Transcript of a discussion on how caregiver organizations on-board and manage patient access services and how people, process, and technology combine to improve how those patients perceive their total healthcare experiences.
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Dana Gardner: Hi,
this is Dana Gardner,
Principal Analyst at Interarbor
Solutions, and you’re listening to BriefingsDirect.
Our next healthcare finance insights discussion explores the rapidly changing
ways that caregiver organizations on-board and manage patients.
 |
| Gardner |
How patients
access their healthcare is transitioning to the digital world -- but often
in fits and starts. This key process nonetheless plays a major role in how
patients perceive their overall experiences and determines how well providers
manage both care and finances.
Stay with us now as we unpack
the people, process, and technology elements of modern patient
access best practices. To learn more, we are joined by our expert panel, Jennifer Farmer,
Manager of Patient Access and Admissions at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
in Boston. Welcome, Jennifer.
Jennifer Farmer: Thank
you for having me.
Gardner: Also
with us is Sandra
Beach, Manager of the Central Registration Office, Patient Access, and
Services and Pre-Services at Cooley
Dickinson Healthcare in Northampton, Mass. Welcome, Sandra.
Sandra Beach: Thank
you.
Gardner: We are also here with Julie Gerdeman, CEO of HealthPay24 in Mechanicsburg, Penn. Welcome, Julie.
Julie Gerdeman:
Thanks so much, Dana, I’m excited to be here.
Gardner: Let’s start
with the perspective of how things have changed. Jennifer, for you and your
organization, how has the act of bringing a patient into a healthcare
environment -- into a care situation -- changed in the past five years?
Healthcare at your fingertips
 |
| Farmer |
Farmer: The technology
has exploded and it’s at everyone’s fingertips. So five years ago, patients
would come to us, from referrals, and they would use the old-fashioned way of
calling to schedule an appointment. Today it is much easier for them. They can
simply go online to
schedule their appointments.
They can still do walk-ins as
they did in the past, but it’s much easier access now because we have the ways
and means for the patients to be triaged and given the appropriate information
so they can make an appointment right then and there, versus waiting for their
provider to call to say, “Hey, we can schedule your appointment.” Patients just
have it a lot easier than they did in the past.
Gardner: Is
that due to technology? It seems to me that when I used to go to a healthcare
organization they would be greeting me by handing me a clipboard, but now they are
always sitting at a computer. How has the digital experience changed this?
Farmer: It has
changed it drastically. Patients can now complete their accounts online and so
the person sitting at the desk already has that patient’s information. So the
clipboard is gone. That’s definitely something patients like. We get a lot of
compliments on that.
It’s easier to have everything
submitted to us electronically, whether it’s medical records or health
insurance. It’s also easier for us to communicate with the patient through the electronic health
record (EHR). If they have a question for us or we have a question for them,
the health record is used to go back and forth.
There are not as many phone
calls as there used to be, not as many dropped ends. There is also the advent
of telemedicine these days so doctors can have a discussion or a meeting with
the patient on their cell phones. Technology has definitely changed how medicine
is being distributed as well as improving the patient experience.
Gardner: Sandra,
how important is it to get this right? It seems to me that first impressions
are important. Is that the case with this first interception between a patient
and this larger, complex healthcare organization and even ecosystem?
 |
| Beach |
Beach: Oh,
absolutely. I agree with Jennifer that so many things have changed over the
last five years. It’s a benefit for patients because they can do a lot more
online, they can electronically check-in now, for example, that’s a new
function. That’s going to be coming with [our healthcare application] Epic so that patients can do that all online.
The patient portal experience is
really important too because patients can go in there and communicate with the
providers. It’s really important for our patients as telemedicine has come a
huge distance over the years.
Gardner: Julie,
we know how important getting that digital trail of a patient from the start
can be; the more data the better. How have patient access best practices been helped
or hindered by technology? Are the patients perceiving this as a benefit?
Gerdeman: They
are. There has been a huge improvement in patient experience from technology
and the advent and increase in technology. A patient is also a consumer. We are
all just people and in our daily lives we do more research.
