Activating patients through the digital front door

In today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, a concept known as the digital front door has opened up new possibilities for patient activation. This shift offers a multifaceted approach to healthcare delivery, fostering active patient participation and ultimately improving outcomes.

In this blog, we’ll explore patient activation, how digital front door makes it happen, and how Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) serves as the key to unlocking the potential of it all.

Understanding patient activation

What exactly is patient activation, and why is it so important?

Patient activation refers to an individual’s knowledge, skills, confidence, and motivation to actively participate in their own healthcare journey. In simpler terms, it’s about empowering patients to take charge of their health, make informed decisions, and navigate the complex healthcare system with ease.

This concept is closely associated with positive outcomes including better health, greater adherence to treatment, increased patient contentment, and reduced healthcare expenses.

Let’s delve deeper into the components of patient activation:

1. Knowledge: Access to health information empowers patients to make educated decisions about their health.
2. Skills: Patients should have the skills necessary for self-care, from managing medications to modifying health behaviors.
3. Confidence: Believing in their ability to manage their health is crucial for patient activation.
4. Motivation: A willingness to participate actively in healthcare decisions and a desire to make healthy choices are essential.
5. Engagement: Active interaction with healthcare providers, including asking questions and participating in decision making, is vital.

The digital front door in healthcare

To support patients to establish the components needed for patient activation, we turn our attention to the digital front door. The digital front door is the use of digital technologies and tools to improve patient access to healthcare services. It aims to create a seamless and convenient experience for patients seeking medical care, to break down barriers and make it easier for more people to receive better care.

It’s a strategic approach to healthcare delivery that engages patients at every touchpoint in their healthcare journey. And when executed effectively, the digital front door can enhance patient activation, engagement, communication, and satisfaction.

This method ensures that patients can easily connect with healthcare providers, access services, and navigate their healthcare journey with efficiency and ease. A well-designed digital front door offers a seamless and cohesive patient experience whether it’s through digital appointment reminders, streamlined patient check-ins, or convenient self-scheduling and appointment rebooking. It promotes continuity of care and fosters long-term patient-provider relationships, as patients are more likely to remain engaged and loyal to providers who offer convenient digital interactions. Additionally, digital tools and resources encourage active patient participation by bolstering the components laid out above.

How can CPaaS support the digital front door and patient activation?

We’ve talked about breaking down barriers for patients, but what about for healthcare organizations themselves?

Creating a solid digital front door strategy can be challenging for various reasons. Maybe you’re worried about the complexity of integrating with existing legacy systems, or perhaps you’re strapped for developer resources. You might even have a digital front door in place already but want to take it to the next level and expand its capabilities. That’s where Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) comes into play – it simplifies the process and unlocks the full potential of this transformative concept.

CPaaS essentially serves as the glue that connects healthcare providers and patients by seamlessly enabling communication, engagement, and interaction. With CPaaS, healthcare organizations can create a unified and efficient communication ecosystem by managing all their cloud communications from one platform. It easily integrates with existing backend systems, and its low-code tools can help organizations save on costs, reduce complexity, and speed up their IT roadmaps. And when it comes to patient activation and digital front doors, CPaaS opens up a world of possibilities.

It enables multi-channel communication options such as SMS, voice calls, video calls, and email, making it effortless for patients to reach healthcare providers. It can even automate appointment management, enhance patient education with personalized content, and facilitate telehealth visits. And it doesn’t stop there; CPaaS ensures that all communication is secure, gathers valuable patient feedback, and even supports behavioral health initiatives. In emergency situations, it can deliver crucial alerts. Plus, its data integration capabilities with Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems ensure that healthcare decisions are well-informed, while its multilingual support ensures effective communication across diverse patient populations. The analytics tools built into CPaaS help measure engagement and provide insights to guide further improvement.

In essence, patient activation stands as the cornerstone of modern healthcare, and the digital front door serves as the gateway to achieving it. CPaaS can get you there, simplifying the execution of numerous digital healthcare use cases, ultimately enriching the patient experience and improving outcomes.

To learn more about how CPaaS and the digital front door can help your organization implement a patient-focused strategy that improves the digital experience, we encourage you to watch our latest webinar with HIMSS and Kaleida Health.