The pandemic has cast a harsh light on the unequal distribution of care. Instead of hiding from the reality, leading healthcare organizations like Adventist Health are addressing the problem head-on by adopting technologies and practices that prioritize access to care. Adventist has partnered with GetWell, Kyruus, VisitPay, and Tonic Health for example, to provide consumer-like experiences for patients to help make it easier to engage with them.
Healthcare IT Today recently sat down with Jason Wells, Chief Strategy, Consumer & Innovation Officer at Adventist Health and Michael O’Neil, Founder and CEO at GetWell to discuss consumerism, patient experience and the digital transformation of healthcare.
Out with the Old
“Think of the old days of healthcare, where we did things TO patients,” said Wells. “Just sit tight and we’ll take care of you. I think consumers have different expectations. Consumers finally realized they have power. It’s shifted from patient experience to true consumer experience and they’re more empowered. They’re better informed and they’re expecting a higher level of service.”
Well’s comment is supported by the 2021 Consumer Trends in Healthcare Reprt by Press Ganey. They found that 70.8% of patients rated customer service and 63.4% rated communication more important than bedside manner when it came to a 5-star experience.
“For years the systems were set up to simply take care of sick people,” added O’Neil. “This is evolving so it’s no longer just about taking care of a sick person, but actually, how you wrap your digital, virtual or physical arms around people in your community to really help them navigate their life journeys through the lens of their health, not necessarily their sickness.”
Pandemic has not Derailed Investment in Consumer Experience
Both Wells and O’Neil were emphatic that the pandemic did not derail the effort organizations have put into improving the overall experience. In fact, both believe the pandemic will actually accelerate the push towards more consumer-like conveniences and technologies in healthcare.
“We are already coming out of this [the pandemic] much more consumer focused,” states Wells. “Patients and consumers are asking for things that we must provide and they will gravitate to the health systems that provide those.”
O’Neil echoed that sentiment and provided three key proof points from his company’s recent interactions with customers:
- Real strategic thinking and investment from the highest executive levels in healthcare as well as the frontlines around consumer experience and navigation
- Serious rethinking of patient rooms to meeting patients where they are – at home, in the hallway, in their car, etc.
- Investment in technology and process to reach out to historically underserved populations and communities to help them access care
“Of course what we’re all focused on, and rightfully so, is the toll that this [pandemic] has taken on our workforce in healthcare,” said O’Neil. “It is impossible to overstate. There’s attention on how we actually create experiences, care environments, the kind of tools, processes, people, technology to make sure that we actually stand these incredible healthcare workers up and provide them resilience, not just do our encouragement.”
Leveraging Technology
“Our digital front door was probably a little mouse door,” joked Wells. “Now it’s a doggy door. It’s not the big, huge garage door that I would like it to be, but we’re headed that way.”
Adventist has invested in numerous technologies and partnered with many companies to build out its patient engagement strategy. Much of that investment has been with platforms that provide consumer-like experiences that patients are used to from retail, hospitality, and other industries.
Wells gave examples of four technologies:
- GetWell Anywhere to engage patients in their care journey in their preferred language (English and Spanish for now, with more languages planned)
- Kyruus for sending text messages that patients can tap on to book appointments
- VisitPay for the consumer financial journey
- Tonic Health to allow patients to complete the entire intake process on their phone
Why all these investments? Wells explained it this way: “We must be consumer-focused organizations. We are caring for family and we need to do it in the same way that other industries are doing it. Healthcare cannot be the aircraft carrier that is so slow to turn, or we will be passed by and we will not be a relevant industry anymore.”
Watch the full interview with Jason Wells and Michael O’Neil to learn:
- The aspect of the pandemic reinforced Adventist’s “moral imperative” to improve their patients’ experience
- How improving patient experience makes for more efficient, effective and energy-inducing care
- The efforts being made to engage with underserved populations including engaging Latino moms
Learn more about Adventist: https://www.adventisthealth.org/
Learn more about GetWell: https://www.getwellnetwork.com/
Listen and subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today Interviews Podcast to hear all the latest insights from experts in healthcare IT.
