Kyruus Blog

Central to most health systems' patient access strategies is some version of "the 3 rights" - right care, right place, right time. These three dimensions are patient and health system focused, addressing both clinical and convenience factors that are important to patients, while also speaking to a health system's cost structure. However they don't sufficiently address factors that are important to the provider. "The 5 rights" builds upon the original three, adding “right patient” and “right preparation” in acknowledgement of the provider's integral role in maximizing the clinical appropriateness of a scheduled appointment.

2018 marked a year of disruption across the healthcare landscape. From the entrance of new players, like Amazon, JPMorgan and Berkshire Hathaway, to the mergers of prominent health systems, like Mercy Health and Bon Secours, organizations across the space were driven by a desire to meet consumer expectations for a more connected, patient-centric experience.

Becoming the Go-To Source of Provider Information

A simple Google search of a provider name will reveal a number of digital health resources competing to share information that will attract patients. These sites cater to easy access to information, creating a snapshot of a provider’s practice so that consumers can quickly compare care options the same way they would a hairdresser or restaurant.

For most health systems, keeping provider directories up-to-date is an ongoing issue: provider networks, and information about providers themselves, change constantly. Our recent white paper looks at some of the key areas where accurate, centralized provider data management can boost the health system’s bottom line (from improving marketing operations to optimizing provider networks). But what about the impact to patients entering the system? Inaccurate, incomplete provider data has the power to negatively impact the patient experience—from inaccurate referrals to access to timely care in a convenient location. This post looks at three patient scenarios where inaccurate provider data has the potential to hurt the patient experience:

With great certainty, we get patients to the right doctors — every time.
– Andi Kolodny, Director, Physician Referral Services at Hospital for Special Surgery

At Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), one of the nation’s leading orthopedic hospitals, providers are grouped into very specialized service lines. When appropriate routing requires such a granular knowledge of providers’ unique expertise, Andi Kolodny’s team in the Physician Referral Services Center rely heavily on rich provider information to help them make quick, informed decisions about which providers a patient should see. By leveraging a centralized provider directory, the HSS team is able to understand each physician’s unique expertise, as well as logistical information to meet patients’ needs (e.g., insurances accepted and provider practice locations), and get patients to the right provider, every time.

In an article, "Healthcare Can Take a Lesson from the Airline Industry, Doctors Say” FierceHealthcare recently covered an opinion piece by Sinsky and Privitera from JAMA which highlights the need to improve the clinical work environment by essentially creating a less cluttered mental landscape for physicians. This isn’t proposing we teach a greater resiliency to putting up with the clutter, but instead addresses the meaningful ways in which we might create better and safer working conditions. 

Health systems have a multitude of “front doors” (i.e., patient access points) and, as today’s care networks continue to evolve in size and scope, linking those points is becoming a growing priority. Recently, Katie Logan, VP of Experience at Piedmont Healthcare and Andy Hare, Associate VP of Access Services at UAB Medicine, joined Healthcare Informatics and Kyruus on a webinar, “Taking a Multi-Channel Approach to Access.” Both Piedmont Healthcare and UAB Medicine are pursuing significant initiatives to transform how patients access their health systems and transition within them.

"You can’t have an e-commerce or online strategy without a catalog, it’s impossible. ...It’s the foundational struts of everything else that you do."
– Aaron Martin, EVP, Chief Digital Officer at Providence St. Joseph Health

We all make dozens of decisions a day, many of which are informed by data. From the recommended products we buy on Amazon to precision cancer treatments, data serves as the foundation to many of the choices we make. However, even when we’re surrounded by data, it isn’t always accessible. Many of today’s patients, for example, are acting more like savvy consumers and are conducting research on providers before booking an appointment.

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.