Value-based healthcare is a model of care delivery that focuses on both patient outcomes and the quality of care delivered. In a value-based healthcare model, doctors and health systems get paid based on patient outcomes rather than for each procedure or patient visit.
By delivering proactive and preventative care, value-based healthcare systems can improve outcomes for their patients. Patients play a significant role in improving their health and wellness. This is especially true for chronic disease patients and other high-risk populations who desire to manage their conditions but may lack the resources or education to effectively do so.
Engaged patients have the potential to generate significantly better outcomes than those who rely on their regular doctor visits to manage their conditions. In order to improve care delivery, providers need to engage their patients while they’re going about their daily lives. Supplying the right tools and knowledge to high risk patients can encourage them to take ownership of their care, which leads to better outcomes. This saves money for both the patient and the health system. And, for value-based healthcare centers, that can mean higher incentives and revenue.
Here’s how you can do it.
Improve the Care Experience From Start to Finish
Patients with a value-based healthcare mindset are taking an active role in getting the care they want and they deserve, so prioritizing the patient experience is a good place to start if you want to engage patients. Patients expect value and quality care and they aren’t afraid to find a new doctor if you aren’t delivering on both of those fronts.
From the moment a new patient walks into the door, you have an opportunity to provide a seamless experience that starts with an easy registration process and continues throughout every interaction with that patient.
Short wait times, online scheduling, and convenient telehealth options are a few ways to stand out from the competition but if that’s out of reach for your practice, start small. Patients want to feel like a person that is uniquely understood and known as an individual at the practice rather than just an appointment slot in an overbooked schedule.
In short, show you care by communicating with them in ways that are relevant and personalized to them. Whether it’s an appointment reminder that addresses them by name or it’s a follow-up note after their appointment to check up on them, a personalized experience will help them feel cared for and engaged in their health.
Stay Connected Outside of the Clinical Setting
Your patients spend more time at work, home, and on the go than they do in your practice. That’s why in a value-based healthcare model, it’s crucial that your patients take more control over their health.
Do you know what your patients are doing in between appointments to manage their health and wellness? Chances are you can easily tell if patients are adhering to their care plans when they’re in your doctor’s office, but it’s not always easy to know if they’re following nutritional instructions or taking prescribed medications when they’re in the comfort of their own home.
Being able to communicate and engage with patients at every step of their journey through the care continuum increases the likelihood that they will improve adherence to care, thereby elevating outcomes and driving value-based healthcare at your practice.
And, the right technology can even help you identify and segment patients based on specific criteria, such as condition, age, or last visit date. Educational resources and message frequency can then be distributed to help improve compliance to care plans and proactively connect patients to the right resources at the right time.
For example, you may elect to target diabetic patients between the ages of 18-75 who have A1c >9.0% during a specified time range. Solutions such as Providertech’s CareCommunity can integrate directly with your EHR to identify and target that patient population and automatically send communication via text and voice, such as:
“Hi Steve, this is SpiritHealth checking on you. Reply 1 if in the last 7 days, you felt like your blood sugar was too high. For example, were you feeling thirsty, frequent urination or having blurry vision?”
This shows your patients that you care about them even when they aren’t in the office, but more importantly, it provides an opportunity for you to intervene if something is wrong before it’s too late—and becomes costly for you and them.
Leverage Automated Technology to Scale Engagement
It’s unreasonable to expect your staff to manually call patients on a regular basis, but automated technology can help you deliver relevant and valuable messages at scale while still maintaining a personal touch.
And by proactively engaging more patients, providers can increase the number of patients who adhere to care plans, track key metrics of their health, and reach out to their doctor when they have questions. Each of these behaviors can help patients improve their outcomes in a value-based healthcare model.
To learn more about how automated technology can help you improve value-based healthcare at your practice, schedule a free demo with an expert today.