Despite all the conversation around it these past few years, the fact remains that patient engagement can be somewhat amorphous. Pinning down just what works and developing effective strategies for managing specific populations, can be a challenge.

At Healthcare IT News' Pop Health Forum 2016 on Friday, a panel of experts shared their perspectives creating smart engagement programs. A common theme? Technology is a useful facilitator, but no replacement for old-fashioned face-to-face contact.

"If we expect to have an impact on patient behaviors, they need to have trust," said Jodi Frei, manager of organizational informatics at St. Albans, Vermont-based Northwestern Medical Center. "You establish that trust at the point of care."

Pop Health Forum 2016 live coverage: care coordination, patient engagement, analytics.

Toward that end, Northwestern starts early, making sure every employee at the hospital – not just physicians, but housekeeping, food service, finance folks – treats patients with consummate respect and care: "When you encounter a patient, this is how you do it," Frei said employees are told, instructed to always explain what they're doing and why.

"It's having a very positive impact," Frei said.

For his part, Pracha Eamranond, vice president of population health and chief transformation officer at Lawrence (Massachusetts) General Hospital, said outreach after discharge depends on a whole lot more than a patient portal.

"We have dedicated care managers who follow the patient around," he said. "They're the main folks within our patient-centered medical home doing the engagement."

Those people are the conduit, he said, getting nutritionists involved, and social workers where necessary. It's already leading to lower costs.

While some patients avail themselves of portals and smartphone apps, "a lot of them are not going to be using the technology," said Eamranond. "Having a real person dedicated to them is huge."

Then again, it's hard to overstate how valuable a simple text message can be.

"Education is a really big part of the story," said Chris Nicholson, co-founder and CEO of mPulse Mobile – offering the hypothetical example of a patient who's reminded the night before a surgery to abstain from eating.

Without that text? The patient arrives for surgery talking of the big breakfast they had at McDonalds on their way to the hospital.

Unable to perform the operation, the lights of the OR are switched off and the surgical team takes off their scrubs – all after incurring $60,000 in wasted costs.

Still, "technology can't be a substitute," said Frei. "Personal touch" is key. At Northwestern, care teams don't just engage with patients, they proactively reach out to communities, talking with schools about childhood obesity, for example, reaching people in the fabric of their lives.

But when communications tools are used between physicians and patients, it's key that they work equally well for both parties, said Martha Sylvia, director of population health analytics at Medical University of South Carolina. "If the technology isn't enabling for both the clinician and the patient," she said, "it's not useful."

Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN

Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com

This article is part of our reporting on the Healthcare IT News Pop Health Forum 2016. Other stories in this package include The essence of population health? Design and user experience, Population health management views from the frontline and Geisinger CEO David Feinberg calls for 'The Year of the Patient'.