The pandemic has inarguably sparked massive demand for telehealth. More than 40% of Americans have seen a healthcare provider virtually, according to data from Publicis Sapient’s Digital Life Index. And this trend is here to stay; 76% of Americans indicated that they plan to use telehealth either more or at the same rate, even after the pandemic subsides.
It’s not the virtual visit itself that is revolutionary, but rather what it has led to. Consumers increasingly expect healthcare to be convenient and highly responsive, and health information and services be readily available and personalized, enabling a seamless experience even when seeing a new caregiver. Essentially, patients expect many aspects of digital health to work like the quick transactions they are used to from the rise of online banking and online shopping.
However, healthcare revolves around relationships in a way not seen in banking or shopping. Prioritizing convenience while also maintaining valuable relationships between patients and healthcare teams is at the heart of the digital transformation of healthcare, and will help convert the trend of virtual care into something altogether more sophisticated: “distributed care,” where everything can be done digitally — and much of it at home.
The truth is, patients have been telling us what they want from digital health experiences for many years – Make it simple, know who I am, be intelligent, and connect the dots. You can see how these four elements need improved experiences in the transactional engagements, and from there, reflect and re-create important healthcare relationships. It also requires data and AI to focus and drive digital health experiences.
Here is what the industry needs to do to make that happen.
Use data to create and maintain relationships
The use of data and digital clinical (and non-clinical) histories can create stronger relationships with patients because they will feel that care providers understand them, and that all parties providing their care are aligned. Digitally-documented interactions with healthcare providers mean that follow-up visits, even with a different doctor, do not require patients to repeat information from the first visit. If done well, it doesn’t matter who patients see — online or in-person — as long as all the care providers have the patient’s medical information. This is fundamental to the group practice model of care that people have come to expect, that different care providers, in different roles, deliver care as one team, with the patient at the heart.
Care providers must also embrace AI, including machine learning, to help medical professionals gain quick insights from data, which they can use when communicating with and treating patients. AI is fundamental to creating more personalized digital experiences. Take the relatively simple example of personalized information delivery, an area in which other industries have harnessed sophisticated algorithms with great effect; but in healthcare patients treatment information is rarely personalized, time sensitive, based on their specific conditions, medical history, or how and when they best consume information.
Create easy-to-use platforms
Consumers are increasingly looking for convenient access to medical care. Publicis Sapient’s Digital Life Index found that the lack of telehealth options was the third most common reason for delaying care, after worries about cost and Covid-19 exposure. Getting the transactional basics, like being able to choose who treats you, a convenient time, and booking an appointment, is important. However, it’s not enough; today’s consumers want to do everything in one place, from making an appointment to viewing their medical records to having a virtual visit. More medical providers need to embrace a platform mindset to deliver on these consumer expectations.
For too long the health community has told itself it’s too difficult to deliver on consumer expectations, but that time has passed, and in this platform world, we’re starting to see change.
From a transactional point of view, Northwestern Medicine is delivering integrated communication platforms, where chatbots lead to live agents, if needed, on its app. While this is common in banking or retail, it does not happen often enough in healthcare, forcing patients to jump from an app to email to making phone calls.
Practices need to reorganize for distributed care
Healthcare practices need to reorganize where and how they work in order to create effective digital-first experiences. As we have seen in other sectors, the reality is hybrid, as consumers have become accustomed to digital-first and hybrid services like ordering items for curbside pickup. To create a similar experience in healthcare, medical practices must acknowledge that phone calls or visiting a primary care clinic are no longer the only dominant starting points for medical care.
One Medical has pioneered digital first health care, linked to their clinics, and to large hospital networks like Mount Sinai. But their digital-first approach is enabled by reimagining different provider roles, from new types of digital administrators, to nurses taking first-stage roles, and physicians being used in a more collaborative manner. It means they have re-thought their physical clinics to be more orientated around check-ups and functions such as taking blood, massively reducing waiting times because more often than not the issue has already been explored through digital channels. It means patient communication happens in a digital manner, i.e. within a few hours; but it also happens in a more connected manner, enabling them to deliver personal care in the digital space.
Meanwhile, health is coming home. Or more specifically coming back into the home. Telemetry tools, like connected stethoscopes and blood pressure cuffs, as well as mobile phone apps, are making it easier to monitor conditions at home, eliminating the need for some in-person visits.
Platforms will allow for the collecting and feeding of remote patient data into a clinic’s or hospital’s workflow, giving both AI programs as well as human healthcare professionals the ability to access and analyze it. The same platforms should allow medical staff to communicate with colleagues and patients. The Mayo Clinic is leading the way with such initiatives, recently launching Lucem Health, a joint venture with startup Commure that collects and integrates data from remote diagnostic tools into AI-based algorithms and clinic workflows.
Innovation depends on regulatory changes
Similar to what we saw in the financial sector with the rise of digital banks, changing regulations in the healthcare sector, many of which came about as temporary emergency measures during the pandemic, have resulted in speedy innovation. Chief among these changes was U.S. insurers and Medicaid programs offering billing codes and reimbursement for virtual visits. Such changes need to become permanent and more expansive in order to continue to encourage the digital health experiences the industry needs. In terms of data, we saw a loosening of data sharing rules to address the challenges of Covid, and we now need strong guidelines on data governance that can protect and benefit current and future patients. This will be another necessary step toward the delivery of the future of distributed care.
What Covid and these regulatory changes have made clear is that healthcare innovation happens when it is needed. It would be difficult to go backwards from here; the proverbial genie is already out of the bottle, and patients now have a taste of how healthcare can work with the same convenience and ownership they experience with banking, traveling, shopping or watching television. In order to continue to meet patients’ needs and expectations, the industry should make sure that increased convenience and reliance on data also supports the improvement of the foundational relationships between patients and caregivers. Only then will we deliver on the promise of distributed care.
Picture: Evgeny Gromov, Getty Images
