PatientWisdom’s digital platforms improve health and care by listening to patients, providers, and community members. In an age of consumerism patients expect their care providers to know them, offer relevant products and services, and accurately anticipate their needs. Leading health organisations strive to leverage the best interpersonal care and the best technological solutions to meet patient needs. Here, Greg Makoul, founder and CEO of PatientWisdom, describes the importance of patients when it comes to turning real world perspectives into actionable insights to improve the experience and delivery of care.
Q: Patient engagement and patient-centered care are hot topics for 2018. Why do you feel the time is now for putting the patient first in care delivery?
It has always been time for putting the patient first. The difference in 2018: Both patients and health organizations are more vocal about the need to experience patient-centered care in everyday practice, not just see it highlighted on billboards and in websites or conferences. Focusing on what matters to patients will be the key to leading in this new era.
Q: In your work in the healthcare industry, have you seen a growing trend of patients seeking meaningful connections with providers? Can you provide an example?
The emphasis on meaningful connections is not new. When we ask patients to tell us what makes a provider great, they most often point to qualities and behaviors like listening, communication, and empathy. In the current environment, this is exactly what many providers are struggling to deliver.
Q: Provider burnout and alert fatigue are serious issues. What tools/resources can help minimize these concerns while also strengthening the patient/provider relationship?
Patients and providers are bearing the brunt of clinical encounters that feel more like transactions than healing relationships. At PatientWisdom, we leveraged communication science to make it easy for providers to quickly and reliably learn what matters to their patients, so they can do a better job without taking longer.
Q: How are new healthcare IT advancements helping to improve the patient and provider experience?
Healthcare IT advancements that listen to patients, rather than tell patients what they ‘need to know’ from a vendor perspective, improve the patient and provider experience by improving interpersonal communication and connection. Digital tools should augment – not replace – communication.
Q: How are new healthcare IT advancements helping to keep pace with movements in consumerism and value-based care?
No matter what happens in Washington, D.C., consumerism, value-based care, and the ‘for me’ economy will persist as driving forces for change. The very essence of these movements is a recognition that people have grown accustomed to a highly personalized experience in most aspects of their lives and attach value to achieving outcomes that matter to them.
Q: Within hospitals and health systems, who is the driving force behind integrating these technologies?
Health organizations are different – as the saying goes: “If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen one.” At the C-suite level, the driving force may be the CEO, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Experience Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer, Chief Information Officer, CMIO, CMO, or CNO. But providers are essential ‘deciders’ – they are looking for solutions that help them do a better job without taking longer.
Q: Are providers receptive to this technology to strengthen the overall experience and patient engagement?
Absolutely. Providers have been very open to learning about what matters to their patients as people – things like their goals and barriers, their agenda, how their health affects their lives, and their orientation toward shared decision making. In fact, we now have leaders asking to deploy PatientWisdom in their clinical areas ahead of the launch schedule.
Q: Once a technology such as PatientWisdom is rolled out, what is the patient feedback? Is it also helping providers to retain patients?
The results are very promising: 90% of patients report that PatientWisdom improves communication with providers who use it and 95% of patients rate their visit as going ‘extremely well’, a marked improvement over baseline. In terms of retention, one organization saw a 10.7% reduction in the new patient no-show rate for people using PatientWisdom. That’s another critical form of ROI.
Q: Tools that provide actionable insights are helping to improve the delivery of care. What else can providers and patients learn from these tools and resources?
People in healthcare are awash in data. They don’t need more data per se; they need meaningful, actionable distillations of the data to drive learning and improvement. For instance, we have found that about 30% of patients using PatientWisdom say they don’t have an advance directive but are ready to talk about it. That’s a huge opportunity to help both patients and providers.
An expert in doctor-patient communication and shared decision making, Greg Makoul (Founder & CEO, PatientWisdom) is internationally recognized for a radical common sense, patient-centered approach to innovation. He started PatientWisdom because professional and personal experience made it clear that listening to patients – individually and at scale – is the real key to improving health and care. Greg earned a BA from Wesleyan, PhD from Northwestern, and MS in Health Care Delivery Science from Dartmouth.