Transforming Access: Improving the Patient Journey Through Innovation

Written by Tesha Montgomery

According to NRC Health , 8 out of 10 patients reported they would switch providers due to convenience factors alone, and 5 of the top 10 factors in selecting a doctor’s office are directly related to access. Access to care, social determinants of health, and creating a seamless experience are key strategic imperatives that directly impact quality, outcomes, and satisfaction. Consumer demands and expectations with healthcare are changing, perpetuated by every other aspect of life which has become “on-demand.” Antiquated phone technology with long hold times, limited appointment options, repetitive questions, forms, clipboards upon check-in, and waiting a month or more to follow-up with any needed specialty care will not be tolerated, and when it happens, we can see the negative impacts. Thus, Houston Methodist has taken intentional steps to shift the paradigm and completely transform access by utilizing strategic technology deployment combined with process redesign to enrich the patient-provider experience, make healthcare delivery more efficient, decrease costs, and improve population health.

With an imperative to improve the whole patient experience, reduce the cost of care, and reach a wider population of patients, our institution began leveraging innovative technology to enhance access while developing new models of care, to connect patients and consumers to the right provider or service at the right time, seamlessly via the mode preferred by the patient. During the COVID-19 pandemic, access to care became more urgent and we had to adapt quickly, increasing our use of online scheduling modalities and communication platforms. We implemented text-to-schedule SMS functionality and transformed our same-day clinics to safely serve upper respiratory symptomatic patients in-person or virtually. As we entered the pandemic lockdown, we also trained 900 providers across 40 specialties over two weeks to offer telemedicine and saw the patient volume of our same-day clinics and virtual urgent care platforms increase ten-fold. In 2018, we had around 3,200 patients across those 2 models of care, but by 2022, we were seeing over 40,000 patients. In primary care, 20% of our patients are now seen on the same day that their appointment is made, and our no-show rates have decreased to 4%.

In addition to these new models of care, we have started leveraging technology to improve the patient journey. Prior to COVID-19, we had started using enhanced SMS text appointment reminders that allowed patients to text back and forth directly with clinic staff. Since then, we have advanced the use of our communication platforms to be used for text-based campaigns to increase annual wellness visit compliance for our Medicare patients, text-to-schedule functionality, specialty referrals scheduling, and post-discharge follow-up with patients, all with the ability for patients text bi-directionally with hospital and clinic staff.

While developing our direct communication platforms, we also continued improving our online scheduling modalities. Call centers can have long wait times when looking to schedule, and we have found that most patients want to schedule appointments online. Keeping this in mind, we have begun an organization-wide campaign to encourage physicians to allow their appointments to be scheduled online in order to break down barriers for both new and established patients. As we increased the utilization of our online scheduling modalities, we saw a significant increase in the number of appointments being scheduled online, with nearly one-third of all our primary care appointments and almost half of our same-day clinic appointments being scheduled online.

By leveraging technology and developing new models of care, we have been able to improve the overall healthcare experience, providing patients with a seamless journey as they navigate through our system.