Renown Health

Mitchell Fong

Over the last two decades, technological advances have drastically improved customer experience, satisfaction, and self-service capabilities across all industries. For example, you can now buy homes, receive loans, and order food delivery from any device with the internet. Amazon is a demonstrative example of at-home shopping with finger touch technology and excellent, real-time customer support. Healthcare, however, had not yet leveraged technology to achieve this level of transformation, at least, until recently. The COVID-19 pandemic has fast-tracked the adoption of technology in healthcare out of necessity. With this evolving progression, applied technology will be opportunistic to revolutionize the patient experience.

The patient navigation experience is essential for patient satisfaction and quality healthcare. Patient navigation includes accessibility, support and guidance for the patient at all stages across the care continuum. Technology can be leveraged to track clinical progress, support patient assessment, and enable virtual telemedicine visits with healthcare team members. Successful patient care navigation utilizes emerging technology to add value to patient healthcare by facilitating access, scheduling flexibility, and enabling resource management at the moment when patients need it.

Through the lens of care navigation, value depends on the ability of the care team to deliver proper care at the right time and the right place. Technology should create expedited access for patients, while also providing a comprehensive summary of their health. Value is not only from collecting the appropriate information, but also by applying that information in a timely manner. This communication must get to the patient in an actionable way yet easy to understand to improve patient care.

The mobile Global Position System (GPS) is a parallel example for the opportunity in patient navigation. Before the ease of access to the internet, you would pull out a map (or multiple), locate the starting and destination locations and create an itinerary. This was a valuable albeit a tedious process fraught with gaps for real-time support. As the internet became more accessible, navigation evolved with websites (such as “Mapquest”) that would generate a route for you based on starting and destination locations. Additionally, you could add preferences to the route, like avoiding toll roads and freeways. However, without accessible internet, this could not solve the need for real-time (detours for example).

Finally, the smartphones came with mobile GPS capability, which allowed real-time navigation. This incorporated the core features of prior navigation systems, and enhanced navigation by allowing the system to automatically update and adjust the route for unexpected conditions. This real-time feedback loop for updating the route ensures the directions are dynamically current. This provides flexibility for the driver to make additional stops and navigate road closures seamlessly. This mobile GPS navigation process is the form of “care navigation” we need to bring to healthcare; navigation with real-time, relevant updates for our patients.

“Virtual care will continue to evolve and change the healthcare industry for years to come. Empowering patients and care team members with the ability to make meaningful changes in real-time is essential.”

Under our current system, patients may linger for months or years between visits with their primary care team without any ongoing dialogue. The patient may be given an initial care plan and be discharged to “manage their care” with limited support, until their next visit. At that time, the primary care team will reassess the patient and devise an updated care path. However, during that interval, significant changes in clinical parameters may have required earlier interventions, which may have led to better outcomes. This highlights the patient navigation gap that is analogous with GPS navigation evolution. Technology has the opportunity to improve care navigation by providing tools to empower care teams and patients in real-time. Ultimately, this information will lead to appropriate clinical interventions in care plans and guidance to the patient in real-time. This is analogous to how smartphones have revolutionized navigation to include real-time updates and feedback. We must make it a priority to ensure we deliver personalized care to every patient yet still navigate patients to the “Land of the Healthy”. In addition, our healthcare “GPS” needs to be both reactive and proactive at the same time to drive improvement in patient outcomes. Ultimately, this type of service will change the way care teams interact with patients and improve the relationship with each individual patient.

It is not sufficient to communicate with the patient only when they are physically at our locations, particularly high-risk patients. Technology and artificial intelligence (AI)can capture data along the patients’ care journey leading to real-time care delivery. The care team must be able to access data and respond in the moment to drive personalized improvements to the care journey for every patient. These interventions must also be communicated in real-time to the patient to get the patient back on route. Technology is an enabler that will allow healthcare to revolutionize care navigation in order to provide better quality care in real-time.

Virtual care will continue to evolve and change the healthcare industry for years to come. Empowering patients and care team members with the ability to make meaningful changes in real-time is essential. It is equally important that the communication is clear and concise so the patient can understand the directions. Our goal should be to navigate every patient to the destination of “Land of the Healthy,” but the “GPS” must continue to update based on where the patient is on their journey at the moment to be clinically effective.