So, for patient access, even
before they book an appointment, either online or on the phone, they pull out
their phones and do a ton of research about the provider institution. That’s
just like folks do for anything personal, such as a local service like a dry
cleaning or a haircut. For anything in your neighborhood or community, you do
the same for your healthcare because you are a consumer.
The same level of consumer support that's expected in our modern daily lives has now come to be expected with our healthcare experiences. Leveraging technology for access is just beginning and will continue to impact healthcare.
The same level of consumer support
that’s expected in our modern daily lives has now come to be expected with our
healthcare experiences. Leveraging technology for access, and as Jennifer and
Sandra mentioned, the actual clinical experience -- via telemedicine and digital
transformation -- is just getting into and will continue to impact healthcare.
Gardner: We
have looked at this through the lens of the experience and initial impressions --
but what about economics? When you do this right, is there a benefit to the
provider organization? Is there a benefit to the patient in terms of getting
all those digital bits and bytes and information in the right place at the
right time? What are the economic implications, Jennifer?
Technology saves time and money
Farmer: They are
two-fold. One, the economic implication for a patient is tht they don’t
necessarily have to take a day off from work or leave work early. They are able
to continue via telemedicine, which can be done through the evening. When providers
offer evening and weekend appointments, that’s to satisfy the patient so they
don’t have to spend as much time trying to rearrange things, get daycare, or
pay for parking.
For the provider organization,
the economic implications are that we can provide services to more patients, even
as we streamline certain services so that it’s all more efficient for the
hospital and the various providers. Their time is just as valuable as anyone
else’s. They also want to reduce the wait times for someone to see a patient.
The advent of using technology
across different avenues of care reduces that wait time for available services.
The doctors and technicians are able to see more patients, which obviously is an
economic positive for the hospital’s bottom line.
Gardner: Sandra,
patients are often not just having one point of intersection, if you will, with
these provider organizations. They probably go to a clinic, then a specialist,
perhaps rehabilitation, and then use pharmaceutical services. How do we make this
more of a common experience for how patients intercept such an ecosystem of
healthcare providers?
Beach: I go
back to the EHRs that Jennifer talked about. With us being in a partner system,
no matter where you go -- you could go to a rehab appointment, a specialist, to
the cancer center in Boston -- all your records are accessible for the
physicians, and for the patients. That’s a huge step in the right direction
because, no matter where the patient goes, you can access the records, at least
within our system.
Gardner: Julie,
to your point that the consumer experience is dictating people’s expectations now,
this digital trail and having that common view of a patient across all these
different parts of the organization is crucial. How far along are we with that?
It seems to me that we are not really fully baked across that digital
experience.
 |
| Gerdeman |
Gerdeman: You’re
right, Dana. I think the partner approach is an amazing exception to the rule
because they are able to see and share data across their own network.
Throughout the rest of the
country, it’s a bit more fractured and splintered. There remains a lot of
friction in accessing records as you move -- even in some cases within the same
healthcare system -- from a clinic or the emergency department
(ED) into the facility or to a specialist.
The challenge is one of
interoperability of data and integration of that data. Hospitals continue to go
through a lot of mergers
and acquisitions, and every acquisition creates a new challenge.
From the consumer perspective,
they want that to be invisible. It should be invisible, the right data should
be on their phones regardless of what the encounter was, what the financial
obligation for the encounter was -- all of it. So that’s the expectation and
what’s still happening. There is a way to go in terms of interoperability and
integration from the healthcare side.
Gardner: We
have addressed the process and the technology, but the third leg on the stool
here is the people. How can the people who interact with patients at the outset
foster a better environment? Has the role and importance of who is at that
initial intercept with the patient been elevated? So much rides on getting the
information up front. Jennifer, what about the people in the role of accessing and
on-boarding patients, what’s changed with them?
Get off to a great start
Farmer: That
is the crux of the difference between a good patient experience and a terrible
patient experience, that first interaction. So folks who are scheduling
appointments and maybe doing registration -- they may be at the information
desk -- they are all the drivers to making sure that that patient starts off
with a great experience.
