Work Sample #12 - Hospitals Need To Think Mobile

In April, 2018, I was tasked to write a blog post on the need for healthcare providers like hospitals to better incorporate mobile technology into their patient service.



Title: How providers can embrace a mobile strategy to empower patients

Subhead: The right digital technology can shorten ER lines and lower costs

Mobile technology can help hospitals diagnose patients remotely, route them to care more efficiently, and reduce strain on emergency rooms. So why don’t more provider organizations follow a mobile strategy?

Public demand for mobile is clear. According to our research, 75 percent of consumers want digital technology to help manage their health. In the U.S. alone, virtual healthcare could be saving the health industry billions of dollars annually. It’s now an opportunity play for providers; it will soon become a survival strategy.

It’s time provider organizations got serious about mobile strategy by staking out some quick mobile wins.

Consider the emergency room. Emergency departments at provider organizations are expensive and overused. Many times patients could be treated as effectively, and less expensively, at a clinic or urgent-care facility. Providers can offer patients “find-care” mobile apps so they can instantly seek out the nearest and most suitable same-day care option in a time of need.

Mobile offers other tools to alleviate in-patient demand, such as integrated video visits. Have a strange-looking rash on your back? Snap a picture with your mobile device and discuss it with a clinician within minutes without leaving home. That is a real encounter which can be logged, coded, and billed by the provider without the resource drain of a hospital visit.

Payers need to take up the mobile banner as well, as a tool for price transparency and to help members determine which service providers are in their network. Mobile apps can geolocate users, direct them to the closest in-network care providers, and even book an appointment time.

Healthcare’s disconnect with technology has been glaring. Demand for virtual health is rising across the board. Yet only 21 percent of consumers report ever receiving it. Only 16 percent say they have engaged in a remote consultation.

It could be that a provider is investing in mobile technology, but of the wrong kind. Maybe a mobile platform isn’t properly designed or being marketed correctly.

Whatever the case, more can and must be done. At the moment, mobile remains highly underutilized as it relates to consumers needing to understand how to get the right care, and where to go. There is no business case for standing pat. Providers who don’t work now to increase their mobile profile with consumers decrease their ability to remain relevant.