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Transcript
[00:00:08] Colin Hung: Hello and welcome to Healthcare IT Today where we explore the latest healthcare technology trends and discover valuable insights in health IT. I’m Colin Hung and today we’re going to talk about patient experience and consumer experience. Sitting down with me today is Jason Wells, Chief Strategy Officer at Adventist Health. Jason welcome to the program.
[00:00:39] Jason Wells: Good to be here Colin
[00:00:41] Colin Hung: Also joining me today is Michael O’Neil, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Getwell Network. Michael, welcome back to the program.
[00:00:50] Michael O’Neil: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
[00:00:54] Colin Hung: I’m really looking forward to learning from both of you. Let’s start by establishing a baseline for everyone who’s listening and watching. Over the past several years, I think we’ve seen a lot of effort and focus from healthcare on creating better consumer experiences. What does that term mean to you? And why has it become such a focus? Jason, let’s start with you.
[00:01:20] Jason Wells: Great question. Think of the old days of healthcare, where we did things to patients. We are the experts. We know everything. Just sit tight and we’ll take care of you. We’re going to save you and send you on your way. I think consumers have different expectations. And so certainly through the pandemic, it’s accelerated all of our consumer strategies – everything that can be done through this device [holding up smartphone].
[00:01:47] Consumers are used to things being, you know, you can buy a Ford F-150 and have it show up at your house. Tesla taught us that. That you don’t have to go haggle over a car, it will come to you. So we’ve got to figure out how to do healthcare everywhere. It’s what consumers are looking for. That’s the shift where the days hopefully are gone where you book an 11:00 AM clinic appointment, and you’re still sitting there at noon and haven’t gone back and you haven’t walked out and said: “I’m never coming back”. Because consumers finally realized they have power. They’ve done it in other industries and the industries that are thriving are the ones that put the consumer’s needs first and organized around what they’re asking.
[00:02:27] So, yeah, I do think it’s shifted from patient experience to true consumer experience and they’re more empowered. They’re better informed and they’re expecting a higher level of service.
[00:02:38] Colin Hung: So Jason, I can see how this is a good thing for patients, but this consumer focus…is it a good thing for you as a healthcare organization?
[00:02:48] Jason Wells: Absolutely. I think that those of us that can be the top consumer oriented organizations are going to win the trust and support and the lifetime relationships with people who are empowered to make better decisions about who they should partner with for their healthcare.
[00:03:04] Colin Hung: And Michael, what’s your thoughts on this?
[00:03:07] Michael O’Neil: You know, so the difference to me, actually, I think it goes with both the evolution of how health systems and providers deliver care. It actually speaks to the evolving business models and it also speaks to the evolution of GetWell. And I think that, you know, for years, health systems and GetWell and the payment systems were set up to simply take care of sick people and those were patients. I think that all these things are evolving along with technology to whereby it’s not necessarily taking care of a sick person, but actually, how might you wrap your digital, virtual or physical arms around people in your community to really help them navigate. their life journeys through the lens of their health, not necessarily their sickness.
[00:03:55] I know it can be confusing. It actually feels pretty appropriate and natural that this is evolving kind of over time.
[00:04:03] Colin Hung: Now here’s something that I’ve been worried about. Before the pandemic, I really felt that there was a momentum towards improving the patient experience. But then the pandemic hit and healthcare organizations obviously had to focus on taking care of patients, as well as keeping their staff safe. Do you think that patient experience will become a priority again, back to the front burner, so to speak? Or do you think it’s had its moment in the sun?
[00:04:29] Jason Wells: No, no, no. We will jump a decade ahead because the pandemic. I think that we did take a step back. There is no question Colin that when you deny visitors access to their loved one and people are passing in the thousands without family network around them and saying goodbye over iPads. And just the type of stuff that we were forced to do because of this pandemic. Heartbreaking.