Most healthcare organizations
are delving into different facets of customer service in order to ensure that
the patient feels great and like they belong when they come into an
organization. Here at Mass. Eye and Ear, we practice something called Eye Care.
Essentially, we think about how you would want yourself and your family members
to be treated, to make sure that we all treat patients who walk in the door
like they are our family members.
When you lead with such a
positive approach it downstreams into that patient’s feelings of, “I am in the
right place. I expect my care to be fantastic. I know that I’m going to receive
great care.” Their positive initial outlook generally reflects the positive
outcome of their overall visit.
Most providers are siloed, with different areas or departments. That means patients would hear, "Oh, sorry, we can't help you. That's not our area." To make it a more inclusive experience, everyone in the organization is a brand ambassador.
This has changed dramatically
even within the past two to three years. Most providers are siloed, with
different areas or departments. That means patients would hear, “Oh, sorry, we
can’t help you. That’s not our area.” To make it a more inclusive experience, everyone
in the organization is a brand ambassador.
We have to make sure that
people understand that, to make it more inclusive for the patient and less
hectic for the patient, no matter where you are within a particular
organization. I’m sure Sandra can speak to this as well. We are all important
to that patient, so if you don’t know the answer, you don’t have to say, “I don’t
know.” You can say, “Let me get someone who can assist you. I’ll find some
information for you.”
It shouldn’t be work for them when
patients walk in the door. They should be treated as a guest, welcomed and
treated as a family member. Three or four years ago, it was definitely the
mindset of, “Not my job.” At other organizations that I visit, I do see more of
a helpful environment, which has changed the patient perception of hospitals as
well.
Beach: I
couldn’t agree more, Jennifer. We have the same thing here as with your Eye Care.
I ask our staff every day, “How would you feel if you were the patient walking
in our door? Are we greeting patients with a nice, warm, friendly smile? Are we
asking, ‘How can I help you today?’ Or, ‘Good morning, what can I do for you
today?’”
We want to keep our patients
within our healthcare system. So it’s really important that we have a really
good patient experience on the front end, because Jennifer is correct, it has a
positive outcome on the back end. If they start off in the very beginning with
a scheduler or a registrar or an ED check-in person, and they are not greeted
in a friendly, warm atmosphere, then typically that’s what sets off their total
visit. That seems to be what they remember. That first interaction is really
what they remember.
Gardner: Julie,
this reflects back on what’s been happening in the consumer world around the
user experience. It seems obvious.
So I’m curious about this
notion of competition between healthcare providers. That might be something new
as well. Why do healthcare provider organizations need to be thinking about
this perception issue? Is it because people could pick up and choose to go
somewhere else? How has competition changed the landscape when it comes to
healthcare?
Competing for consumers’ care
Gerdeman:
Patients have choices. Sandra described that well. Patients, particularly in
metropolitan or suburban areas, have lots of options for primary care,
specialty care, and elective procedures. So healthcare providers are trying to
respond to that.
In the last few years you have
seen not just consumerism from the patient experience, but consumerism in terms
of advertising, marketing, and positioning of healthcare services -- like we
have never seen before. That competition will continue and become even more fierce
over time.
Providers should put the
patient at the center of everything that they do. Just as Jennifer and Sandra
talked about, putting the patient at the heart and then showing empathy from
the very first interaction. The digital interaction needs to show empathy, too.
And there are ways to do that with technology and, of course, the human
interaction when you are in the facility.
Patients don’t want to be
patients most of the time. They want to be humans and live their lives. So, the
technology supporting all of that becomes really crucial. It has to become part
of that experience. It has to arm the patient access team and put the data and
information at their fingertips so they can look away from a computer or a
kiosk and interact with that patient on a different level. It should arm them
to have better, empathic interactions and build trust with the patient, with
the consumer.
Gardner: I
have seen that building competition where I live in New Hampshire. We have had
two different nationally branded critical-care clinics open up -- pop-up like
mushrooms in the spring rain -- in our neighborhood.
