“Patient Engagement Tech Evolution: A Paradigm Shift” unveils a changing landscape. Organizations, focusing on consumer-centered strategies, seek integrated platforms for patient engagement. Past approaches, primarily for organizational ends, now emphasize patient-centric outcomes. Improved patient access, loyalty, and streamlined experiences drive investments. Major vendors like Epic lead the market, yet third-party tools complement EHR solutions. Organizations plan consolidation, aiming for unified patient experiences across various tools. The report outlines future trends, highlighting the push for streamlined technology stacks aligning with evolving patient engagement goals.
The realm of patient engagement technology undergoes a transformative phase, marked by a shift toward consumer-centric strategies. Formerly serving organizational objectives, current trends spotlight patient-centered outcomes and integrated platforms. Organizations prioritize enhanced patient access, loyalty, and seamless experiences, fueling investments. Key vendors dominate, yet third-party tools supplement these offerings. This report delves into the evolving landscape, showcasing the drive for consolidation and unified patient experiences across diverse tools. As organizations strive for alignment with evolving patient engagement goals, the focus turns to streamlining technology stacks.
Patient engagement technology vendors are poised to navigate a transforming landscape, responding to a shift in their customer base’s focus towards a more consolidated, consumer-centric patient engagement approach, as highlighted in the most recent KLAS report on patient engagement.
According to the report, acquired via email, organizations are prioritizing patient engagement to enhance the patient experience and bolster patient volumes.
Previously, organizations viewed patient engagement as a means to fulfill organizational needs. This involved investing in tools to meet regulations and adopting technology for manual process replacements, which often felt burdensome for providers. However, current trends indicate a shift toward patient-centric outcomes, emphasizing integrated platforms with diverse capabilities.
Today, investments in patient engagement center around platforms integrating various functionalities, such as multifaceted patient portals or tools extending care beyond the facility, like telehealth and remote patient monitoring. These tools are crucial support for providers aiming to craft superior patient experiences.
Simultaneously, organizations are emphasizing patient loyalty, seeking ways to improve patient access, attract new patients, retain existing ones, minimize no-shows, and manage last-minute cancellations.
To achieve these objectives, simplifying the patient access process is a priority. Nearly half of the respondents (48 percent) plan to invest in digital front-door experiences, while a quarter aim to optimize the patient journey. Additionally, organizations are investing in physician efficiency enhancements and better patient-provider communication channels.
Recognizing the role clinicians play in fostering positive patient experiences, organizations are addressing clinician efficiency and communication challenges. However, barriers such as patient access to technology and practitioners’ scheduling constraints remain significant hurdles.
Organizations are directing their focus toward improving provider search, self-scheduling, and self-registration—the next frontier after the widespread adoption of patient portals, experience surveys, and telehealth.
This evolving landscape will impact the patient engagement vendor sphere as organizations seek partnerships aligning with their current and future goals.
Presently, Epic leads as the most commonly used patient engagement technology vendor (reported by 63 percent of respondents), predominantly due to its highly-rated patient portal, MyChart. Other vendors like Press Ganey, Oracle Health, NRC Health, Salesforce, and Kyruus also witness broad adoption, primarily in patient portal solutions, patient experience surveys, CAHPS reporting, and customer relationship management (CRM) functions.
Despite the increasing capabilities of third-party vendors, most organizations rely on their Electronic Health Record (EHR) vendors, especially for patient portal investments.
While EHR vendors dominate, some organizations integrate third-party services into their patient portal for a holistic patient experience. Strategic partnerships, communication, and innovation differentiate third-party vendors chosen by respondents as most aligned with their patient engagement goals.
The future predicts a shifting landscape where two-thirds of organizations seek to streamline their technology stack, planning to discontinue at least one patient engagement solution, particularly consolidating patient communications. The aim is to unify virtual care, patient communications, texting, and patient portals for a more cohesive patient experience.
Overall, the report illuminates a pivotal era in patient engagement technology, highlighting the evolving landscape’s dynamics. From an organizational-centric approach, the focus has shifted decisively toward patient-centered outcomes and integrated platforms. Investments reflect an emphasis on enhanced patient access, loyalty, and unified experiences. Leading vendors dominate, while third-party tools complement EHR solutions. The impending trend of consolidation points towards a unified patient experience across varied tools. As organizations aim to align with evolving patient engagement goals, the overarching need lies in streamlining technology stacks for an integrated, seamless patient journey.
