Every parent knows the stress of figuring out how to get care for your child if they get sick in the middle of the night or on a weekend. Health Data Movers (HDM) helped one of our clients make this situation a little less stressful for families by expanding after-hours virtual care options for children.
The Client:
HDM’s client is an academic healthcare organization with a leading children’s hospital and more than 85 sites of care. Consistent with their mission, the client is focused on improving patient experience and access to care by expanding and optimizing their digital health offerings.
The Project:
To support these goals, HDM provided a Digital Program Manager for our client’s after-hours virtual care (AHVC) program.
Acting as an integrated part of the client’s Digital Health team, HDM’s program manager developed and executed a strategy to meet the client’s goals of expanding program hours, increasing appointment volumes, and promoting awareness of the program. The project also focused on ensuring the AHVC program incorporated other digital optimization projects that the client was implementing, including on-demand interpreters for virtual visits and appointment reminder messaging.
Through this work, HDM helped the client achieve key strategic metrics for the program, including a 69% increase in appointment volume, 72.5% reduction in no-show rates, and meeting the program’s financial and utilization goals with more than 85% appointment utilization.
The Solution:
To establish program strategy, HDM completed a consumer survey and a competitive analysis of the after-hours care landscape, including digital-first options and local competitors. Using these results, HDM’s program manager developed the roadmap for AHVC program optimizations.
HDM then completed key program optimizations, including:
- Designed and implemented a streamlined MyChart scheduling user experience for the program, including a Spanish language pathway to self-schedule.
- Launched the AHVC program web page in both English and Spanish language on the client’s website in January 2022.
- Executed a promotional messaging campaign in February 2022 via text, email, and phone channels to inform families of program services.
- Collaborated with the client’s Analytics team to develop an after-hours dashboard that provides at-a-glance access to program metrics.
HDM also ensured that the AHVC program integrated other key digital health initiatives that the client was implementing, including:
- On-demand interpreter services for virtual visits
- Appointment reminder and promotional messaging platform
- Addition of after-hours virtual care as an option recommended from the client’s symptom checker app, which guides a child’s family through an assessment of the child’s symptoms to determine the severity of symptoms and recommend at-home care or a follow-up visit
HDM helped to onboard the client’s new after-hours program supervisor. The client team successfully took over program ownership and continues to expand care options for their patients and families.
The Results:
Through this project, HDM helped our client achieve the following results:
- 69% increase in appointment volumes in FY22, compared to FY21 volumes
- 72.5% reduction in no-show rates, from 12% to 3.3%
- Realized the program’s financial goals and utilization goal of 85%+ appointment utilization
- Successfully transitioned program leadership to the client’s new after-hours supervisor, enabling operational ownership of the program
- Positioned the AHVC program to expand access that was needed for patients during the respiratory virus surge of Fall/Winter 2022