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3 Little Known Patient Experience Improvements Using Salesforce Health Cloud

Aug 25, 2021 Shawn McGee

As healthcare providers increasingly shift to a technology-centered operational model, the opportunities for improved patient outcomes also expand.

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As healthcare providers increasingly shift to a technology-centered operational model, the opportunities for improved patient outcomes also expand. Providers leveraging Salesforce’s Health Cloud have a broader view of the patient and a better handle on proactive actions thanks to the combination of dashboards, data integrations, and detailed information.

This expansive amount of patient information with Health Cloud and the ability to easily see and interpret it fills gaps in gaining a 360-degree view of a patient. Even beyond the view of the patient, Salesforce’s solution offers the opportunity to improve the overall patient experience.

Many of these patient experience improvements are apparent, and still, others are highlighted repeatedly on the Salesforce site and elsewhere. However, the potential for an improved patient experience doesn’t end with a 360-degree view or mapping a patient’s treatment path. Other, lesser-known improvements can level up the experience for your patients, and by extension, promote better care outcomes, more proactive healthcare actions, and even support the organization’s health and bottom line.

3 Surprising Patient Experience Improvements with Health Cloud

Lifestyle and Circumstance Information

Health Cloud provides care teams with a platform for all kinds of patient information, from communication preferences to care plans to medications. But using the tools within Health Cloud offers the opportunity for even more personalized attention and care.

Information about a patient’s circumstance can be stored within their file. Many providers use this information to identify risk factors or lifestyle situations that can impact a patient’s ongoing health or ability to engage in their own health care. For instance, a patient with no transportation may have a difficult time making it to an appointment. One who has recently lost a job may not be able to pay for the same frequency of in-person care that they had previously.

Knowing this information - and more importantly, having it handy when talking to the patient or reviewing their file - can allow providers and support staff to offer assistance and guidance on ways that a patient can maintain their care.

Support staff can reach out ahead of time for the patient without transportation options to arrange a ride. For the unemployed patient, a clinician may offer alternative care options that would be less expensive or recommend organizations that help patients apply for Medicare. These examples are just the beginning of the personalized care that can be provided when this level of information is at the healthcare provider’s fingertips.

Timely Patient Information with Salesforce Knowledge

When a provider or clinician outlines a care plan, a patient may have every intention of following the plan when they walk out of the provider’s office. But as the saying goes, life gets in the way. We forget to take medication, make follow-up appointments, or perform prescribed therapies. Support staff can prod patients when an appointment is missed, and automation can send notifications if needed.

What really gets buy-in from patients, though, is understanding why what they are doing is important. A provider may explain why a care plan was recommended or even the importance of specific elements. But office visits can be overwhelming, and cognitive load can cause patients to miss or simply forget some of what they are to do. The action they should take after the visit may be overwhelming, and without a good reason to do so, are easily set aside.

That’s where Salesforce Knowledge comes in. Salesforce Knowledge is a knowledge management system that can store articles and information about various conditions, therapies, care plans, medications, and actions, and anything else that can help patients understand the what and why of a diagnosis or treatment plan.

These knowledgebase articles can be incorporated into a patient’s treatment flow, and links to the information can be sent to the patient’s communication channel of choice.

For instance, a patient is warned they are showing signs of pre-diabetes, and a care plan of diet changes and exercise is prescribed along with a 3-month follow-up appointment. Under normal circumstances, a provider would simply assume that the patient was researching and following the plan, with the results evident at the next appointment.

Salesforce Knowledge allows for a more active role in engaging the patient in their care. If the patient has listed text messages as a preferred communication method, the provider could send information or even recipes and reminders directly to the patient’s phone. These same pieces could be emailed to the patient. This gives pointed reminders to the patient of what they should be doing, as opposed to a “hope and see” strategy.

Streamlined, Single Source Online Payments

Paying medical bills can be stressful. Unfortunately, it’s made more so when simplified payment options aren’t available or when multiple billing statements come in from various providers for the same incident.

We’ve all experienced this. You go to see the doctor, and a few weeks later, you receive a billing statement. You send a payment for those services and then get a second statement for the same appointment, but for your lab work and results. The more complicated the situation or procedure, the more statements you might receive. Add to that a lack of easy payment options, and it’s no wonder that patients can get confused and irritated about medical billing statements and delay paying them.

With Health Cloud, providers can integrate various billing systems into a single portal for a patient to view. Additionally, applications and integrations are available in the Salesforce AppExchange market, like Blackthorn Payments, that can make online bill paying easy. This can be an especially welcome addition to the patient experience since 9 out of 10 patients indicate that they would prefer to make payments online. This is a win-win for providers who are improving the patient experience and their cash flow at the same time.

Conclusion

The noticeable patient experience improvements that a Health Cloud implementation can bring to your business are valuable on their own. But the opportunities to simplify a patient’s life and increase patient satisfaction, awareness, and knowledge shouldn’t go ignored.

These benefits, while not as celebrated as others, offer no less of an advantage. Better patient experience leads to better patient satisfaction. Higher satisfaction leads to increased engagement. And Increased engagement results in superior patient outcomes.

 

Realizing these benefits within your practice may require the help and guidance of an experienced Salesforce consulting team to improve the patient experience and uncover the gems that lead to better care. Six Consulting has the depth of knowledge, the understanding of the healthcare field, and the patient empathy to help you create lasting patient care improvements with Health Cloud. Contact us for a discussion on how you can make your patient’s lives easier and healthier.

“But the opportunities to simplify a patient’s life and increase patient satisfaction, awareness, and knowledge shouldn’t go ignored.”

  • Shawn McGee
  • Office Manager

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