Patient Engagement

The future for patient engagement becomes more clear every time we go out and do focus groups with providers and their patients. And what we are hearing from our clients and providers is that 40% of all their patients are on charity and 40% are on payment plans. So you are looking at about 80% of their patients needing charity or payment plans. And a lot of that is manual processes inside of the provider. And we also heard from a lot of consumers and patients that there is confusion about how they can afford their care. Clearly the thing that is on the top of our minds given this rising out of pocket expenses, is how can we anticipate what a patient needs when they leave the hospital using the Experian credit data? And then how can we proactively reach out to that patient with something that could be an activation offer for their charity care or their payment plan immediately after their service? We feel is this is a much more compassionate approach than what happens today. Leveraging the Experian credit data to be more proactive and predictive is a much more compassionate approach that will shift the patient’s behavior instead of the scenario where that patient takes their statement for $500 and put it under the stack of their bills. That one size fits all approach is not going to work anymore. We are moving to a very personalized patient engagement strategy that is more aligned with the patients’ needs and then give the patient all the digital automation tools so they can go and automate it and be done with it very quickly and they can focus on their health. Listen to the complete podcast Learn about our Patient Engagement solutions

There has been a lot of uncertainty with regards to what the future holds for healthcare in the U.S., but the reality is that the move away from transaction-based services where providers are paid by transaction or by interaction with their patients, into a world where some of those services will be paid as bundles, is a reality. At Experian Health, our perspective is that there isn’t going to be one single form of payment. There isn’t going to be only fee for transaction or only fee for value type payments.  There is going to be a variety.  And our solutions can help providers handle that. When we talk to our largest providers, they want to make sure that they are prepared for the future of healthcare, and that their payment and revenue cycle is robust enough that they can handle whether it is a fee for transaction interaction with the provider or with the patient as well as fee for value. In order to do that, they have to optimize their operations. There is a lot of belt tightening happening in the industry and people are trying to see and understand how best to organize, how best to analyze and facilitate that payment cycle. We believe that data and analytics are two of the key ways to do that. Our software tools as well as the data that we embed into that software helps optimize the revenue cycle. Listen to the complete podcast

On April 27, millions of workplaces, employees, parents and children will celebrate the 24th year anniversary of the Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work® Day program, which encourages girls and boys across the country to dream without gender limitations and to think imaginatively about their family, work and community lives. This national, public education program connects what children learn at school with the actual working world. Experian Health's offices will be participating in this program as part of its Women in Leadership initiative. Learn more about it and how your organization can participate.

In case you missed them, below are links to recently created videos of our clients and staff, as well as links to recorded webinars. New Videos Our healthcare provider clients share their experiences and best practices using Experian Health’s solutions. Watch Now Chris Lah from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital shares his insight around healthcare reimbursement challenges. Watch Now Rachel Papka from Steinberg Diagnostic Medical Imaging Centers outlines her orders management challenges and how her organization has overcome them. Watch Now Karly Rowe from Experian Health highlights the importance of matching, managing and protecting patient identities to safeguard medical information and reduce risk. Watch Now Tony Murdoch from Experian Data Quality explains how Experian's Data Quality Solutions can add value to our clients. Watch Now On Demand Webinars Patient Identification – The Challenges Healthcare Leaders and the Industry are Facing Today (HealthLeaders-hosted event). View Now (registration required) The Importance of Managing and Protecting Patient Identities (NAHAM-hosted event). View Now (registration required)  

Below is a collection of some of most compelling article we've read in recent months. We hope you find these interesting, too! One Goal; One Contract: How a Nationwide Health Data Sharing Framework is Revolutionizing Interoperability https://www.himss.org/news/one-goal-one-contract-how-nationwide-health-data-sharing-framework-revolutionizing-interoperability   7 things to know about Aetna's ACA exchange exit https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/payer-issues/7-things-to-know-about-aetna-s-aca-exchange-exit.html   5 steps to cybersecurity for Internet of Things medical devices https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/5-steps-cybersecurity-internet-things-medical-devices    CMS: ICD-10 specificity kicks in Oct. 1, 2016 https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cms-icd-10-specificity-kicks-oct-1-2016   3 leadership skills crucial for a culture change http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/3-leadership-skills-crucial-for-a-culture-change.html

