Cerner announced new capabilities designed to take interaction between clinicians and patients beyond email to text message conversations, helping solve for a gap in communication in health care. The new features, in collaboration with WELL Health Inc. and to be integrated into Cerner’s patient portal, are designed to help improve patients’ engagement with clinicians through intelligent and automated communication.
More than 5 billion people spend nearly a quarter of their day on their mobile phones. In fact, in the last few years, the number of active cellphone subscriptions exceeded the number of people on Earth. Giving patients the same person-centric digital experience in health care as they receive from other industries has become increasingly important. Teaming with WELL Health, Cerner will make technology more useable for health systems and patients by meeting consumers where they are spending their time.
“Cerner is committed to making it easier for providers to create the engaging, comprehensive health care experiences that patients expect and deserve,” said David Bradshaw, senior vice president, consumer and employer solutions, Cerner. “By bringing patient data from different systems and streamlining in one unified view, we are strengthening our clients’ ability to build meaningful relationships with patients through a convenient, digital experience that has become a part of everyday life.”
Through Cerner’s HealtheLifeSM, the new capabilities will pull from a myriad of systems and apps to help improve communication and reduce administrative time for clinicians and staff. Organizations can use the new automation features to deliver critical health information, send flu shot reminders, reschedule appointments, schedule virtual visits and prompt patients to set up needed medical transportation. Additional benefits are expected to:
Improve patient satisfaction, retention and acquisition through timely communication and reduced hold queues, missed calls and email delays.
Save time spent scheduling and communicating with patients by using automated workflows that reply and route based on patient responses.
Reduce time spent on billing and payment collections by auto-notifying patients when new bills are ready for payment.
“WELL Health is focused on what patients expect today – near real-time, personalized communication on their terms. We aim to move beyond the days of playing phone tag, leaving voicemails and expecting patients to continue showing up,” said Guillaume de Zwirek, CEO and founder, WELL Health. “WELL Health supports patients to text their health care provider like they would text a friend. For a provider’s staff, WELL Health is designed to unify and automate disjointed communications across the organization, helping to reduce unnecessary stress and limiting potential errors.”