Over the last five years, patient engagement has become a core strategy for transforming healthcare, improving the patient experience and increasing operational efficiencies, according to Healthcare Executive Insight.
Here are five thoughts:
1. Today, healthcare providers are looking for ways to increase HCAHPS scores, patient satisfaction and interaction with their patient portals.
2. When implementing a patient engagement strategy, they face potential obstacles, including health IT systems integration, a lack of support by executive and/or clinical leadership and how to measure the value of their investment.
3. Educating and engaging patients and their families in the care process can demonstrate a positive impact on health outcomes, such as reduced falls and infections and increased compliance.
4. Karen Drenkard, PhD, chief clinical and nursing officer for GetWellNetwork, said more emphasis needs to be placed on assessing a person's capacity to be engaged in his or her care, exchanging information and jointly determining goals.
5. Patient engagement offers non-financial benefits, including improved patient satisfaction, standardization of clinical processes, increased workflow efficiency and reinforced brand loyalty based on the patient experience.