[00:04:55] It was heartbreaking for our staff to have to be both the caregiver and the family member at the same time. And just the rules, you know, the no visiting. That is probably the biggest one that was so against our DNA as an organization. Family is a part of this journey and you will never be alone. We asked so much of our staff.
[00:05:15] I do believe that we are going to come out of this. We are already coming out of this much more consumer focused. Patients and consumers are asking for things that we must provide and they will gravitate to the health systems that provide those.
[00:05:32] Michael O’Neil: I guess I would tell you that from our interactions with our partners across the US and even across the world, I think that we’re probably closer to quote unquote, getting back there, then you may think. And I’m not sure it’s getting back there. It’s actually is getting to the next phase of this work.
[00:05:51] Of course what we’re all focused on and rightfully so is the toll that this [pandemic] has taken on our workforce in healthcare. It is impossible to overstate. So there’s attention and rightfully so on how we actually create experiences, care environments, the kind of tools, processes, people, technology to make sure that we actually stand these incredible healthcare workers up. And provide them resilience, not just do our encouragement, but actually through the way that we’re, we’re helping them do their work in a more effective, efficient, and energy inducing way. But part of the answer to that challenge is to get consumer experience and patient experience right.
[00:06:33] Because as we all know, a more active, involved, engaged patient is a better patient. And the care that has to be delivered to that patient actually gets better. And it’s more resilient for our staff, more efficient if these patients are activated in the right way. So again, I think we think about these things as so separate. And I actually believe what one thing the pandemic taught us is: only when you figure out these unexpected collaborations and how they actually work together can we really truly have the quote unquote transformation that all of us has been pushing on for so long in the industry. I think there’s a real opening for that right now. Candidly,
[00:07:12] Colin Hung: Michael, where are you seeing your clients invest in patient experience? Is there a specific area that you’re seeing some movement in?
[00:07:20] Michael O’Neil: I’d say three things on this. The first is what has not slowed is strategically, at the largest, most complicated and most successful organizations, at the executive level, from the CEO to the chief strategy officer, chief digital officer, the chief clinical folks, or whatever the case may be, there is real strategic thinking and investment going on around consumer experience and navigation.
[00:07:44] Like real. At the highest levels. How do we think about this at an enterprise level? How do we figure out what consumer experience navigation means? What are the platforms and tools and partners we need to actually help us accelerate. That’s one thing now that’s at the high level.
[00:07:58] At the ground level, there’s real tactical investment going on, probably not surprisingly on things like patient outreach, retention, loyalty. How do we take our digital arms, reach them out to community, pull these dormant patients or patients you haven’t seen in a year and a half, because they’ve been afraid to come in or they missed their normal vaccines because they’re taking this COVID vaccine or wherever the things are.
[00:08:21] So we’ve been seeing a lot of investment in: “Hey, help us get back in front of the consumers who have been scattered and panicked for 18 to 24 months and allow us to be the trusted resource to help them come back into their health journey in a proactive, positive, wellbeing way. So we’re seeing a bunch of investment there.
[00:08:43] Number two, we are seeing a bunch of investment in how to rethink. People used to talk about smart patient rooms. We think about these things as smart patients spaces because it’s not always the room now. Sometimes they’re in a room, sometimes they’re in a hallway, sometimes they’re in an ED or an urgent care center or back in their car.
[00:09:02] So we are seeing a lot of investment in helping to create smart patient spaces where we actually can have more effective and efficient, sometimes all completely virtual, sometimes hybrid kind of environments.
[00:09:15] The third area we’re seeing investment in…there have been a lot of headlines about how the pandemic impacted both our healthcare workforce and also our underserved populations at disproportionately, terrible ways. We are seeing some really sustained investment on doubling down on: “Hey, how do we figure out how to leverage technology and digital tools to reach out to historically underserved populations and communities and make sure that they’re getting some of this amazing care that the rest of us are getting all the time?” By giving them better access, using digital, being more effective and more personalized and doing that.