Let’s talk about the
experience not just for the patient but for that person who is in the position
of managing the patient access. The technology has extended data across the partner
organization. But still technology is often not integrated in the back end for
the poor people who are jumping between four and five different applications --
often multiple systems -- to on-board patients.
What’s the challenge from the
technology for the health provider organization, Jennifer?
One system, one entry point, it’s Epic
Farmer: That
used to be our issue until we gained the Epic system in 2016. People going into
multiple applications was part of the issue with having a positive patient
experience. Every entry point that someone would go to, they would need to
repeat their name and date of birth. It looked one way in one system and it
looked another way in a different system. That went away with Epic.
Epic is one system, the
registration or the patient access side. It is also the coding side, it’s
billing, it’s medical records, it’s clinical care, medications, it’s
everything.
So for us here at Mass. Eye
and Ear, no matter where you go within the organization, and as Sandra
mentioned earlier, we are part of the same Partners
HealthCare system. You can actually go to any Partners facility and that
person who accesses your account can see everything. From a patient access
standpoint, they can see your address and phone number, your insurance
information, and who you have as an emergency contact.
There isn’t that anger that
patients had been feeling before, because now they are literally giving their
name and date of birth only as a verification point. It does make it a lot
easier for our patients to come through the door, go to different departments
for testing, for their appointment, for whatever reason that they are here, and
not have to show their insurance card 10 times.
If they get a bill in the mail
and they are calling our billing department, they can see the notes that our
financial coordinators, our patient access folks, put on the account when they
were here two or three months ago and help explain why they might have gotten a
bill. That’s also a verification point, because we document everything.
So, a financial coordinator can tell a patient they will get a bill for a co-pay or for co-insurance and then they get that bill, they call our billing team, they say, “I was never told that,” but we have documentation that they were told. So, it’s really one-stop shopping for the folks who are working within Epic. For the patient, nine times out of 10 they just can go from floor to floor, doctor to doctor, and they don’t have to show ID again, because everything is already stored in Epic.
Beach: I
agree because we are on Epic as well. Prior to that, three years ago, it would
be nothing for my registrars to have six, seven systems up at the same time and
have to toggle back and forth. You run a risk by doing that, because you have
so many systems up and you might have different patients in the system, so that
was a real concern.
If a patient came in and didn’t
have an order from the provider, we would have to call their office. The
patient would have to wait. We might call two or three times.
Now we have one system. If the patient doesn't have the order, it's in the computer system. We just have to bring it up, validate it, patient gets checked in, patient has their exam, and there is no wait. It's been a huge win for us and for our patients.
Now, we have one system. If
the patient doesn’t have the order, it’s in the computer system. We just have
to bring it up, validate it, patient gets checked in, patient has their exam, and
there is no wait. It’s been a huge win for us for sure -- and for our patients.
Gardner: Privacy
and compliance regulations play a more important role in the healthcare
industry than perhaps anywhere else. We have to not only be mindful of the
patient experience, but also address these very important technical issues
around compliance and security. How are you able to both accomplish caring for
the patient and addressing these hefty requirements?
It’s healthy to set limits on account access
Farmer: Within
Epic, access is granted by your role. Staff that may be working in admitting or
the ED or anywhere within patient access, but they don’t have access to someone’s
medication list or their orders. However, another role may have access.
Compliance is extremely important.
Access is definitely something that is taken very seriously. We want to make
sure that staff are accessing accounts appropriately and that there are
guardrails built in place to prevent someone from accessing accounts if they
should not be.
For instance, within the
Partners HealthCare system, we do tend to get people of a certain status; we
get politicians, we get celebrities, we get heads of state, public figures that
go to various hospitals, even outside of Partners that are receiving care. So
we have locks on those particular accounts for employees. Their accounts are
locked.
But we do take privacy very
seriously within the system and then outside of the system. We make sure we are
providing a safe space for people to be able to provide us with their
information. It is on the forefront, it drives us, and folks definitely are
aware because it is part of their training.
