Kyruus Blog

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:

The Clinical Summit is a new addition to the ATLAS program this year! Tell us more about it:

I am so pleased and excited to have the inaugural Clinical Summit precede ATLAS this year. The Summit has been designed as a forum to discuss some of the broader issues and necessary associated change management initiatives being navigated by clinical leaders in today’s healthcare landscape. It’s also a great opportunity for attendees to learn from one another, exchange ideas, and come away with both strategic and tactical insights that can be applied at their own organizations. We’ll hear from a variety of experts, from organizations both large and small, and learn from their experiences about what has worked, what hasn’t, and how they are continuing to drive towards success at their institutions.

Taking a look back at our most popular content pieces from 2017, one thing is clear—health system leaders are focusing on enhancing patient access and providing a consistent enterprise-wide patient experience. Health systems are evaluating their current patient access models to determine if they’re meeting patients’ preferences to schedule appointments in an efficient manner and they’re staying ahead of the latest healthcare consumer trends–online and offline–to establish priorities for the coming years.

Throughout the year we have posted blogs from subject matter experts sharing their expertise in patient experience and access. A common theme of our 2017 top viewed blog posts is understanding the patient journey of care. As the posts suggest, health systems must adapt to the evolving way in which patients are now obtaining information about their care and the providers they are choosing to receive that care from. Patients are behaving increasingly like consumers of healthcare and as such, health systems must adjust their strategies to align with this shift.

“Patient access” is a health system’s ability to ensure that patients can obtain care from the right provider who can address their clinical needs while also meeting important logistical requirements and personal preferences. Patient access challenges can stem from difficulties in scheduling, a poorly designed website, and an inability to route patients to providers effectively – among other things. Read on to learn five red flags that indicate your patients may be struggling to access timely and effective care.

Finding the right match between consumers and providers is a key part to establishing a long-term relationship between patients and healthcare providers. Health systems are well-equipped to facilitate the relationship and consumers recognize their critical role in this.

Healthcare consumers are becoming savvy shoppers. Our research conducted in the summer of 2017 shows that while many consumers still prefer traditional methods for finding providers (such as referrals from healthcare providers), most are performing some level of due diligence before booking appointments—and they're going online to do their research. Learn more about how consumers access healthcare providers in the 2017 Patient Access Journey Report.

At a recent ReDev Boston presentation, Kyruus co-founder, Julie Yoo, presented on the patient access problem facing patients across America. Many audience members expressed shock at the statistics around how difficult it is for patients to receive care throughout the US, stating that they had no idea it was “that bad.”

In a previous blog post, we looked at how outdated provider directories can negatively impact patient access. This post explores the importance of effective provider data management and accurate provider directories in streamlining key operational processes across a health system.

In 2015, Mercy Health (Cincinnati, OH) and Summa Health (Akron, OH) formed one of the largest clinically integrated networks (CINs) in Ohio, Advanced Health Select, to enhance chronic care management and lower the total cost of care for patients in Ohio and Kentucky. Their respective ACOs were the first networks to join the CIN, linking 2,800 providers. The CIN has since expanded to include closer to 3,500 providers. We were pleased to host two leaders from these health systems on a recent webinar: J.D. Whitlock, VP of Enterprise Intelligence at Mercy Health and Ellen Smith, VP of Business Development & Access at Summa Health. Here were some of the top takeaways: