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Help care managers get better results with patient engagement

As healthcare continues to shift towards a patient-centric care model focused on delivering value, providers realize that one of the key steps to success in this new approach lies with effective patient engagement. Yet, in a recent study, 34% of patients had difficulty matching their treatment goals with their physician, and 36% struggled to spend sufficient time with them. This challenge is a two-way street: providers must find new ways to engage their patients, and patients must be empowered to take a greater role in their healthcare management.

To explore this idea further, consider a hypothetical example. Julia Silva is your everyday person dealing with hypertension. She has made many visits to her provider, Dr. Rolanda, to help manage her health, but the frequent visits take up a lot of time and haven’t resulted in significant change. In an effort to enhance their patient experience, Dr. Rolanda’s clinic has decided to use a new patient engagement solution. Let’s explore how this solution empowers Julia to take more control of her health and streamlines Dr. Rolanda’s team’s ability to positively influence Julia’s health outcomes.

Monitor and improve patient care plan adherence with notifications and real-time insights

As a social media marketer, Julia is caught up in the fast-paced environment of her job. Her blood pressure readings are consistently high—partly because she forgets to take her medication on time, which contributes to elevated levels. When discussing her treatment, Dr. Rolanda emphasizes the importance of adhering to the care plan to take better control of her health, but Julia still struggles to keep up with the daily requirements. Dr. Rolanda’s care manager, Susie, decides to send Julia medication reminders using the new patient engagement solution.

 

Running between back-to-back client meetings, Julia receives a notification from her mobile app to take her medication. She stops in the hallway to take her blood pressure medicine and marks the task as complete. With that out of the way, she heads into her next meeting, while the patient engagement solution notes the completed task for Susie’s review.

After her last meeting of the day, feeling fatigued and suffering from a headache, Julia grabs her blood pressure cuff from her bag and takes a reading. The results are automatically captured in her app, and Susie immediately gets an alert that Julia’s blood pressure is elevated. She is surprised to see that it is still so high, despite Julia taking her medication on time. Since Julia’s blood pressure isn’t improving as it should, they ask her to come in for a visit to reevaluate her current plan.

Build a stronger patient-provider relationship with secure messaging and tailored education

In their onsite visit, Dr. Rolanda asks Julia about her diet. Julia admits that due to her hectic schedule, she eats fast food at some meals and doesn’t exercise as regularly as she should. Dr. Rolanda stresses that better eating habits and regular exercise are crucial to improving Julia’s hypertension. Together with Susie, they create a plan: Julia will prepare meals for the week on Sunday and exercise for at least 20 minutes, three days a week. 

To help Julia stay on track, Susie reviews her progress and sends her secure messages of encouragement through the patient engagement system. Julia responds and asks questions as she sees changes in her readings. To support her continued education, Julia watches curated videos in the app and reads content to teach her about successfully managing her condition. She also receives notifications that remind her to exercise and prepare her meals, which she tracks in the app when complete.

At Julia’s follow-up appointment, both she and Dr. Rolanda are pleased to see that Julia’s numbers have improved significantly. Julia has found it much easier to maintain her care plan using the app. She also feels more connected to Dr. Rolanda and Susie and believes they’ve been able to build trust through their interactions. Dr. Rolanda is happy that Julia is taking a more active role in her health, and thinks that the new system has helped her engage in a more meaningful way that will have a greater impact on Julia over time.

Ellie Patient Engagement and Care Management from Get Real Health helps patients and healthcare providers collaborate on an integrated digital platform that provides a complete view of a patient’s treatment plan. By equipping patients and providers with tools to track plan progress, as well as monitor patient health data and adherence remotely, the solution integrates with existing healthcare systems to save time and improve care effectiveness. Ellie Patient Engagement and Care Management is offered as part of Personalized Care, a suite of Microsoft and partner health solutions. To learn more about Ellie Patient Engagement and Care Management, visit the AppSource page.