The Power of Human Connection

Think back to some of your best conversations you have ever had.

Where were you?

What do you remember seeing?

What do you remember feeling?

Maybe you were sitting on your couch at home or a table at your favorite neighborhood coffee shop. Maybe it was a smile or a simple nod that turned an uncertain conversation into a comfortable one – your words were being listened to. This hopefully sparked a renewed sense of purpose and confidence in yourself. What you once thought was an insurmountable obstacle is all of a sudden achievable.

One theme is clear – your conversation was powered by a human connection, eliciting an emotional response. This is how it should be.

The current adage, "technology can solve all our problems," is not always true. I can think of many industries where this slogan holds true – agriculture and banking, among others. Automated irrigation watering thousands of acres of crops or depositing a check into my bank account through an ATM. In these two classic industries, there is no human intervention, yet we gain very valuable assets – efficiency and time. However, I can name two industries where human connection is essential and never going away: first is education and the second is healthcare.

Human connection seems like such a simple concept, but how do you actually achieve it?

At Vheda Health, we deliver an 84% compliance for high-risk, high-cost members with serious chronic conditions, while traditional approaches and health plan programs achieve 20-25%.

Over the years, many organizations have repeatedly tried to increase the compliance for high-risk populations, but failed.

Why?

Again, because tech-only healthcare solutions just don’t work. They miss the vital ingredient: human connection.

Last week, I was meeting with my team when a response to a question from one of our health coaches led to silence on the phone –

" Healthcare is emotional," she said.

And she's right.

At Vheda Health, our human connections focus on establishing an emotional connection with our participants, aided by technology, but not getting in the way. Science shows we respond better in a human environment. And behavioral medicine research consistently backs this up - human interaction produces better outcomes.

I meet with healthcare executives all the time and always get asked the same question – how have you been so successful at constantly delivering an 84% compliance rate, while our programs, at best are generating 20-25% compliance?

The answer is simple: Vheda Health provides human connection that gives members what they need – attention.

And they listen.

Here are 3 ways Vheda Health powers human connection:

1. We create a support system.

Participants receive support in a number of ways – from our health coaches to our nurses and our member experience. Simply put, Vheda Health has made investments enabling members to maximize time through a human connection. The more our participants speak to a live person, the more likely we are able to solve the participant’s problem. The feedback from participants is a tremendous validation that we are on the right track. They keep telling us how wonderful it is to finally have a program that actually cares.

2. We build relationships.

Participants work with the same health coach through their journey in one of our programs. We take it one step further by creating a third-dimension conversation with the member through live video; and it's necessary. This face-to-face interaction enables participants to connect on another level with their coaches. This is important because it allows us to pick up on those important non-verbal cues (i.e. smiles, sad faces, etc) providing the real indicators of why the member is not compliant with their condition. And with this information, we work cooperatively with the member. Further, we don’t rush the conversation; it’s thirty minutes of undivided attention. Our results show this attention increases trust and rapport, resulting in higher care plan compliance and lower claims cost overall.

3. We make data actionable.

Our digital health programs incorporate remote monitoring (biometric) technologies that identify opportunities for outreach to prevent high acuity events. Again, similar to #1 and #2 above, human connection powers this process through a live, proactive outreach by Vheda Health to the participant. In short, when the participant receives feedback from a real human, they are more receptive and more likely to take action.

When 1-3 are executed correctly, your organization creates a very valuable proposition to solve a key problem – care plan compliance – which decreases your overall claims cost per member.

In closing, healthcare is a very personal experience because it is and will always be a human experience. This is because healthcare is focused on the whole self – physical, mental, and emotion. As you can see, technology plays a key role in our program experience, but acts as the conduit for achieving the result – care plan compliance and decreasing claims cost.

We have a shot at solving care plan compliance the right way. So, we owe it to ourselves to respond.

I want you to know Vheda Health is ready to help.

Who’s ready?

Shameet Luhar is Chief Executive Officer of Vheda Health, a member compliance company dedicated to humanizing healthcare, through technology. Vheda Health delivers an 84% compliance rate for high-risk Medicaid, Medicare, and employer populations. Our approach combines human touch and connected devices that accelerate care plan compliance and decrease claims costs. For more information, please visit Vheda Health on the web.