Inc.

WELL is a patient communication infrastructure for healthcare. We enable enterprise health systems, private practices, and vendors to conduct seamless conversations with patients across multiple channels — including texting, email, telephone, and live chat.

With WELL, patients receive all of their healthcare communication from one trusted source — their provider. The platform empowers service representatives to seamlessly converse with patients in real time, ensuring patients feel heard while driving staff efficiency and increased revenue.

Founded in 2015, WELL is based in Santa Barbara, California and is the highest rated patient engagement software on G2 (January 2020). WELL serves many of the country’s leading health systems and powers best-in-class experiences for more than 50,000 healthcare professionals and 20 million patients.