HIT Consultant3 Lessons in Digital Patient Engagement from Healthcare’s ‘Most Wired’ Organizations

It’s clear that as digital engagement advances, more health systems are leaning into digital to personalize the patient and family experience.

The integration of digital technologies in healthcare is reshaping patient engagement, enhancing the quality of care, and fostering stronger patient-loyalty. A surge in digital engagement tools reflects a broader shift towards personalized, accessible, and efficient healthcare delivery. This evolution is underscored by findings from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the Accenture survey, illustrating the pivotal role of digital platforms in meeting the expectations of today’s healthcare consumers.

Key Points:

• Digital Engagement’s Influence on Patient Retention: A recent Accenture survey highlights the significant impact of digital engagement on retaining patients, emphasizing the importance of designing digital tools that boost patient loyalty and potentially increase healthcare revenue.
• Healthcare’s Digital Transformation: The CHIME Digital Health Most Wired Survey reveals an increasing reliance on digital interactivity by health systems to engage patients and families, employing more sophisticated methods than ever before.
• Mobile Functionality Expansion: More than 38,000 organizations participated in the Most Wired survey, indicating a notable rise in mobile functionalities, such as price listings, health maintenance campaigns, and mobile check-ins, which are linked to higher survey scores.
• Case Example of Excellence: Nicklaus Children’s Hospital achieved Level 8 on Most Wired by consolidating consumer-facing digital services into a single app, enhancing access and convenience for families.
• Enhancing Patient-Staff Digital Interactions: There is an upward trend in using digital devices for patient-staff interactions, with significant efforts focused on educating patients and families on using interactive devices and supporting care plan adherence.
• Video Education’s Growing Role: The survey showed a sharp increase in the use of videos to educate patients and families on various health topics, easily integrated into health systems’ mobile apps for convenience.
• Personalization of Care Through Digital Tools: The industry is moving towards more personalized digital offerings, a trend accelerated by the pandemic, aiming for targeted digital education and resources.
• Digital Strategy Development: For optimal digital engagement, a patient-centric digital strategy is vital, requiring a balance between meeting consumer expectations and operational feasibility without overburdening the health system.

“The pandemic surely accelerated this move to more targeted digital offerings, but the healthcare industry is absolutely headed to personalized digital care and support.”
– Michael Saad, Chief Information Officer, University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville

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