Wisconsin-based Prevea Health is an integrated multispecialty group practice with more than 350 primary care providers and specialists, 40 health centers and 26 employer-based clinics. Its caregivers place great importance on patient-centric care and are focused on developing population health strategies that tap into big data and payer networks to address today's gaps in care.

THE PROBLEM

One big challenge: Getting patients together with the right physicians to help manage population health in rural areas to help healthcare stakeholders better identify and reduce gaps in care, while improving the patient experience and managing costs.

PROPOSAL

Prevea Health would deploy online scheduling and digital patient access technology from DocASAP with the goals of improving quality, boosting care continuity and improving access to providers.

MARKETPLACE

There are a variety of online patient scheduling systems on the market today. Vendors of the software include DrChrono, Greenway Health, Kareo, MDConnection, MyPatientScheduler, NueMD, PracticeSuite and Q-nomy.

MEETING THE CHALLENGE

"We have been able to work with DocASAP to navigate patients to the right providers at the right time in the right settings based on a complex set of rules including the level of care required, location and urgency," said Ashok Rai, MD, president and CEO of Prevea Health.

"Patients can easily access the information they need online or with a mobile device 24/7, get access to treatment and insurance information, and schedule appointments and follow-ups with the providers who match their medical needs and can address individual gaps in care," he added.

The provider organization relies on scheduling and patient access platforms to help connect patients and providers more efficiently to large payers. These methods have helped Prevea Health reduce gaps in care by providing transparency into available care delivery plans, offering clear options for getting care, and encouraging patient engagement with their health, Rai said.

"Through the collection of robust analytics, our health system can also leverage technology and data-driven insights to optimize complex primary- and specialty-care provider workflows and improve operations, leading to improvements in patient access," he explained.

There are three scenarios through which a patient could potentially interact with the DocASAP platform:

Scenario 1: The patient knows the health system from which he or she wants to receive treatment. Scenario 2: The patient does not know any health systems or providers that he or she prefers and is trying to find the right provider from search engines such as Google and Bing.

Scenario 3: The patient is aware of DocASAP and uses its platform to schedule appointments.

"While the technology can be used in all three scenarios to ensure a smooth patient experience, let us assume in this case that the patient is coming from a search engine like Google and is trying to schedule an appointment with a doctor as soon as possible," Rai said.

"The patient searches on Google for a provider near them, sees a link to book an appointment on the provider's Google My Business page, powered by DocASAP,– and then can quickly book an appointment," he explained.

If the patient does not already have a provider in mind to book an appointment, they can easily use the technology's private-labeled doctor finder for Prevea Health, which uses DocASAP's intelligent navigation algorithm. The patient selects the visit reason/condition for which he/she is seeking treatment and then chooses a time to book the appointment.

"Based on a mix of clinical and operational intake protocols, the technology's intelligent algorithm matches the patient with the right provider in the right setting at the time," said Rai. "Profiles of providers who meet all criteria and have open availability are displayed to the patient. Depending on the visit reason/condition selected, there could be additional questions that the patients need to answer so that the provider gets all the information he or she wants."

Based on the patient's answers, the system again matches these answers with the ideal providers and displays times for the same provider or proposes other best-matched providers. The patient then clicks on a time and after providing information and setting notification preferences, books the appointment. Once the appointment is booked, the patient receives notifications and reminders from the system, with actionable options to even reschedule or cancel the existing appointment.

RESULTS

The technology has helped get Prevea Health's no-show rate down to 4 percent, which is very low. The average U.S. patient no-show rate is nearly 18 percent, according to a study by BMC Health Services Research. The low no-show rate translates to significant cost savings over time.

Further, 38 percent of online appointments are booked after hours.

"Patients today increasingly want to schedule appointments outside of regular business hours," said Rai. "By allowing patients to schedule appointments when and where they need to, we are enhancing the patient experience. This enhanced patient experience will help with both patient retention and new patient acquisition."

Twitter: @SiwickiHealthIT
Email the writer: bill.siwicki@himssmedia.com