With the passage of the HITECH Act, healthcare became a more digitized industry and so has the patient experience. This breakthrough piece of policy has allowed the patient experience to evolve to where it is today.
To most patients, a successful experience is one where they feel they are partners with their physician throughout their care journey – having access to information and health records to make educated decisions alongside their doctor.
Changing the way, we approach the patient experience is essential in achieving this partnership. It is not enough to treat them in the office but before and after the patient makes a visit. Personalizing their care to their specific needs.
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to scale a personalized experience for everyone who walks into their doctor’s office. But through technology we can talk about it in the digital realm, like using telehealth to call your doctor during treatments, or having a discussion with the office before you visit the office.
We have seen that patients who are engaged tend to be healthier. For example, if a patient understands what hypertension is and what their medication for the disease does, then they are more likely to take it and follow-up with appointments.
Access to information is just one step in the patient engagement journey. The banking and airline industries have been able to connect with their consumers in multiple ways on and offline. Healthcare is on the cusp of great technologic advances.
Measuring success is as easy as seeing an improvement in your patient’s health. Engagement is not just about leading the conversation but providing your patients with the resources to make those improvements.
To close this discussion my question for you – as a patient – is what would like to see in health technology?
Join our tweetchat on Wednesday, October 4 at 12 pm EST to discuss how HIT and how we can improve the patient experience. Use #PTexpHIT to engage in the conversation.
1. How can we change the outlook on the healthcare experience from a patient perspective?
2. What are ways #HIT can better provider experiences to close the gaps in care?
3. Can tech help marry the discrepancy between provider communication, #ptexp and #SDOH?
4. What are some consumer experience examples that can be translated into healthcare?
5. How can we prepare healthcare pros to provide better experiences that elicit improved outcomes?
6. How can HIT help measure patient engagement success?