[00:09:56] So we’re seeing some really interesting things. And I guess in those three areas.
[00:10:00] Colin Hung: Michael, it warms my heart that there’s real investment being made in addressing health equity, one of my favorite topics to talk about lately, The pandemic really showed us the stark differences in how healthcare really isn’t evenly distributed across the population. Jason, are you looking at this underserved population at Adventist?
[00:10:23] Jason Wells: Absolutely. A lot of our footprint at Adventist Health is in the most underserved parts of California. We saw it firsthand and we have all rallied around the idea that we must do better. When you see groups of people that are horrifically underserved through a pandemic, there is a new moral imperative that this will “never happen again”.
[00:10:50] So finding partners like GetWell Network who are on the forefront of pushing us to be better and connecting with all patients. With our partnership with GetWell we’re very excited about what we’re doing with GetWell Anywhere on the phone in English and in Spanish and pushing for even more languages.
[00:11:12] How do we come to work each and every day, making sure that we’re not leaving anyone behind, especially in the underserved areas of California – where our footprint is. That they have access to the same care. And it’s through a lot of the nudges and the digital communication – that partnership. We are reactivating patients that we haven’t connected with in years.
[00:11:33] They’re getting text messages on their phone, “click here” to schedule an appointment and we have proactively reached out as opposed to being a reactive healthcare organization. And just transactionally connecting with consumers when they come to us and then we send them on their way. So much more proactive, moving to relationships from transactions.
[00:11:52] Colin Hung: Michael, I see you put your hand up. Do you have an example you wanted to share as well?
[00:11:59] Michael O’Neil: You know, it’s amazing. We’re working on a program with CommonSpirit out west and it’s in a population of mothers on Medicaid and we are using a combination of AI driven consumer outreach via SMS with local, but virtual navigators who live in these communities. They know where the local supermarkets are. They understand where the physician’s offices are. So we are seeing an amazing commitment by organizations like CommonSpirit to figure out how to deliver better care in these communities.
[00:12:38] Secondly, we are seeing the efficacy and the engagement rates our Latino moms and African-American moms match all of the other communities that we’re actually serving. And so we’re just seeing som real promise when you do this with thoughtfulness and with the right kind of partnership. We’re just seeing some fantastic outcomes and real exciting work.
[00:12:59] Colin Hung: Jason. What other areas are you investing to improve in the patient and consumer experience?
[00:13:04] Jason Wells: Yeah, I would say in the middle of the pandemic, we’ve come a long way. We have a long way to go. A journey of a thousand miles that starts with a single step. So we’re, we’re maybe 10 steps in, I would say. But we do have online scheduling finally lit up across all of our 300 primary care providers. And we can send a text message out and you can tap on it – Kyruus is our partner on that – and that has gone well. We’re looking to move it into specialty, looking to move into imaging and as many things as possible – putting things right at the fingertips of consumers.
[00:13:34] So our digital front door was probably, a little mouse door. Now it’s a doggy door. It’s not the big, huge garage door that I would like it to be, but we’re headed that way. Different conversations with different partners are coming along well. We want to be just the easy choice and remove all the friction and the uncertainty and the complexity that is healthcare today. So happy where we’re headed. Not happy that we’re not as far as I’d like us to be.
[00:14:02] Colin Hung: Okay. Jason, I have to ask this. What’s the reaction been from staff to all of these new changes and new technologies – like online scheduling and proactive, reaching out to patients. Has it been positive, negative what’s going on there?
[00:14:17] Jason Wells: I would say 80% positive. You still have the people with a patient experience mindset that aren’t really ready for a consumer experience mindset. There’s a small subset of people who believe “this is the way we’ve always done it and patients revolve around our schedule, not the other way around.” So it’s that change management, it’s that navigation, but 80% are like: “I’ve been wanting these tools myself as a patient. I have them with DoorDash. I have them with Amazon. I have them with Uber and GrubHub. Starbucks, my coffee’s waiting for me. I pick it up and keep going, or it comes to me. Why don’t I have these in healthcare?”
