Addressing the Complexities of Health Care with a Focus on Patient Experience

As a doctor for over 20 years, my true passion is to improve the patient and provider experience. But the current health care system sets up many obstacles to creating an efficient and high-touch experience for providers and, most critically, patients. At Optum’s Office for Provider Advancement, I get to help deliver on the quadruple aim in a way that makes sense from a clinician’s perspective.

Our health care infrastructure is fragmented and lacks transparency from a clinical side which can lead to complexity on the consumer side. While our current electronic medical records (EMRs) have the capabilities to digitally collect medical information about our patients, the system can be inefficient, difficult to navigate and sometimes hold errors in data. Often interoperability between EMRs is lacking, making it difficult for different systems to share information and “talk” to each other.

A streamlined process for the provider and payer using a unified EMR that can be accessed on the go – similar to your driver’s license or social security number – would not only lessen the burden on the provider, but it would improve the patient experience.

With convenient access to the patient’s medical history and details on their health status, the provider would be better informed to make the best treatment plan at the point of care, which would allow for shared decision making with their patient. This is what we want. If we’re asking patients to be accountable for their care, we have to inform and educate them about all the components of their care – which includes cost.

In other industries outside of health care – banking, retail, food – you know how much things are going to cost before or when you purchase them. Why should health care be any different?

But the answer to creating a high-performing health care system isn’t just interoperability and cost transparency. To create a high-performing health care system is to fix the friction points along the continuum of care for patients.

Imagine the person that doesn’t have any family and comes home from a traumatic hospital stay. They have no idea what to do, they have extensive and complex discharge papers and they may not have the health literacy to comprehend their treatment plan.

All they know is they’ve come home to an empty house, no food in the refrigerator and possibly limited transportation options for getting to the grocery store. Do you think that patient is going to know how to prevent another re-admission?

I don’t think it takes a lot of money or technology to solve this. It takes people who care. You hire the right people and create an infrastructure that puts the patient at the center and supports the experience of the provider and care team. ?It’s helping patients with the billing, payment and claims process. And combining the programs we’ve successfully implemented here at UnitedHealth Group with a supportive care team: providers, specialists, case managers, navigators, social workers and meal delivery, which help address both medical and social needs. It’s being better human connectors throughout the continuum of care. This approach provides that guidance to help the patient navigate their care and support their holistic health needs.

It’s low tech, but it’s high touch.