According to a new Spyglass Consulting Group report, 89 percent of hospitals and health systems have made significant investments in digital patient engagement tools. These digital patient engagement tools will help transform the way patients and family members are engaged, educated, and empowered.
The “Trends in Digital Patient Engagement 2017” report findings are derived from more than 100 in-depth interviews with healthcare professionals over a three-month period starting in January 2017. During the interviews, Spyglass asked healthcare professionals about:
– digital engagement tool usage and adoption by hospital-based patients and clinical staff
– clinical process gaps for engaging patients and family members within the care process
– barriers for widespread digital engagement tool adoption during hospitalization
– challenges for integrating digital engagement tools with existing evidence-based pathways and care management programs
The report reveals that patients are taking a more active role in managing their health across the care continuum within hospitals, ambulatory environments, clinics, physician offices, and even at home. Hospital investments in digital engagement tools are being driven by several provisions with the Affordable Care Act including the Meaningful Use Program, various value-based care programs, Hospital Readmission Reduction Program, and the HCAHPS Patient Satisfaction Survey.
With the transition toward patient and family centered care models and the adoption of various at-risk reimbursement models, hospitals surveyed are evaluating next generation digital engagement tools to help achieve the Triple AIM by reducing healthcare costs, improving care quality and outcomes, and increasing patient and provider satisfaction.
Other key findings from the Trends in Digital Patient Engagement 2017 report include:
1. Hospitals are targeting chronically ill patients.
Eighty-nine percent of hospitals surveyed report that future investments focus on integrating digital engagement tools with evidence-based pathways and care management programs to support chronically ill patients with CHF, COPD, diabetes, asthma, cancer and stroke.
2. Hospitals are exploring collaboration opportunities with payers.
Forty-nine percent of hospitals surveyed were exploring collaboration opportunities with CMS and other 3rd party payers to subsidize patient engagement initiatives associated with value-based care programs.
3. Hospitals are facing challenges to support widespread deployments
Challenges include low end-user adoption, poorly defined requirements, and lack of evidence demonstrating clinical efficacy.
For more information on the report, click here.
