How digital patient management is helping radiology patients overcome their COVID-19 concerns

How digital patient management is helping radiology patients overcome their COVID-19 concerns

1. New forms of patient navigation are urgently needed

Before our partners could resolve their backlogs, they had to figure out a way to deliver care during the pandemic. Just as many facets of our lives became contactless, we developed a ‘virtual waiting room’ that uses a text messaging check-in system to minimize the number of people sitting in a waiting room prior to their appointments. 

With the virtual waiting room, health systems can continue their operations while following safety protocols. Patients check-in from their phones via text when they arrive at their appointment, then remain in their car, entering the hospital only after they get a new message that the staff is ready for them. 

On the staff side, the care team is alerted in the electronic medical record (EMR) that a patient has checked in; then the care team indicates in the EMR that they are ready for the patient, and a new message is sent to the patient instructing them to come inside for their visit. 

Yale New Haven Hospital and Boston Medical Center, where we first launched virtual waiting rooms in mid-August, have been instrumental partners in developing this technology. Combined data from these two heath systems show that, since offering virtual waiting rooms, patients have spent 877 fewer hours in physical waiting rooms. Moreover, front-line staff have made 4,918 fewer calls to patients because our contactless check-in process has removed the need for staff to make manual phone calls to these patients.[i]

Building a new standard of care via digital patient management

COVID-19 has been a forcing function for all of us to accelerate what I believe will be the healthcare experience of the future. It has increased patient and physician openness to new ways of interacting – and it has streamlined new workflows related to virtual care encounters.

There is still much work to do to realize the full potential of digital patient management – we must go beyond focusing on encounter-based care and move into the realm of population health and chronic care management. This will allow us to achieve a more holistic and cohesive patient experience, stitching together the diverse venues where care is provided and strengthening the patient-physician relationship.

I firmly believe that engaging with patients in this way will become the new standard of care, because it creates nimbler health systems, lowers the cost of care, increases access and provides more patient-centered touchpoints, which all drive toward value-based care. It is undoubtedly a better way to serve our patients. 

[i] Internal Data Results are specific to the institutions where they are obtained and may not reflect the results achievable at other institutions.

References: 

1 Cavallo JJ, Forman HP. The Economic Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Radiology Practices [published online ahead of print, 2020 Apr 15]. Radiology. 2020;201495. doi:10.1148/radiol.2020201495