Category Archives: Customer Focus

More health systems are charging patients to message their physicians

Posted on by • Posted in Consumer Centered Experience, Consumer Engagement, Consumer Experience, Consumer Needs, Consumer Preferences, Customer Focus, Customer Service Portal, Digital Front Door Platform, Health System, Hospital, Hospital Industry, Patient Portal - Electronic Communication • Leave a comment

https://mailchi.mp/0622acf09daa/the-weekly-gist-december-2-2022?e=d1e747d2d8

 A growing number of health systems have begun to bill for certain electronic communications with patients via portals like MyChart. The systems instituting these practices, including Cleveland Clinic and Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine, have justified the billing based on the time demands placed on their providers to answer messages involving additional efforts, including extensive patient chart review. Northwestern shared that fewer than one percent of MyChart messages incurred fees, which are typically covered by insurance, and require patient consent before billing. 

The Gist: In a time of significant margin pressure, we understand the instinct to seek additional revenue by collecting whatever reimbursement is available. However, in the ongoing transition to technology-enabled hybrid care, this practice has the potential to confuse, or even drive away, patients, who finally began to embrace virtual provider communication during the pandemic. 

Viewing portal messaging as a “digital front door” for patients, rather than a revenue-generating service in and of itself, may prove more fruitful in the long run.

The tight labor market is impacting provider volumes

Posted on by • Posted in Anesthesiologists, Consumer Confidence, Consumer Needs, Consumer Preferences, Consumerism, Customer Focus, Customer Loyalty, Customer Service, Employee Staffing, Employee Staffing Shortage, Healthcare Workforce Shortage, Labor Market, Labor Shortages, Labor Spend Management, Supply Chain, Surgical Techs, Talent Acquisition Strategy, Talent Competition, Tight Labor Market • Leave a comment

https://mailchi.mp/8e26a23da845/the-weekly-gist-june-17th-2022?e=d1e747d2d8

Health systems are on edge after two quarters of shaky financial performance, with skyrocketing labor and supply costs compressing margins. But in addition to cost challenges, many are also reporting a softening of demand, with profitable surgeries and other procedures and diagnostics being hit hard. Some report seeing a drop in elective services (as one COO told us, “We may have finally worked our way through the backlog of delayed procedures from 2020 and 2021”), but in many cases, hospitals are missing the staff necessary to open up much-needed surgical capacity.

One system reported having to shut down operating rooms due to a lack of surgical techs. Even more pressing is a shortage in anesthesia capacity, with systems across the country having trouble staffing anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists. Some practitioners have been rolled up into large, investor-owned groups, which then have taken providers out-of-network for key insurers.

But regardless of ownership structure, a shortage of providers has led to “shoestring staffing” with little ability to cover absences or departures, leading to last-minute cancellations of procedures. Pediatric hospitals have been particularly hard-hit. Most rely on subspecialty-trained anesthesiologists, and as one physician leader pointed out, children’s hospitals use anesthesia not just for surgeries, but also for diagnostics, radiation therapy and other treatments where sedation isn’t required for adults. 

All in, the shortage of anesthesiologists is leading to critical treatment delays and exacerbating revenue concerns. Moreover, systems are facing frustrated consumers, who care little about the complexities of the healthcare workforce shortage and supply chain challenges that led to an abrupt cancellation of their care.