Patient engagement insights for those who want to be in the know.
For healthcare organizations and the public, the Delta variant of the COVID virus couldn’t have surged across the country at a worse time. Cases and hospitalizations are spiking, mask wars are raging, and kids are returning to school this month. Most concerning of all, a large portion of Americans remain unvaccinated.
As COVID vaccination rates continue to climb this summer, we’re starting to see encouraging signs of life as health systems and medical practices rebound from an abysmal 2020. Nearly 44 percent of the nation’s population is fully vaccinated, including more than 51 percent of people ages 12 and up. This may indicate that patients are feeling more comfortable and safer returning to care visits as the COVID crisis in the U.S. subsides.
Lea Chatham, director of marketing programs with SR Health by Solutionreach, presented the webinar, “Three Keys to Building a Perfect Appointment Workflow,” June 9. You can watch the webinar in its entirety here.
Hospital and health system CIOs pegged patient engagement technology as their biggest focus for 2021, according to a recent poll. Stoltenberg Consulting’s Health IT Industry Outlook Survey found that 52 percent of healthcare organization CIOs cited patient engagement as the No. 1 issue while continuing to support their organizations’ COVID response efforts.
Text messaging celebrates its 30th birthday next year—the first text message was sent in 1992—however it’s creators would hardly recognize their invention which today has evolved into a world-changing communications technology. It’s snowballed from a trendy way for friends to informally chat to be an integral part of day-to-day communications for consumers, businesses, organizations—you name it, they’re using it.
Everyone knows that the COVID pandemic hurt healthcare providers in more ways than one. It led to massive interruptions in patient care that took a direct hit on your bottom line. And for many, that pain persists. According to a recent MGMA poll, nearly half of medical practices report that visit volumes are still below pre-pandemic levels.
Nagging, headache-inducing, and often downright painful, disruptions are unfortunately a part of life for healthcare organizations. They come in many forms, whether they be patient-driven, internal issues, or unpredictable “acts of God,” disruptions to a provider’s appointment schedule can wreak havoc on profitability.