Beach: You
said it perfectly, Jennifer. Because we do have a lot of people that are high
profile and that do come through our healthcare systems the security, I have to
say, is extremely tight on records. And so it should be. If you are in a record,
and you shouldn’t be there, then there are consequences to that.
Gardner:
Julie, in addition to security and privacy we have also had to deal with a
significant increase in the complexity around finances and payments given how insurers
and the payers work. Now there are more copays, more kinds of deductibles. There
are so many different plans: platinum, gold, silver, bronze.
In order to keep the goal of a
positive patient experience, how are we addressing this new level of complexity
when it comes to the finances and payments? Do they go hand-in-hand, the
patient experience, the access, and the economics?
A clean bill of health for payment
Gerdeman: They
do, and they should, and they will continue to. There will remain complexity in
healthcare. It will improve certainly over time, but with all of the changes we
have seen complexity is a given. It will be there. So how to handle the
complexity, with technology, with efficient process, and with the right people
becomes more and more important.
There are ways to make the
complex simple with the right technology. On the back end, behind that amazing
patient experience -- both the clinical experience and also the financial
experience – we try to shield the patient. At HealthPay24 we are focused on
financial experience and taking all of the data that’s behind there and
presenting it very simply to a patient.
That means one small screen on
the phone -- with different encounters and different back ends – of being able
to present that very simply for our patients to meet their financial obligations.
They are not concerned that the ED had one different electronic medical record
(EMR) than the specialist. That’s really not the concern of the patient, nor should
it be. It’s the concern of how the providers can use technology in the back end
to then make it simple and change that experience.
We talked about loyalty, and that’s
what drives loyalty. You are going to keep coming back to a great experience,
with great care, and ease of use. So for me, that’s all crucial as we go
forward with healthcare – the technology and the role it plays.
Gardner: And
Jennifer and Sandra, how do you see the relationship between the proper on-boarding,
access, and experience and this higher complexity around the economics and
finance? Do you see more of the patient experience addressing the economics?
Farmer: We
have done an overhaul of our system, where it concerns patients, for paying
bills or for not having health insurance. Our financial coordinators are there
to assist our patients, whether by phone, email, in person. There are lots of
different programs we can introduce patients to.
We are certified counselors for
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. That means we are able to help the patient
apply for health insurance through the Health Connector for
Massachusetts as well as for the state Medicaid program called MassHealth. And so we are
here to help those patients go through that process.
We also have an internal
program that can assist patients with paying their bills. We talk to patients
about different credit cards that are available for those that may qualify. And
essentially, the bottom line too is somebody just once again on a payment plan.
So, we take many factors, and we try to make it work as best as we can for the
patient.
At the end of the day, it’s
about that patient receiving care and making sure that they are feeling good
about it. We definitely try to meet their needs and introduce them to different
things. We are here to support them, and at the end of the day it’s again about
their care. If they can’t pay anything right now, but they obviously need
immediate medical services, then we assure them, let’s focus on your care. We
can talk about the back end or we can talk about your bills at a different
point.
We do provide them with
different avenues, and we are pretty proud of that because I like to believe
that we are successful with it and so it helps the patient overall.
Gerdeman: It really
does go to that patients want to meet their obligations, but they need options
to be able to do that. Those options become really important -- whether it’s a
loan program, a payment plan, applying for financial assistance – and technology
can enable all of these things.
For HealthPay24, we enable an eligibility
check right in the platform so you don’t have to worry about others
knowing. You can literally check for eligibility by clicking a button and
entering a few fields to know if you should be talking to financial counseling
at a provider.
You can apply for payment
plans, if the providers opt for that. It will be proactively offered based on
demographic data to a patient through the platform. You can also apply for
loans, for revolving credit, through the platform. Much of what patients want
and need financially is now available and enabled by technology.
Gardner:
Sandra, such unification across the financial, economic, and care giving roles
strikes me as something that’s fairly new.
Beach: Yes,
absolutely it is. We have a program in our ED, for example, that we instituted
a year ago. We offer an ED discharge service so when the patient is discharged,
they stop at our desk and we offer these patients a wide variety of payment
options. Or maybe they are homeless and they are going through a tough time. We
can tell them where they can go to get a free meal or spend the night. There are
a whole bunch of programs available.
