How an Innovative User Experience Streamlines Care Access, Cost

September 14, 2020 - Healthcare consumers face no shortage of options and information for accessing care. With the healthcare industry shifting to virtual care as the coronavirus pandemic continues, consumers need tools that streamline access to the right care at the right time at the right cost.

The first generation of virtual care technologies has highlighted the importance of understanding users' needs to design the right experience. Difficulty starting and navigating a tool can cost the user too much time and lead to frustration. Additionally, virtual care formats with requirements for patient privacy and bandwidth (e.g., video, voice) can prove an inconvenience to patients. Likewise, long wait times to meet with providers after enrolling and logging on to a virtual platform can serve as a deterrent and negatively impact utilization.

“Effective healthcare is about getting the patient to the right venue of care,” says Julie Kopp, vice president of product at CirrusMD, a text-first virtual care platform. “The challenges come from complexities of the healthcare system, the regulations that govern care delivery and reimbursement, and the difficulty of the user experience delivered by first-generation telehealth solutions. In many ways, the reality of healthcare runs counter to the needs of individuals seeking care."

According to Kopp, a hallmark of a successful virtual care solution is that it effectively connects patients and providers and reduces or eliminates these barriers. “Our job is to keep the user experience at the forefront, making it simple and hiding the complexity,” she adds.

In other words, a patient should have the peace of mind of being able to go to one place to get all the care they need, whether it's driven by a need for primary care, behavioral health, specialty care, or other health-related questions.

Reducing complexity is particularly essential during the COVID-19 outbreak, and the current public health crisis has accelerated digital transformation.

“As a virtual care platform, we saw the effects of COVID-19 on patients immediately. Early on, we recognized a very different type of experience happening and were able to pivot and support this shift quickly. We use in-app and post-encounter surveys, user research, useability testing, and ongoing data and analytics to tune in closely to what our users need,” Kopp explains. “Additionally, we talk with our customers — employers and health plans — to understand their needs and the unique challenges they experience serving their members or employees, especially throughout the pandemic.”

Integral to this process is providing visibility into the performance and utilization of a digital platform.

“We create detailed reporting and share insights with our customers so they can see success and understand the impact virtual care is having,” Kopp continues. “We continuously look at feedback to understand how things are changing. Our team meets with customers to listen and observe how the platform is meeting their needs. Depending on the organization, their workflows and challenges can be very different.”

But the most critical indicator of a virtual care platform's utility remains whether it delivers a positive experience to the user — the patient. Doing so requires developing a deep understanding of the healthcare experience and its impact on how consumers seek care.

“There are so many places to go that it can be overwhelming for consumers. When you're in a stressful situation and seeking care, you just need a quick and easy way to talk to a doctor,” Kopp maintains.

“Our goal is to take away all of the challenges and the barriers to making care decisions and give patients the feeling of having ownership of their care. They feel empowered to make the right decision.”

What's more, it is vital that any new technology neither recreates the wheel nor introduces additional complexity or waste to the system. To address consumer needs for healthcare most effectively, user-facing virtual care technology needs to lead a patient to the right setting in a timely manner.

“Being a navigator of care is very much part of our mission,” Kopp notes. “Many employers have invested in a range of solutions to support their employees. We want to be able to help navigate the employee or the member to the right level of care, be that urgent care, a primary care provider, or even to a selected ongoing service offered through their employer.”

With proper guidance, an effective virtual care technology is able to streamline access to high-quality care at a lower cost, avoiding both dissatisfaction and waste.

"We want to provide the easiest access to quality care for patients, helping them navigate to services they may need while building success for our customers," Kopp concludes. "With user-centered design, we can get people the right care, in turn, helping change the healthcare model and increase user and customer satisfaction."