Did you get a chance to attend our recent webinar, Delivering a Personalized Mobile EHR Experience with MEDITECH and Forward Advantage? If you couldn’t make it, or could use a refresher, we’re offering a new blog series recapping key topics and tips from the webinar. This well-attended event was a unique opportunity to hear from strategic players at both MEDITECH and Forward Advantage on consumerism in healthcare and our collaborative mobile app platform, PXMobile.
This first post focuses on the rise of consumerism in healthcare, feedback from healthcare CIOs, and the partnership behind PXMobile. Subsequent posts will take a deeper dive into how PXMobile differs from other mobile apps in the market, along with best practices for a successful deployment.
A Collaboration Driven by Healthcare Consumerism & Customer Demand
Today’s patients are consumers, and they want the online conveniences they enjoy in other industries. In fact, surveys show that 82% of patients would switch providers because of a bad experience, and 61% of patients want their healthcare experience to match that of other services like Amazon, Uber and Instacart. An increasingly competitive provider marketplace has made patient experience and engagement a leading initiative in healthcare. Hospitals and healthcare institutions are up against traditional competitors including Kaiser Permanente, large academic institutions, and hospitals on other EHRs. They’re also dealing with an influx of powerful organizations infiltrating healthcare like Google, Amazon, Walgreens, Apple, CVS, and Doctor on Demand.
“It’s more important than ever for health systems to meet patient expectations for ease of obtaining medical care and the quality of that care,” says Christine Parent, associate vice president at MEDITECH. “Patients, as consumers, have more choices than ever for where they receive care. Health systems are seeing competition from both traditional sources and new disruptors to the healthcare space who already have well-developed, consumer-focused strategies in place.”
What We’re Hearing from Healthcare CIOs
When COVID first hit, many hospitals were forced to choose technology solutions to meet an immediate need. Many may have deployed telehealth, online chat functionality, or patient education. However, as we heard in a recent CHIME Focus Group we hosted, many are now looking to create an integrated strategy with connected workflows and functionality. Having separate places or apps for patients to access information and care creates a disjointed experience and less than ideal workflows. It’s important to focus on how all your solutions and strategies will work together, because patients expect a seamless experience. A single app strategy brings all those solutions together for patients in one place, including your patient portal. Most patient experience solutions have APIs or SDKs that can integrate into an app, so you can deliver content in a way that’s meaningful to the patient and personalized to their care with EHR integration.
Why MEDITECH and Forward Advantage
Forward Advantage is a long-time partner of MEDITECH with more than 25+ years of healthcare experience. Our deep understanding of the EHR and many integrations made us a logical choice to collaborate on an integrated mobile app platform for our shared customer base. “Our vision is to enable every patient and consumer to be active participants in their care,” says Siobhan Warner, MEDITECH’s patient engagement product manager. We wanted to work with a trusted relationship, a vendor who understood our mission and the need for a positive experience and security of patient data.”
The Takeaway
Healthcare consumers are more technology driven than ever, and they want access to their data in easy to find places. Meeting this demand is essential for attracting and retaining patients in an increasingly competitive landscape which now includes new and powerful players. Many healthcare CIOs are reevaluating their patient engagement initiatives from early in the pandemic. They want to unify disparate features and initiatives for a more seamless experience and use EHR integration to deliver personalized and meaningful content to patients.
Our partnership with MEDITECH on PXMobile reflects a long history of collaboration and the feedback of our joint customers. To learn how it differs from other apps on the market for a competitive advantage, be sure to look for our next post!
In the meantime, more information on PXMobile can be found here or listen to the recent webinar recording.
