Healthgrades, a Denver, CO-based online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals has unveiled CareChats, a digital solution that allows patients and providers to communicate between visits. Powered by Conversa, the functionality provides hospitals and providers the ability to engage and support patients using text and email messaging, in a cutting-edge chatbot conversational experience.
“We are excited to partner with Healthgrades and see so many leading health systems using The Conversa Conversation PlatformTM to improve the provider – patient relationship,” said West Shell III, Co-founder, CEO, Conversa. “Utilizing sophisticated logic and intelligent patient profiling technology, Conversa systematically helps organizations monitor, communicate and manage patient populations more efficiently than ever before. Based on the market’s feedback, it’s become clear that Healthgrades and Conversa are at the center of transforming how patients and care teams communicate.”
CareChats initiates conversations with enrolled patients about their condition management, provides encouragement and education, sets health goals and tracks progress. The platform integrates seamlessly with the Healthgrades CRM platform, giving hospitals and health systems the data insights to connect with and interact with patients most likely to benefit from using this technology. It also engages providers automatically when intervention is required and encourages patients to book an appointment online or call the office directly.
At launch, CareChats are available for chronic condition management, pre and post-surgery, lifestyle health coaching and personal development. Year-long conversations were created by professional writers and reviewed by physicians to ensure a conversational tone and clinical relevance.
To date, several hospitals and health systems across the country have already enabled CareChatsTM through Healthgrades. In one pilot program, Ochsner identified patients who had uncontrolled hypertension and trained primary care physicians at their system to “prescribe” CareChatsTM to these patients. Participants logged into their secure Ochsner patient portal to begin using CareChatsTM. In real time, CareChatsTM gave patients the option to pull in their personal medical information to tailor their conversation.
“Patients are avoiding unnecessary and time consuming visits, so participation in this program has a natural incentive,” said Rich Milani, MD, Chief Transformation Officer, Ochsner Health System. “We are pleased to work with Healthgrades to enable this technology, which is valuable to patients and to our system as a whole, and has given us the ability to build even stronger relationships with our patients.”
