Triage And Patient Engagement Technology Solutions Are Failing

Triage and patient engagement are critical for the future of our healthcare system. Healthcare providers are scrambling to address the ever growing problems of increasing healthcare costs, timely care and managing large populations.

The move to providing better, quicker access to care and accompanying technology models solutions are what most care providers see as the solution to problem, but what has been the key downfall to these technology solutions alone have been the absence of live care.

Value-based payment structures and payer-provider incentive arrangements, combined with the continued increase of healthcare consumerism that is empowering individuals and their families, to demand better access to care when and how they need it is forcing healthcare providers of all types to rethink stand alone technology solutions as the only answer.

As individual patients and groups of patient populations are more empowered by personal communication devices like smart phones they are becoming more demanding of a better experience with their care givers. This is the new paradigm all providers must challenge themselves to face and accommodate. Although this task may seem complex there are ways to utilize existing technology and still provide the personal, live care patients need.

What’s Missing In Technology Solutions Alone?

No one along the healthcare continuum has effectively figured out how to engage patients for lasting participation, adherence in clinical programs and live clinical interventions involving licensed nurse triage on the terms that accommodate the patient’s needs.

Because live patient engagement is critical to the future of the evolving healthcare system and how patients are accessing it, live care provided by nurses combined with technology is the answer we need for success.

So what are the fundamental problem? Misplaced confidence in technology, solution fragmentation, patient focus and medical call center solutions are easily the problems that rise to the top.

Solution fragmentation continues to encourage very little integration between the key technology tools and service capabilities we have available today. As these components remain divided, they leave key areas in the continuum of care disconnected. We have the capability today to provide amazing technology solutions designed to engage patients as well as push button capability to speak to live nurse care. This simple integration can give live care access to your patients when and how they need it with technology as the backbone delivery system.

Clinical outreach traditionally focuses on high risk individuals, only at a time when they are at the most highest probability of emergent care. With the use of predictive analytics that can identify those at not only at high risk but those that are a rising risk, when there is a better opportunity for intervention, providers can start to realize a better chance for improved outcomes and greater patient satisfaction. Technology and live nurse care can intervene well before emergent care is needed and represents a better opportunity for real time outreach (both inbound from patients and outbound to patients) when care is needed most.

Traditional medical call centers, medical answering services and non clinical triage services continue to plague the healthcare industry with ineffective service that puts both patient care and their satisfaction at risk, on the premise of cheap monthly fees and high call volume throughput. For most healthcare providers there continues to be heavy reliance on these non effective, cheap services and will continue to do so until the healthcare community can see the value of true, nurse based triage services. This outdated medical call center model will continue to survive as long as cost savings continues to dominate the conversation. True nurse based triage services are utilizing not only traditional call center functions but have now transitioned into true technology enabled services that can be utilized on phone, mobile devices and laptop integrating voice, HIPAA compliant text and video. With this new model comes higher cost to the providers, but with the result being satisfied patients, better outcomes and increased reimbursement the time is now to make the shift to focusing on true, licensed nurse care driven patient engagement.

If you have ever wanted to explore your options for Nurse Triage Services and technology solutions, contact us today to start a conversation.