That's important because we will never turn a patient away. And when patients come through our ED, they need care. So when they leave, we want to be able to help them as much as we can by supporting them and giving them these options.
That’s important because we
will never turn a patient away. And when patients come through our ED, they
need care. So when they leave, we want to be able to help them as much as we
can by supporting them and giving them these options.
We have also made phone calls
for our patients as well. If they need to get someplace just to spend the
night, we will call and we will make that arrangement for those patients. So
when they leave, they know they have a place to go. That’s really important
because people go through hard times.
Gardner:
Sandra, do you have any other examples of processes or approaches to people and
technology that you have put in place recently? What have been some of the
outcomes?
Check-in at home, spend less time waiting
Beach: Well,
the ED discharge service has made a huge impact. We saw probably 7,000-8,000
patients through that desk over the last year. We really have helped a lot of
patients. But we are also there just to lend an ear. Maybe they have questions
about what the doctor just said to them, but they really weren’t sure what he
said. So it’s just made a huge impact for our patients here.
Gardner:
Jennifer, same question, any processes you have put in place, examples of
things that have worked and what are the metrics of success?
Farmer: We
just rolled out e-check-in. So I don’t have any metrics on it just yet, but
this is a process where the patient can go to their MyChart or their EHR
and check in for an appointment prior to the day. They can also pay their
copay. They can provide us with updates to their insurance information, address
or phone number, so when they actually come to their appointment, they are not
stopping at the desk to sign in or do check in.
That seems to be a popular
option for the office visitor currently piloting this, and we are hoping for a
big success. It will be rolled out to other entities, but right now that is
something that we are working on. It’s tying in the technology, the patient
care, for the patient access. It’s tying in the ease of the check-in with that
patient. And so again, we are hoping that we have some really positive metrics
on that.
Gardner: What
sort of timeframe are we talking about here in terms of start to finish from
getting that patient into their care?
Farmer: So if
they are walking in the door because they have already done e-check-in, they
are immediately going in for their appointment, because they are showing up on
time, they are expected, they are going right in, so the time that the patient
is sitting there waiting in line, sitting in the waiting area, that’s being
reduced; the time that they have to talk to someone about any changes or
confirming everything that we have on their account, that time is being
reduced.
And then we are hoping to test
this in a pilot program for the next month to six weeks to see what kind of
data we can get and hopefully that will -- just across the board, just help
with that check in process for patients and reduce that time for the folks who
are at the desk and they can focus on other tasks as well. So we are giving
them back their time.
Gardner:
Julie, this strikes me in the parlance of other industries as just-in-time
healthcare, and it’s a good move. I know you deal with a national group of
providers and payers. Any examples, Julie, that demonstrate and illustrate the
positive direction we are going with patient access and why technology is an
important part of that?
Just-in-time and beyond, for future wellness
Gerdeman: I
refer to Christopher
Penn's model of People, Process, and Technology here, Dana, because when
people touch process, there is scale, and when process and technology
intersect, there is automation. But most importantly, when people intersect
with technology, there is innovation, and what we are seeing is not just
incremental innovation -- but huge leaps in innovation.
What Jen just described as
that experience of just-in-time healthcare, that is literally a huge need,
that’s a leap, right? We have come to expect it when we reserve a table via OpenTable, when we e-check-in for a hair
appointment. I go back to that consumer experience, but that innovation, right,
that’s happening all across healthcare.
So where predictive analytics
is going in healthcare and tying that to the patient experience and to the financial
systems, I think will become more and more important. And that leads to even
more -- there is so much emerging technology on the clinical side and we will
continue to see more emerging technology on the back-end systems and the
financial side as well.
Gardner: Before
we close out, perhaps a look to the future, and maybe even a wish list.
Jennifer, if you had a wish list for how this will improve in the next few
years, what’s missing, what’s yet to come, what would you like to see available
with people, process, and technology?
