Goshen Health Transforms Patient Experience and the Revenue Cycle with Integrated Patient Access, Intake and Engagement
It’s fair to say that the state of patient access in many hospitals is disjointed, manual, inefficient, outdated or some combination of all of these, leaving both patients and hospital staff frustrated and ready for change. This was certainly the case at Goshen Health. Then we implemented AccuReg EngageCare®, a single platform to manage digital patient engagement, intake and access, and it has made consumerism a reality for our patients. We not only transformed how our patients access and receive care, we also optimized our workflow and interdepartmental communication and collaboration.
Patient Access is Key to Patient Satisfaction and Revenue Cycle Success
Patient access is the patient’s first encounter with the hospital, so our ability to serve patients quickly and efficiently sets the tone for their care visits. Further, patient access is critical to maximizing revenue cycle management success. It’s critical our team maintain data integrity by capturing and auditing all required patient registration information, such as demographics and insurance eligibility. Having accurate data on the revenue cycle front-end significantly reduces the rework, denials and write-offs that unnecessarily increase costs and erode revenue.
I knew that to meet patient satisfaction and revenue goals and to retain qualified staff, Goshen needed to make a digital transition. Our registrations weren’t centralized, nor was patient information. Our colleagues lacked the tools to quickly and easily communicate between departments. They were leaving patient arrival instructions on handwritten notes or making numerous, and sometimes redundant phone calls because there was no digital record of the communication. Not only did this put unnecessary stress and frustration on our colleagues, our patient experience times (registration times plus wait times) were unacceptable.
How Digital Patient Engagement Created a New Patient Experience
COVID-19 presented new challenges as the safety of both patients and staff became a priority. We needed to address overcrowded waiting rooms and reduce person-to-person contact, and fast. COVID accelerated our digital transition timeline. Digitally engaging with patients through a single, automated platform has been our key to success.
The first step was reducing our walk-in traffic and shifting our colleagues from registration to pre-registration efforts. This increase of pre-registrations combined with an implementation of a kiosk allowed us to increase our registration capacity in the main lobby by 55 percent. At the same time, we reduced our patient experience wait time by 57 percent. These numbers are still holding true post-COVID.
The next step was introducing EngageCare–a single platform that integrates all the requirements for engagement, intake and access. Patients can complete online pre-registrations using digital forms and eSignatures, which increases safety and efficiency while freeing our colleagues to attend to high priority items. Automatic appointment reminders, virtual check-ins and QR scans that allow patients to expedite screenings and check-ins are features that continue to improve our patient experience. And enabling patients to quickly upload their insurance cards and IDs using image capture and digital data conversion using Optical Character Recognition technology, saves time and ensures accuracy.
Maintain Data Integrity, Maximize Revenue Capture
By integrating digital patient engagement and intake with patient access processes on one platform you maximize revenue from both patients and payers. Automating critical patient access functions ensures the data integrity needed to secure payer reimbursement while digital patient engagement and intake tools give patients the opportunity to participate in their healthcare experience and enable consumerism that increases up-front cash collections.
Our patients have quickly adapted to our digital transition, which enables them to:
- Complete online pre-registrations, where they can verify demographics, take photos of ID and insurance cards and read and sign consent forms in advance of appointments
- Receive automated appointment reminders with the ability to confirm, cancel or reschedule their appointments in advance
- Communicate with patients through email or text
- Complete COVID screenings on their devices prior to appointment arrival to save time
POS Collections Increased 38% Year-Over-Year
Within six months of implementation and with little promotion or communication of this new technology, we were pleased to see an overall adoption rate of 50 percent. That was a huge win for us to know that half of our patients were embracing and utilizing the new technology. And thanks to appointment reminders, we have seen reduction in no-shows, which is saving tangible revenue that would have otherwise been lost. These are patients that are showing up for appointments and bringing revenue because we are able to engage with them from the moment they schedule their visits.
Some of our colleagues wondered if the move to digital would pose as a concern for older populations, ages 55+, who are often stereotyped as being resistant to new technology. So far, our user engagement data debunks that theory. While our highest engagement comes from patients in their 20s at 46 percent, patients ages 30-79 are close behind at 40 percent.
Communication, Collaboration and Cash Collections
EngageCare gives our colleagues the tools they need to do their best work. It optimizes patient flow, improves coordination between service areas, decreases wait times and reduces anxiety for our patients and their loved ones. Our colleagues can access patient information in one place and can quickly notify service areas of any important updates or changes. Digital monitors in patient access and service areas ensure consistent visibility to patients’ status and improve hand-offs between departments. This implementation provided us an opportunity to collaborate and significantly improve our processes and communication between departments and provide more consistent communication with patients.
Shifting to online self-pre-registrations has relieved pressure on registrars so they can focus on higher priority tasks and higher touch activities that increase patient satisfaction. EngageCare allows our registrars to plan for registrations in advance, enabling them to proactively resolve any issues, such as missing patient information, insurance eligibility or schedule changes, prior to scheduled appointments. This saves time and frustration for patients and staff.
With streamlined tools for both patients and colleagues, we’ve increased our POS collections by 38 percent Q1 2021 compared to Q1 2020. Collecting more dollars on the revenue cycle front-end helps us reduce our overall costs to collect, while mitigating the write-offs that also reduce revenue and increase costs. EngageCare is preparing Goshen for revenue cycle management success by optimizing the front-end to maintain data integrity as patients assume more tasks traditionally handled by registrars and by making it faster and easier to collect patient payments and payer reimbursement.
The Future of Digital Engagement at Goshen
As we continue to roll out EngageCare at Goshen, we’ll enable one-touch mobile payments, which will further increase our POS collections without any additional burden on staff and take consumerism to the next level. We’ve increased staff utilization of EngageCare from 25 to 217 users. And whereas patient access once represented 69 percent of total users, we now represent just 15 percent. Cross-departmental collaboration has soared, and the value in this new technology is recognized throughout the health system.
From patients, to patient access and clinical staff within Goshen, I’m encouraged by the positive feedback I’ve received about EngageCare. One patient said, “I don’t know who is responsible for all the changes going on at the hospital, but I really enjoyed the experience.” I’m excited about the partnership with AccuReg and our continued success using EngageCare.
Want to learn more about Goshen Health’s six-month digital transformation? Read the case study.