According to a recent healthcare consumer survey, 53% of Americans have missed a hospital appointment within the last year. One explanation for this high “no-show” rate can be found in consumers’ expectations for a convenient, on-demand, end-to-end, seamless, Amazon-like experience – leaving little to no exception for the healthcare industry.
On the brink of 2020, experts at DocASAP – an advanced patient access and engagement platform for health systems, health plans and physician groups – offer 5 healthcare industry predictions regarding patient access and scheduling, advances in healthcare technology as well as expected changes in healthcare digital engagement for 2020 and beyond.
Emerging Payer-Provider Collaboration Creates the Next Opportunity to Expand Access to Care
With value-based care incentivizing payor-provider collaboration, both sides have skin in the game to improve access to care. Access affects three crucial areas of healthcare: quality of care, costs and the patient/member experience. Providers looking to differentiate themselves will work with health plans to implement digital access strategies for two untapped channels: health plan member apps and portals. 47% of healthcare consumers use them when searching for a provider.
Consumers Will Seek Alternative Ways of Getting Care
Health systems will continue to see an increased demand for non-traditional visit types, such as telehealth (like in rural settings), virtual appointments, walk-ins, home visits and phone consultations.
More Voice Search Applications Will Come to Market
In 2019, voice search dominated the news as a major trend. We will see companies like Amazon innovating voice search for healthcare as different applications come to market. We expect to see healthcare systems aggressively work toward leveraging and optimizing voice search as a way to increase patient engagement in 2020 and beyond.
Health Systems Will Pursue a Holistic Approach to Patient Access & Engagement
Providers and health systems will look to more unified, omnichannel solutions to improve the healthcare consumer experience and close gaps in care. Health systems will invest in tools and technologies used to streamline the patient journey from provider search and scheduling to post-visit follow-up notifications.
Health Systems Continue to Play Catch up to Consumer Demands
As consumers’ experiences with other industries have established their expectations for what they want in their healthcare interactions, we expect health systems to only move marginally quicker to adapt to their needs. This will open opportunities for those who are nimbler to better engage healthcare consumers, speed up time to value for patient access, and start gaining their loyalty.
DocASAP provides the leading patient access and engagement platform for health systems, health plans and physician groups. The platform addresses one of healthcare’s biggest challenges – access to care – by helping navigate patients and members to the right provider and care setting at the right time. Backed and promoted in the market by Aetna, Anthem and UnitedHealthcare, DocASAP builds unique payer-provider connections with an eye towards simplified access, increased care compliance and improved population risk management. DocASAP’s provider search and navigation, consumer-facing access center scheduling, provider data management and care-driven reminders help optimize access throughout the healthcare journey to improve outcomes, reduce costs and create a better experience. For more information, visit http://docasap.com or follow on Twitter @DocASAP
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.
