Patient engagement is essential to manage the health and wellness of populations, but getting patients to engage is often a challenge for healthcare organizations. Healthcare providers are turning to health IT solutions to reach patients. With the right solutions, patients can interact with their care teams and each other and we see operations for healthcare organizations improve.

Healthcare providers are looking to successfully leverage health IT solutions in their delivery system, but often run up against patients who do not have the skills or confidence to use the technology provided to them. Because often times, patients need guidance to manage their own health effectively, they often become frustrated and disengage – the opposite of what providers are hoping to achieve, said Helen Figge, senior vice president of global strategic development at Lumira.

“We are seeing that patients with access to their own data and supplied with the right solutions become empowered and are better equipped to interact with their caregivers, ultimately improving their health and healthcare outcomes while reducing costs,” she said.

Informed patients are more likely to make lifestyle choices that support health and well-being and to select appropriate treatments to promote ongoing self-management.

With the right approach, individuals can construct programs that enable them to connect with their caregivers and actively participate in decisions about their own care. A number of mobile and other patient home monitoring devices exist that capture many types of patient health data, such as weight, blood pressure, pulse, oxygen saturation, blood glucose and cholesterol. More patient home monitoring options are on the horizon. Lumira, USA Inc. supports its own monitoring devices, care management and solution offerings but also simultaneously partners with other organizations to make sure it has a wide variety of options for patients and clients.

Using the right technology solutions and care management approaches, allows both clinicians and patients access to the data collected by various monitoring devices, Figge said. Giving patients access to their own health data helps them manage symptoms or conditions, share in decision-making and improve their health. Patients can also communicate with their clinicians and care team through secure e-mail and conduct online healthcare transactions or evaluate healthcare options.

These solutions also allow patients to engage with each other to share experiences and gain advice from others with similar conditions or experiences through online communities.

Lumira’s patient engagement platform not only makes it easier for patients to interact with their clinicians and others and better understand and manage their health, it helps healthcare organizations reduce costs and improve operational efficiency.

The Lumira solution set can reduce unnecessary hospitalizations and use of the emergency department, prevent unnecessary readmissions, better manage chronic and complex health problems, support the use of quality care and cost data to promote high-quality health services, identify strategies to improve quality of care and reduce unnecessary expenditures with an overall improvement in population health, said Figge.

“There is a tremendous opportunity to use innovative solution sets to support conscious healthy living strategies in our health and well-being with each of us engaging and becoming empowered in our own health self-determination and care,” Figge said.