SOLUTION PROVIDER Q&A
Patient engagement must go beyond the digital front door
How are you specifically helping your customers respond to the
pandemic in this current moment? In January 2020,
Bright.md added corona- virus screening questions to our asynchro- nous care delivery platform already in use by some of the largest healthcare systems in the nation. As other systems experienced an onslaught of patients seeking care for— or reassurance about—COVID-19, we were confident our technology could help. By early March, we rolled out a coronavirus- screening tool free of charge that could be up and running on a hospital’s website in two days or less. To date, more than 220,000 patients have
been screened for COVID-19 using our tech, saving almost 37,000 provider hours— time clinicians have been able to spend on patients who need care most. We added clinical content that allows for
a diagnosis and treatment of reactions to COVID-19 vaccinations. As the nation pro- gresses through this pandemic,
Bright.md continues to evolve our offerings to meet new challenges.
What are some of the technology challenges that patient care organizations are experiencing as they try to better accommodate patients in the emerging world? And how are these issues being
remedied? Healthcare has historically been slow to innovate, but the pandemic proved that we can adopt new tech quickly when neces- sary. One of the biggest technology chal- lenges today isn’t on the provider side; it’s the barriers many patients face. Video visits eliminated geographic hurdles for a lot of patients, but there are millions of others who don’t have a computer at home or a smartphone, lack broadband or wifi access, or don’t speak English as a first language. The onus is on us to offer a variety of digital care tools to ensure those challenges don’t create wider disparities in healthcare.
In which ways do you believe the pandemic has pushed forward
digital front door efforts? As consumers, we have grown accustomed to getting almost everything online: din- ner, rides to the airport, yoga classes. It was inevitable healthcare would eventually fol- low suit. COVID-19 has simply expedited the move in that direction. That said, as patient expectations about
how they access healthcare have changed, we need to do more than simply put services online. Virtual care can and should do more than just substitute an in-person appoint- ment with a video visit. At
Bright.md, we believe digital health tools should make the process of delivering care easier for health systems and clinicians, so that getting it is as easy as possible for patients. Going forward, the vast majority of
patients will begin their healthcare journeys online—at the digital front door. But offering the best possible patient experience is about what happens next: identifying the ailment, delivering the right form of treatment, in the most efficient amount of time.
What have we learned about patient engagement during the pandemic that could be applied to
the future? What was true before the pandemic is even more so now: patients value convenience and ease-of-use over brand—or provider—loy- alty. Especially when everything is virtual, they will opt for what’s easiest and most affordable, even if that means using tools offered by someone other than their usual provider. Patients start their care journey online—and that includes patients across generations. Patients have more options than ever for care outside, including retail clinics and direct-to-consumer apps, and because of the pandemic, more of them have likely experienced care through many modes— like drive-through testing, asynchronous visits, or messaging with their doctors. This means health systems need to innovate to
Ray Costantini CEO and Co-founder
Bright.md
not only meet patient preferences and expec- tations, but also to help navigate them to the right care pathways within their system.
Can you discuss the importance of patient engagement in the context of improving the health status of patients with chronic
illnesses? Patients with chronic illnesses want the same convenience and ease as any other patient. And the pandemic proved that even
chronic care can benefit from digital tools. Gastroenterologists and endocrinologists were some of the heaviest users of tele- health. One pediatric endocrinologist I know personally said her patients are much more open—and much more likely to keep appointments—when it’s a telehealth visit. We’ve seen huge increases in usage in behav- ioral telehealth as well. More patients than ever have access to mental health profession- als, which can be potentially life changing for them.
Sponsored Content
bright.md
MARCH/APRIL 2021 |
hcinnovationgroup.com
35
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