Undoubtedly, you have been monitoring progress toward legislation for healthcare providers to furnish patients with estimates for their cost of care. And if it’s not already in place, there’s a strong chance your state will be next on the list to require price transparency. Additionally, with the continued popularity of high deductible health plans, patients are looking to price shop for their healthcare services. Patients expect more healthcare cost information available online, like in every other industry. Helping patients know what they will owe prior to service can enable them to make more informed decisions about their care and increase patient satisfaction. As more states begin to mandate providing pre-service estimates to patients, it’s critical for healthcare providers to know what solutions are available to help them comply. According to a recent Fierce Healthcare article, “Real healthcare price transparency for consumers is dependent on rich data sources that provide meaningful price information on a wide range of procedures and services.1" Experian Health is here to help! Our Patient Estimates solution is a pricing transparency tool that enables you to create accurate estimates of services, before or at the point-of-service. Patient Estimates is also offered within our Patient Self-Service portal, allowing patients to access estimates on-demand. See how Patient Estimates helped St. Clair Hospital in the Pittsburgh market. According to the June 2016 KLAS Healthcare Price Transparency Solutions Performance Report, “…clients feel [Experian Health’s] Patient Estimates is a critical element in their efforts to help patients know up front what their costs will be, and clients report overall satisfaction with the product, services, and vendor engagement. The solution is seen as very complete and robust, with strong customer support.” Experian Health's Patient Estimates can help your organization: Increase up-front collections Provide patient’s pricing prior to service Increase patient satisfaction Let us help you prepare now for state requirements that will ultimately increase accurate up-front collections and more importantly improve patient satisfaction! Call us at 1 888 661 5657 or email experianhealth@experian.com to get started!     1Ron Shinkman, “A few more states get passing grades on price transparency,” Fierce Healthcare, July 28, 2016

Scott Lee oversees the Experian Health Reference Program. Scott graduated with a BA in Business Management from The University of Texas at San Antonio, and has been with the organization for 12 years, beginning with MPV, which was acquired by Experian in 2011. Scott lives in San Antonio with his wife and two children and says his second home is the San Antonio Zoo based on how much time he and his family spend there. Scott is a catalyst for fostering the connection between Experian Health’s current and potential clients to allow the former to share their positive experience and ROI using our solutions. Our clients also benefit from being a reference by learning about the workflow and best practices of similar organizations. Because of the importance of protecting our clients’ privacy, Scott schedules calls on behalf of our clients and ensures that the experience is mutually beneficial and minimally disruptive for all parties involved. “We’re very appreciative of our reference clients, and it’s a privilege for our potential clients to hear their experiences firsthand.” he said. Share your story by being an Experian Health Reference Client! Contact your Sales Director/Account Manager or contact Scott Lee at scott.lee@experian.com or (210) 582-6320.

Below is an update from the Experian Health  Support Team. Network & System Performance Last six months: Upgrades to the network, compute and storage infrastructure have improved performance and scalability. Enhanced alerting and reporting to strengthen proactive measures for issues remediation Next six months: Data Center move and consolidation will localize production communications to improve efficiencies Automation improvements to reduce on-boarding times for new clients Subscribe to Receive Product Support Updates Opt in to receive emails about significant product updates or changes. Access the Experian Health Product Dashboard here.    

Our congratulations and admiration go out to all Experian Health clients who were recently recognized by Hospitals and Health Networks (H&HN) magazine with the prestigious 2016 “Most Wired” distinction: http://www.hhnmag.com/articles/7393-2016-most-wired-themes. Following are two (of the MANY) Experian Health clients who were honored. Altru Health System has been recognized in the Advanced Category in this year’s HealthCare’s Most Wired™ survey. The survey, released on July 6 by the American Hospital Association’s Health Forum, is a leading industry barometer measuring information technology (IT) use and adoption among hospitals nationwide. It examined how organizations are leveraging IT to improve performance for value-based healthcare in the areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management, quality and safety, and clinical integration. St. Clair Hospital’s Patient Estimates tool, the only one of its kind in the greater Pittsburgh region, has garnered the Mt. Lebanon-based medical center Hospitals & Health Networks (H&HN) magazine’s prestigious Innovator Award for its co-development of the cost transparency software. Patient Estimates, which was made available to the public earlier this year at www.stclair.org, gives patients the ability to learn, in advance, what their estimated out-of-pocket costs will be for services at St. Clair or the Hospital’s Outpatient centers. Patient Estimates is highly accurate and based on information provided by each patient’s health benefit plan. Please contact us to add your organization’s Innovative Achievements to our future Shout Outs!