Kyruus Blog

With consumers increasingly turning to the web to search for care, enhancing their digital presence is a key priority for many health systems. This was particularly important for newly-formed Prisma Health (formerly Greenville Health System and Palmetto Health), who, though not new to healthcare, was a new brand to consumers. On our recent webinar, “Putting Providers at the Forefront of Access,” Prisma Chief Digital Officer, Dr. Nick Patel, spoke with Kyruus CEO and Co-Founder, Dr. Graham Gardner, about their initiative to transform patient access online and how they engaged providers in the process.

The Annual Thought Leadership on Access Symposium (ATLAS) is just around the corner! The sixth annual ATLAS will be held in Boston from September 23 - 24. To kick off our event, we are thrilled to host Dr. Toby Cosgrove, former President & CEO to Cleveland Clinic and current advisor to Google, Health Cloud and Life Sciences. 

It is becoming increasingly clear: patients want better access to care and more convenient options. Even though healthcare has traditionally been far behind digital advancements, especially compared to the retail and service industries, health systems are waking up. However, while the majority of their efforts have been focused on the consumer and meeting their expectations, for organizations to truly differentiate their digital front door, they must listen to the voice of their providers and engage them in the process.

More than 2/3 of consumers would choose a provider based on the ability to book appointments online.¹ To meet this growing demand, health systems are searching for ways to offer patients the same level of convenience and choice they’ve grown accustomed to when booking appointments online in other industries.

The countdown to the Annual Thought Leadership on Access Symposium (ATLAS) is on! Now into its sixth year, ATLAS will be held in Boston from September 23 - 24. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Expanding Boundaries. Removing Barriers.’ and health system leaders will come together to share best practices and explore ways to innovate and expand patient access enterprise-wide. 

We kept attendees top-of-mind while designing this year’s program. The schedule is meant to spark discussions around new ways to engage patients and modernize the patient experience.

In a recent study, over 2/3 of patients reported that they are more likely to choose providers who offer the ability to book appointments online.¹ And while health systems recognize this demand and see the clear benefits to offering online scheduling, developing an effective strategy is easier said than done. In fact, on our recent webinar, Katie Logan, VP of Experience at Piedmont Healthcare, acknowledged that their first run at implementing online scheduling didn’t produce the results they had wanted. Achieving the positive impact–on their business and their patients–they’ve seen with online scheduling today required Piedmont to take a new approach, one that put the patient and their journey at the center.

Watch the Piedmont Booking Experience Yourself

As technology becomes increasingly involved in all aspects of our lives, today’s patients are looking to interact with health systems in new ways, whether it’s communicating with a provider via video or booking their next appointment online. And while ⅔ of patients are more likely to choose a provider with online scheduling, according to a recent study, few organizations offer the modern digital capabilities patients have come to expect from their healthcare experience.¹

Last week, members of our team attended the Becker’s Annual Meeting in Chicago and had the opportunity to hear from health system executives and other industry leaders about the challenges they face and the opportunities they see around the evolving healthcare landscape. Across sessions, discussions focused on the ways in which health systems are rethinking patient engagement strategies and innovating to better meet the needs of today’s healthcare consumers. In particular, the following emerged as key themes:

As health systems pursue strategic initiatives around improving patient experience and expanding access, capturing the right metrics is critical to ensuring their goals are met. Historically, health system access centers have used "call time" data to measure their efficiency and value, attempting to keep patient calls short in order to handle a higher volume of calls. And while this metric may make sense for other consumer industries, a call time KPI is no longer the most important metric to track for health systems. Why? With market competition rising and consumers prioritizing experience, access centers should instead measure how easy it is for a patient to get to the right provider at the right time.

As the first point of contact for many consumers searching for care, your access center and your agents are essential ambassadors of your brand. And in an era where patient loyalty is up for grabs, delivering personalized service over the phone can transform a single call into a lifelong relationship with your health system. On our recent webinar, Dave Kriesand, Vice President of Banner Health’s Customer Experience Center, shared how they’re differentiating their access experience by making it easier for patients to find care that meets their unique needs.