Patient Engagement Technology Vendors Broaden Their Capabilities

March 25, 2021 – The historic advert hoc nature of affected person engagement expertise could also be winding down, with extra well being IT distributors increasing their buyer choices within the affected person expertise area, in response to the newest KLAS report.

The report, Patient Engagement Ecosystem 2021, discovered that a few of the main affected person engagement expertise distributors are providing extra and diversified capabilities to clients, serving to to steer the affected person throughout the care continuum.

This is opposite to earlier stories from KLAS, together with one from 2019 that found the affected person engagement expertise area is very siloed, with a crowded vendor subject and entities that specialised in area of interest performance. The February 2019 report wasn’t in a position to establish any market leaders, principally as a result of the market was so younger and so crowded.

This newest report revealed some market leaders, though KLAS was cautious to say the affected person engagement expertise subject continues to be in flux. There are loads of gamers, KLAS mentioned, and it may be difficult to know which distributors supply which companies.

KLAS decided the rising well being IT distributors by accumulating vendor-reported details about completely different expertise capabilities. KLAS in contrast these capabilities to a core set of 12 affected person engagement capabilities it developed in 2019 alongside trade stakeholders.

GetWellNetwork, Vocera, Salesforce, and CipherHealth emerged as leaders, with KLAS explaining these distributors had expanded product choices essentially the most in recent times. Although these distributors might not have essentially the most product choices or deepest shopper adoption, KLAS emphasised that they’ve grown essentially the most.

GetWellNetwork, for instance, has constructed out its present product strains whereas additionally buying Docent Health. That acquisition put GetWellNetwork into the affected person navigation area, including to its efforts to help sufferers and household caregivers via the therapy journey. GetWellNetwork also can boast extraordinarily deep buyer adoption.

Vocera has additionally labored its means additional into the affected person navigation market with its Ease product, KLAS detailed, whereas it now provides supplier purchasers the flexibility to conduct affected person outreach with appointment reminders.

For Salesforce, a historical past of compatibility and cooperation with different affected person engagement applied sciences has made it a flexible product for purchasers. The vendor has additionally added supplier search, appointment scheduling, and affected person registration capabilities to its suite.

CipherHealth has adopted that path, including to its post-appointment capabilities. The vendor lets sufferers guide appointments and register with a supplier, whereas giving some instruments to sufferers and household caregivers.

KLAS gave a nod to Change Healthcare, Jellyfish Health, and HealthBanks, however mentioned it had too restricted a knowledge set to incorporate them in formal evaluation.

Epic Systems and Allscripts stood out for his or her affected person engagement options for acute care settings, with KLAS highlighting the affected person portal instruments for creating an all-encompassing affected person entry and engagement resolution. For Epic, KLAS additionally referenced bedside affected person training instruments and CRM instruments.

Additionally, R1, a income cycle administration software, stood out for affected person engagement in acute settings. The expertise has key affected person entry performance, which is essential previous to affected person visits.

athenahealth and NextGen Healthcare hit 11 of the 12 affected person engagement core wants for ambulatory practices, KLAS mentioned. athenahealth has deep buyer adoption, which units it other than the crowded expertise subject. And for NextGen Healthcare, a 2019 acquisition of Medfusion has helped construct out a robust affected person engagement expertise core.

Luma Health and Mend each supply deep buyer adoption and a broad suite of capabilities. KLAS mentioned Luma Health has gaps with prescription refill request and on-line invoice pay, which most healthcare organizations compensate for with third-party apps.

And for Mend, distributors are in a position to leverage appointment scheduling, digital check-in, and affected person reminders to complement its telehealth performance.

Regardless of vendor, pre-visit communication and patient education seem like essentially the most generally supplied companies from affected person engagement applied sciences. Vendors are additionally largely targeted on post-visit communication, white labeling, and capturing patient-generated well being knowledge.

What’s extra, well being IT distributors have constructed out new affected person engagement performance that isn’t part of the core engagement suite, KLAS mentioned. Online symptom checkers, affected person self-assessments, on-line teaching, and supplier or care group visibility all acquired heightened consideration from distributors throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The emphasis on distant care, affected person wellness, and illness screening grew to become important when the virus started to unfold.

Moving into the long run, distributors might give attention to digital excursions, leisure and programming, value transparency, environmental controls like room temperature, affected person entry and requests, and social media optimization. These areas have seen the smallest quantity of progress since 2019, KLAS mentioned, and current a key space for distributors to set themselves other than the remainder of the market.