Technology advisor: road map for increasing hospital market share
September 12, 2016
By Bipin Thomas
New generations of health care consumers want their clinical services to be as easy, reliable and durable as any other aspect of their network-enabled life. They want services on-demand, smart-phone-enabled, reviewed by people they trust and easily replaced in case a superior provider emerges. They are as likely to find the closest 24-hour pharmacy with immunizations and lab tests as they are to call their local hospital for an appointment to obtain these services.
As in the case of banking, these consumers are adamant about convenience and access. The hospitals will need to earn their market share by approaching their “markets” as individuals in a community context, each with specific needs, obstacles and strengths. Only by walking with people — whether through a web-based portal, or by explaining incentives for lifestyle changes, or interacting with them in new care coordination positions — will hospitals demonstrate that they are invested in patients’ health for the long term, and that they are genuine partners with people in wellness.
Millennials have surpassed baby boomers as the nation’s largest living generation, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Millennials, whom we define as those ages 18-34, now number 75.4 million, surpassing the 74.9 million baby boomers (ages 52-70). These consumers see technological ease and multichannel access as indicators of how much an organization understands their needs.
Smooth interfaces, quick response times and modern communication channels can please consumers — and, just as important, their absence can be frustrating to millennials. These facts must permeate any business model for it to achieve profitable growth. The job of the hospital in the new ecosystem is to gain consumers’ mindshare first.
First-year technology road map
Successfully transitioning to consumer-centric health care and wellness requires careful planning and sequencing of the steps necessary to achieve this goal. In this new series, I will be outlining a set of actions and outcomes that should occur over a three-year period. The first year focuses heavily on the shift to consumer-centric processes, including patient engagement outreach. Hospital leadership should focus on the following key areas: implementing an operational dashboard; launching a personalized digital experience for every consumer; building platforms for population health data analytics; and addressing new reimbursement strategies.
Implementing an operational dashboard
It may be surprising, but several major hospitals are still running their operational metrics manually using spreadsheets. Implementing an operational dashboard is therefore the foremost step. These data-driven operational performance metrics have to be focused on each area of operation: clinical; emergency room; pharmacy; etc. This dashboard can be deployed with web-enabled technology for quick access to all stakeholders in the value chain. The areas for performance measurement are the following: publishing provider, network and clinic benchmarks; enabling drill-down and roll-up reporting; creating clinical reports based on national standards; full disease management and case management support over targeted conditions.
Launching a patient portal
A patient portal plays an important role in delivering a 360-degree, personalized experience to every individual. The portal must bring together a collective view of the patient’s health insurance data, health benefits, personal health records and wellness plan. This is also the place where instructional videos mapped to care management pathways can be delivered and patient feedback solicited and gathered. The areas for performance measurement are the following: improving communication between provider and patient; improving patient adherence to managed medical conditions through web-based portal interactions; tracking patients through Meaningful Use; enhancing point-of-care decision support; publicizing and sharing evidence-based medicine treatment guidelines; storing population health reporting and profiles.
Implementing a data analytics framework
In the first year, an organization has to constantly focus on collecting and organizing consumer data from multiple sources. A data analytics framework is essential to obtain key insights for population health management and care management initiatives. Analytics should also help manage quality-of-care and cost-of-care metrics across the board. The areas for performance measurement are the following: prospective reporting on clinical and financial outcomes using predictive modeling tools; population risk assessment for contracting insights; identification of high-risk patients for case management and disease management programs.
About the author: Bipin Thomas is a renowned global thought-leader on consume-rcentric health care transformation. Thomas is a board member of HealthCare Business News magazine and chairman of ICURO, a digital business outcomes management organization where he is redefining personalized care delivery by connecting all stakeholders in the emerging health care ecosystem.
New generations of health care consumers want their clinical services to be as easy, reliable and durable as any other aspect of their network-enabled life. They want services on-demand, smart-phone-enabled, reviewed by people they trust and easily replaced in case a superior provider emerges. They are as likely to find the closest 24-hour pharmacy with immunizations and lab tests as they are to call their local hospital for an appointment to obtain these services.
As in the case of banking, these consumers are adamant about convenience and access. The hospitals will need to earn their market share by approaching their “markets” as individuals in a community context, each with specific needs, obstacles and strengths. Only by walking with people — whether through a web-based portal, or by explaining incentives for lifestyle changes, or interacting with them in new care coordination positions — will hospitals demonstrate that they are invested in patients’ health for the long term, and that they are genuine partners with people in wellness.
Millennials have surpassed baby boomers as the nation’s largest living generation, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Millennials, whom we define as those ages 18-34, now number 75.4 million, surpassing the 74.9 million baby boomers (ages 52-70). These consumers see technological ease and multichannel access as indicators of how much an organization understands their needs.
Smooth interfaces, quick response times and modern communication channels can please consumers — and, just as important, their absence can be frustrating to millennials. These facts must permeate any business model for it to achieve profitable growth. The job of the hospital in the new ecosystem is to gain consumers’ mindshare first.
First-year technology road map
Successfully transitioning to consumer-centric health care and wellness requires careful planning and sequencing of the steps necessary to achieve this goal. In this new series, I will be outlining a set of actions and outcomes that should occur over a three-year period. The first year focuses heavily on the shift to consumer-centric processes, including patient engagement outreach. Hospital leadership should focus on the following key areas: implementing an operational dashboard; launching a personalized digital experience for every consumer; building platforms for population health data analytics; and addressing new reimbursement strategies.
Implementing an operational dashboard
It may be surprising, but several major hospitals are still running their operational metrics manually using spreadsheets. Implementing an operational dashboard is therefore the foremost step. These data-driven operational performance metrics have to be focused on each area of operation: clinical; emergency room; pharmacy; etc. This dashboard can be deployed with web-enabled technology for quick access to all stakeholders in the value chain. The areas for performance measurement are the following: publishing provider, network and clinic benchmarks; enabling drill-down and roll-up reporting; creating clinical reports based on national standards; full disease management and case management support over targeted conditions.
Launching a patient portal
A patient portal plays an important role in delivering a 360-degree, personalized experience to every individual. The portal must bring together a collective view of the patient’s health insurance data, health benefits, personal health records and wellness plan. This is also the place where instructional videos mapped to care management pathways can be delivered and patient feedback solicited and gathered. The areas for performance measurement are the following: improving communication between provider and patient; improving patient adherence to managed medical conditions through web-based portal interactions; tracking patients through Meaningful Use; enhancing point-of-care decision support; publicizing and sharing evidence-based medicine treatment guidelines; storing population health reporting and profiles.
Implementing a data analytics framework
In the first year, an organization has to constantly focus on collecting and organizing consumer data from multiple sources. A data analytics framework is essential to obtain key insights for population health management and care management initiatives. Analytics should also help manage quality-of-care and cost-of-care metrics across the board. The areas for performance measurement are the following: prospective reporting on clinical and financial outcomes using predictive modeling tools; population risk assessment for contracting insights; identification of high-risk patients for case management and disease management programs.
About the author: Bipin Thomas is a renowned global thought-leader on consume-rcentric health care transformation. Thomas is a board member of HealthCare Business News magazine and chairman of ICURO, a digital business outcomes management organization where he is redefining personalized care delivery by connecting all stakeholders in the emerging health care ecosystem.