Introduction
Healthcare organizations across the globe are rapidly transitioning to patient-centric models enabled with powerful digital technologies. Historical approaches to care delivery were more transactional, consisting of episodic engagements, limited visibility into patient activities between visits, and limited lines of communication.
Patient engagement technology is empowering care providers to interact with patients throughout the care journey, not just during service delivery. Digital patient engagement solutions are strengthening provider-patient relationships throughout the entire care lifecycle by allowing organizations to deliver more data-driven, personalized care.
Why Does Patient Engagement Matter?
Patient engagement solutions allow care organizations to boost treatment adherence and care coordination, and to provide exceptional, personalized experiences that lead to improved clinical outcomes.
Connected patients are more likely to take their medications as prescribed, keep follow-up appointments, and engage in healthy behaviors. As a result, healthcare organizations see lower readmission rates and fewer no-shows.
As more providers transition from fee-for-service to value-based reimbursement, digital patient engagement solutions will become critical for driving not only patient experience but also business outcomes.
What is Patient Engagement Technology?
Patient engagement technology encompasses digital tools and solutions that connect with patients throughout their care journey. By providing meaningful, value-added interactions, patient engagement platforms keep patients informed with important insights, personalized communications, and real-time support.
Types of digital patient engagement include:
- Patient portals and access to medical records
- Mobile health apps
- Telehealth solutions
- Wearables
- Remote monitoring
- Artificial intelligence-powered personalization, predictive insights, and more
Simply put, patient engagement technology refers to the use of digital solutions to facilitate continuous patient involvement by providing two-way communication, data access, support, and self-service healthcare tools that encourage overall well-being. Patient engagement solutions focus on cultivating continuous relationships with patients beyond appointments and treatment.
Why Does Patient Engagement Matter for Adherence and Outcomes?
One of the largest hurdles the healthcare industry faces is ensuring patients are adhering to their treatment plans. Whether it’s remembering to take medications, sticking to a nutrition plan, or managing a chronic condition day to day, patients need continued support to achieve the best results.
Technology-driven patient engagement bridges these gaps by providing patients with around-the-clock guidance. Benefits of patient engagement for care organizations include:
- Better adherence to treatment plans
- Better patient education
- Earlier risk identification
- Fewer emergency room visits and readmissions
- Higher patient satisfaction
When patients understand their conditions and feel supported by their healthcare providers, they do a better job of following care plans and adopting healthy habits. Engaged patients lead to better outcomes and greater efficiency for healthcare providers.
The Evolution from Traditional Patient Engagement to Digital Patient Engagement
In the past, patient engagement relied on face-to-face interactions. However, this left ample room for communication breakdowns and limited patient visibility between appointments.
Today’s digital patient engagement platforms allow providers to optimize the entire care journey from initial consultation to post-care follow-ups. These technologies help providers:
- Connect with patients across omnichannel communication preferences
- Monitor patients’ health in real-time and take proactive measures
- Integrate data systems for more personalized care
- Automate manual workflows to focus on what matters
Digital patient engagement solutions enable providers to strengthen the continuum of care by fostering stronger relationships with their patients, leading to greater loyalty.
Core Technologies That Power Digital Patient Engagement
A look at the technologies that are making digital patient care more engaging and fruitful:
Mobile Health Apps and Patient Portals
Mobile applications and patient portals give patients a central hub for accessing their healthcare information. Whether it’s checking lab results, booking appointments, sending secure messages to their care team, or viewing health records, patients can do it all in one place. Mobile apps and patient portals allow for:
- Convenience
- Better patient-provider communication
- Patient empowerment
Many patient portal providers also offer patient education and digital communication capabilities.
Remote Patient Monitoring and Wearables
Remote patient monitoring solutions enable continuous care and monitoring of patient health outside the traditional healthcare setting. This can include monitoring:
- Heart rate
- Blood sugar levels
- Physical activity
- Weight
- Blood pressure
Remote monitoring also allows providers to identify when patients are at risk of missing doses or when their health is trending in the wrong direction. Care teams can then proactively reach out to patients to provide support and prevent poor health outcomes.
Artificial Intelligence
AI is transforming patient engagement technology by automating patient outreach, personalizing care recommendations, and identifying risk. Using AI to support patient engagement enables providers to:
- Deliver hyper-personalized care plans
- Predict which patients are at-risk
- Automate communication workflows
With Hexaware’s AI-first strategy, we’ve helped healthcare clients accelerate their digital transformation initiatives by building intelligence into everything we do, from enhancing operational workflows to transforming decision-making processes.
Patient Support Programs and Patient Journey Automation
Patient support programs can include onboarding automation, adherence support, patient education, and ongoing patient engagement. By automating communication workflows, care organizations can better retain patients at every stage of treatment. Automated workflows also allow for proactive patient interventions.
