To support patient engagement hospitals in the United States are using automated outreach. Automatic outreach is a process that utilizes healthcare technology solutions, and tools to proactively engage and connect with patients.
What can automatic outreach be used for?
Automatic outreach enables providers to reach patients promptly to offer care support, appointment or medication reminders, and notifications. Healthcare organizations can use automatic outreach to close preventive care gaps and enhance population health. The main objectives of automatic outreach are:
- Sending appointment reminders to patients for upcoming doctor appointments. This can also help reduce the issue of no-shows.
- Automatic notifications can be delivered to patients to keep them well-informed about wellness programs, preventive care, and medication adherence. When patients are up to date with health education they are driven to improve their general lifestyle.
- Medication reminders can be easily sent to ensure compliance and reduce the chances of missed doses. This can also enhance health outcome levels.
- Automated systems can be implemented for effective chronic disease management.
- Providers can connect with patients to offer post-discharge care and help address any patient queries.
What channels can be used for automated outreach?
Automatic outreach in healthcare can be deployed through the following technology solutions and tools:
- Mobile apps
- Patient portal EMR Software
- Text messages
- Emails
- Phone calls
The Role of automatic outreach in population health
By providing proactive and targeted engagement with individuals within a certain community, automatic outreach plays an important role in population health management. Here are some of the most important tasks of automatic outreach in population health:
Automatic outreach can be used for health promotion and preventive care. Healthcare organizations can use it to educate individuals about preventive care. Such as vaccinations and screenings. Recently, Scripps Health and the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System have leveraged automated outreach campaigns for vaccination appointments. Through automated outreach, healthcare organizations were able to successfully give flu shots to tens of thousands more people.
Individuals with chronic diseases are frequently managed in population health. By sending reminders, educational materials, and self-management resources, automatic outreach can help these people receive continuing treatment. Automated systems can remotely monitor patients’ health indicators, provide feedback, and intervene as necessary.
Effective coordination of care is essential for community health management. Automatic outreach can help healthcare professionals communicate more easily, allowing smooth transitions between various care locations and enhancing follow-up care.
Moving ahead
Automatic outreach can be used to proactively reach out and engage with patients using various digital communication channels. Care gaps can be closed and patient outcomes can greatly enhance through automatic outreach.