Outpatient Surgery Magazine

through an entire episode of care, sending reminders of upcoming appointments, when it's time to take medications, how to prepare for sur- gery, do their rehab and much more. An app might connect to a wearable device that sends rehab data back to a monitoring physician. The patient might enjoy the ability to chat with or message a clinician straight from their phone. Of course, privacy and HIPPA compliance are mandatory; these safeguards should absolutely be baked into the patient engage- ment software you choose. Patient engagement technology can provide the following functions: • Filling out preadmission forms. No patient enjoys sitting in a waiting room, balancing a clip- board on their legs while their hand cramps up writ- ing endless information on page after page of forms. Providing the patient with a tablet to fill all of that out might save them some aggravation, but that's still wasted time in the facility. Using an app or website to fill out all of those forms beforehand is a convenience that patients will likely appreciate, especially when their minds are so heavily focused on their surgery the day they visit you. • Appointment reminders. Keep your schedule moving with automated patient reminders via text message, email, app alert or automated phone calls. • Direct communication. No more phone tag; apps can enable patients to directly and securely message surgeons and other clinicians. You might even introduce a telehealth component that might be useful for cutting down on unnecessary in-per- son pre-op or follow-up appointments with sur- geons or care managers, especially for recovering patients who are weak or immobile. "The patient might say, it only took me 20 minutes to do this instead of spending 3 hours and taking a half day off," says Mr. Gomes. "That's a tremendous value proposition." He adds that digital interactions can lower readmission rates because the patient's health is more closely monitored, with more chances for interventions if something's going wrong. • Pre- and post-op instructions. By digitally guiding the patient through — and monitoring — the entire episode of care, you can potentially improve patient compliance and outcomes. With an app, you could ping patients with alerts when they need to consume their pre-surgery nutrition drinks, do rehab exercises, take medications and more. You can pro- vide information and education, even videos, about the surgery, rehab, the clinicians and more. • Patient-generated data. Any data you gather is valuable from clinical and marketing perspectives, as well as for negotiating with payers. With an app, you can facilitate and expand that data collection process. And patient satisfaction surveys can be A U G U S T 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 3 7 • YOU GOT A BOT The StreaMD app uses artificial intelligence to create a text "con- versation" with the patient via a chatbot that represents the surgeon. • HOME REHAB The PeerWell app guides patients through their at-home post-op exercise routines. • JUST TWISTLE The Twistle app enables automated check-in and reminders. • LOOPED IN The GetWell Loop app enables clinicians to communicate via text with patients throughout the episode of care.

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