Enhancing Patient Adherence with Patient Engagement Technology
Many patients struggle with following their treatment plans due to:
- Complex medication schedules
- Not fully understanding their condition
- Lack of day-to-day support
- Behavioral challenges
Digital patient engagement addresses these common challenges by:
- Sending personalized reminders and alerts
- Implementing digital health gamification strategies
- Providing patient education that’s tailored to everyone
- Opening two-way channels for communication
For instance, digital medicine solutions provide clinicians and patients with real-time adherence data. Patients who receive reminders when needed are more likely to follow their prescribed treatment plans.
Better Patient Experience with Patient Engagement Platforms
Patient experience is quickly becoming a driving factor in clinical outcomes. Patient engagement solutions can help healthcare providers improve the patient experience by:
- Eliminating friction caused by manual processes
- Giving patients transparent visibility into their care
- Providing self-service options
- Offering 24/7 personalized support
Discover how Hexaware’s healthcare provider solutions are helping our customers reinvent the patient experience with digital technologies like automation and analytics. Patients who have a better healthcare experience are more likely to leave positive reviews and stay loyal to their healthcare providers.
Digital Patient Engagement’s Role in Value-Based Care
The healthcare industry is undergoing a massive shift from fee-for-service care delivery to value-based care. Value-based care is about keeping patients healthy rather than providing services.
Patient engagement technology allows care providers to:
- Monitor patients continuously so they can take preventive measures
- Reduce non-essential hospital visits
- Better coordinate care between care providers
- Clearly identify outcome-driven data
Since implementing AI-powered digital transformations and patient engagement strategies, many healthcare providers have seen their patient satisfaction scores soar while operating costs have drastically reduced. Patient engagement is the cornerstone of value-based care reimbursement.
Integrating Patient Engagement Technology into Healthcare Workflows
To maximize the benefits of patient engagement technology, it’s important to integrate these tools into your clinical workflows. Here are a few tips to consider when implementing patient engagement technologies:
- Connect your patient engagement tools to your EHR system
- Automate manual administrative tasks
- Provide patients and care teams with user-friendly experiences
- Make sure your technology solutions are interoperable
Healthcare digital transformation should always consider both technology and process improvements.
Patient Engagement Technology Use Cases
Now that we’ve gone over the basics of patient engagement technology, let’s review some common use cases.
Managing Chronic Conditions
Monitoring patients with chronic conditions can be difficult, but continuous patient engagement and remote monitoring can make a world of difference. Some chronic conditions that can greatly benefit from remote patient monitoring include:
- Diabetes
- Hypertension
- Heart disease
- Chronic pain
Monitoring patients after discharge is another way healthcare providers use patient engagement technology. By following up with patients after they’ve left the hospital, providers can ensure patients understand their medication instructions and recovery guidelines.
Clinical Trial Engagement and Patient Research
Patient engagement technology also improves clinical trial recruitment, retention, and adherence. Many patients are more likely to participate in clinical trials if they can do so remotely.
Another popular use of patient engagement technology is in patient support programs. Digital patient engagement allows pharmaceutical companies to better onboard patients, ensure adherence to prescribed therapies, and retain patients for the long term.
Data, Security, and Compliance Considerations
Patient engagement technology involves storing sensitive patient data. As a result, several security and compliance considerations should be taken into account when selecting a patient engagement solution. Four main considerations include:
- Data encryption
- Role-based access and authorization
- Consent management
- Compliance auditing and reporting
Like any other technology that stores patient data, healthcare providers need to understand how their technology vendors will protect patient data.
Challenges When Implementing Patient Engagement Technology
While patient engagement offers many benefits, you may encounter adoption challenges when implementing new technologies. These can include:
- Integrating new technology with legacy systems
- Ensuring patients know how to use digital technologies (digital health literacy)
- Getting clinicians’ buy-in to use digital tools
- Integrating technology with existing workflows
These challenges can be mitigated by establishing a change management plan, providing training, and ensuring you use technology that can scale with your organization.
The Future of Patient Engagement Technology
The future of patient engagement will be powered by:
- Generative AI-based chatbots
- Personalization based on patient behavior
- Voice-enabled and wearable-connected healthcare
- Decentralized care and virtual health
Digital patient engagement is here to stay. As technology advancements continue to shape the future of healthcare, patients will expect healthcare providers to adopt new technologies that provide frictionless, digital experiences.
Conclusion
Patient engagement technology is here, and healthcare leaders are leveraging it to improve patient adherence, healthcare outcomes, and deliver personalized patient experiences. If you’re looking to incorporate patient engagement technology into your healthcare organization, consider how you can use technology to enable continuous communication with your patients.
Additionally, consider how you can provide patients with access to relevant data, support them between appointments, and empower them to take control of their health. Interested in learning how healthcare leaders are using patient engagement technology? Book a demo with one of our healthcare leads today.