Farmer: I go
back to just patient care, and while we are in a very good spot right now, it
can always improve. We need more providers, we need more technicians, we need
more patient access folks, and the sense of being able to take care of people
because the population is growing and whether you know it or not, you are going
to need a doctor at some point.
So I think continuing on the
path that we are on of providing excellent customer service, listening to
patients, being empathetic. Also providing them with options; different
appointment times, different finance options, different providers, it can only
get better.
Beach: I absolutely
agree. We have a really good computer system, we have the EMRs, but I would
have to agree with Jennifer as well that we really need more providers. We need
more nurses to take care of our patients.
Gardner: So it
comes down to human resources. How about those front-line people who are doing
the patient access intercept? Should they have an elevated status, role, and
elevated pay schedule?
Farmer: It’s
really tough for the patient access people because on the front line -- every
minute of every day, eight to 10 hours a day -- they are working on that front
line, so sometimes that’s tough.
It’s really important that we
keep training with them. We give them options of going to customer service
classes, because their role has changed from basically checking in a patient to
now making sure if their insurance is correct. We have so many different
insurance plans these days. To know each of those elevates that registrar to be
almost an expert in that field in order to be able to help the patient and get
them through that registration process, and the bottom line -- to get
reimbursed for those services. So it’s really come a long way.
Gardner:
Julie, on this future perspective, what do you think will be coming down the
pike for provider organizations like Jennifer and Sandra’s in terms of
technology and process efficiency? How will the technology become even more
beneficial?
Gerdeman: It’s
going to be a big balancing act. What I mean by that is we are now officially
more of an older country than a younger country in terms of age. People are
living longer, they need more care than ever before, and we need the systems to
be able to support that. So, everything that was just described is critical to
support our aging population.
We have a whole other generation entering into healthcare as patients, as providers, and as technologists. This new generation has a completely different expectation of what that experience should and will be.
But what I mean by the
balancing act is we have a whole other generation entering into healthcare as
patients, as providers, and as technologists. This new generation has a
completely different expectation of what that experience should and will be. They
might have an expectation that their wearable device should give all of that
data to a provider. That they wouldn’t need to explain it, that it should all
be there all day, not just that they walk in and have just-in-time, but all the
health data is communicated ahead of time, before they are walking in and then having
a meaningful conversation about what to do.
This new generation is going
to shift us to wellness care, not just care when we are sick or injured. I
think that’s all changing. We are starting to see the beginnings of that focus
on wellness. And wearables and devices, and how they are used, the providers
are going to have to juggle that with the aging population and traditional
services -- as well as the new. Technology is going to be a key, core part of
that going forward.
Gardner: I’m
afraid we’ll have to leave it there. You have been listening to a sponsored
BriefingsDirect healthcare finance insights discussion on the rapidly changing
ways that caregiver organizations are on-boarding and managing patient access.
And we have learned how
patient access best practices in the digital age require an adept interplay
between people, process, and technology.
So please join me in thanking
our guests, Jennifer Farmer, Manager of Patient Access and Admissions at
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. Thank you so much, Jennifer.
Farmer: Thank
you very much for having me.
Gardner: And thank you also to Sandra Beach, Manager of Central Registration Office, Patient Access and Services and Pre-Services at Cooley Dickinson Healthcare in Northampton, Mass. Thank you so much, Sandra.
Beach: Thank
you for the opportunity.
Gardner: And thank
you so much to Julie Gerdeman, CEO of HealthPay24 in Mechanicsburg, Penn.
Gerdeman:
Thanks so much, Dana.
Gardner: And a
big thank you to our audience as well for joining this HealthPay24-sponsored
healthcare thought leadership discussion. I’m Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst
at Interarbor Solutions, your host and moderator. Thanks again for listening,
and do come back next time.
Listen to the podcast. Find it on iTunes. Download the transcript. Sponsor: HealthPay24.
Transcript
of a discussion on how caregiver organizations
on-board and manage patient access services and how people, process, and
technology combine to improve how those patients perceive their total
healthcare experiences. Copyright Interarbor Solutions, LLC, 2005-2020. All
rights reserved.
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