As one of the largest health systems in the Midwest, this institution is known in the healthcare industry for changing patient expectations by giving them convenient access to all they need to stay well, live well, and achieve outstanding treatment outcomes.
In the United States, heart disease remains the #1 killer of adults.
It is also a national leader in heart health outcomes with 350 heart specialists performing more than 20,000 heart procedures each year. But an even greater objective for the organization is to head off heart disease in the first place since it remains the number one killer of adults in the United States. To that end, the health system launched a new heart scan service to help consumers find out if they are at risk for the most common form of heart disease. The heart scan is simple, non-invasive, and can reveal life-changing information about the patient, including if they are at risk for coronary heart disease by measuring the amount of calcified plaque in the coronary arteries. This plaque can cause narrowing of the arteries, which can lead to a heart attack.
The health system planned to offer the low-cost heart scan service at its inpatient and outpatient locations throughout its home state. But the program’s success hinged on making it convenient for consumers to schedule appointments.
When the service first launched, heart scans could either be scheduled over the phone or patients could fill out a form on the health system’s website, which would later be processed for a call-back to schedule an appointment. However, much of the time call center representatives were not able to get back in touch with consumers who submitted an online form.
The health system turned to Carenet to improve patient acquisition and satisfaction by providing a convenient scheduling experience that is trusted by the nation’s leading hospitals and health systems.
Intelligent Scheduling enabled the health system to meet patients’ expectations for a simple and convenient appointment scheduling experience. With online scheduling, consumers no longer have to fill out a form and wait for an agent to call them back. The cloud-based platform provides an intuitive, retail-like guest experience that lets patients schedule appointments online anytime, anywhere, and on any device.
Beyond making scheduling easier, the solution provides comprehensive analytics and reporting so the company can easily measure ROI on an ongoing basis. The online scheduling landing pages are also helping strengthen the health system’s search engine rankings and driving more patients to its website.
After launching Intelligent Scheduling in early 2018, the health system saw an almost 150% increase in heart scan appointments. The health system scheduled approximately 13,000 heart scans in 2018, compared to just 5,215 the previous year.
The solution has also increased patient acquisition. On average, 36% of patients who utilize Intelligent Scheduling are new to the health system. And the one-third of potential patients that were previously lost due to the old telephone tag system have been regained.
Patient satisfaction is rising as well. The Intelligent Scheduling solution averages 90% satisfaction scores for patients who book their appointment online, and the health system has also boosted operational efficiency after implementing the solution.