[00:14:57] So most everyone gets it. We’re going to get everybody there.
[00:15:02] Colin Hung: Love it. Wow. Jason, let’s keep going with you on this thread. What are some of the investments that you’ll be making over the next 12 months around patient engagement and patient?
[00:15:14] Jason Wells: We know we need a Salesforce-like platform, one of the leading platforms in the industry, we know we need a platform on which to build. Right now we’ve cobbled things together. When you look at our portfolio partners, I’d say there’s probably 15 different companies. It would be great if there was one that could do it all. We’ve made the investment with VisitPay for the consumer financial journey.
[00:15:41] We have the ability to leverage their, their Tonic relationship to come in and have a complete intake experience on your phone, signing your pre-ops, taking a photo of your insurance card, your driver’s license. So you can walk into a clinic and not take the dirty clipboard and look at the piece of papers that are photocopied a little bit crooked and where you can barely read anything.
[00:16:02] And I filled this out yesterday at the clinic down the street. Why am I doing this again? Kind of stuff. So going to a paperless, digital intake experience, great billing experience – that’s a big investment we’ve made. We’ll light that up. At the end of the third quarter, we’re on track for it. That’s a big one.
[00:16:19] But again, it’s a team that’s connecting for a part of the consumer journey. We long for one partner that takes us from “online, interested who we are, chat bot, start that communication” all the way through the intake process, the experience process, the discharge process, and then the managing for well-being for the rest of their life.
[00:16:44] Right now I’ve got so many different voices and trying to make sure we’re talking with the same tone, the same five digit code. The opportunity is huge to have one partner. And if someone steps up in that space, they’re going to do very well.
[00:17:03] Colin Hung: Jason final question for you: what message would you like to send to your peers at other healthcare organizations who maybe aren’t thinking about consumer or patient experience?
[00:17:17] Jason Wells: I can’t imagine there is one, Colin, doing that because we got a lot of smart people in healthcare and with the disruptors that are coming from the Amazons, Forwards and all the other entities out there with billions and billions of dollars of cash to throw at this in R&D. We have to be better.
[00:17:41] We do have that trusted expertise, that deep relationship, the history of being in this space, but healthcare can’t just be consumer. There is a depth and an expertise and a trust that’s earned. So we need to leverage who we’ve been and who we will continue to be. We won’t exist if we don’t better compete with everyone who wants to come in and take the cream off the top.
[00:18:03] And then we’re left to be safety net providers. We’re already 84% government payer and admin to sell. We don’t have the payer mix that pays the bills, like some other health systems, but it fits our mission to not leave anyone behind. So we will continue to lean into that space and do it in a way that is consumer focused – so they have the same rights as people living in San Francisco and LA and some of the big cities in California. Because they deserve that same access to care with the same high touch and high tech.
[00:18:33] So I would just challenge everyone. The time has long come that we must be consumer-focused organizations. Caring for the gallbladder in room 62, those days are gone. We are caring for family and we need to do it in the same way that other industries are doing it. Healthcare cannot be the aircraft carrier that is so slow to turn or we will be passed by and we will not be a relevant industry anymore.
[00:19:05] Colin Hung: Gentlemen, it’s clear that both of you are very passionate about patient experience. You both shared some fantastic stories and perspectives with me today. Thank you both for being on the program.
[00:19:16] Jason Wells: Hey, thanks for having me. I appreciate what you guys are doing to get the word out about great patient care, great consumer care and everything you’re doing at it. It’s awesome.
[00:19:26] Michael O’Neil: It’s such a pleasure to speak with you always Colin and thanks for doing what you do.
[00:19:31] Colin Hung: That’s so nice of you to say Michael. Totally appreciate it.
