An Interview with Dean Augustine Choi of Weill Cornell Medicine by Associate Editor Samara Rosenfeld.

Talking Diversity in Academic Medicine

Our popular podcast, Data Book, features a discussion on bringing EHRs to surgery centers.

Making Tech Ambulatory 

Megan Coder, Pharm.D., M.B.A., discusses the next steps for digital therapeutics to have a permanent place in the health landscape.

Making Digital Therapeutics Last

In an effort to diversify its supply chain and support the local economy, Sentara Healthcare 

 the creation of a Supplier Diversity Executive Council. The not-for-profit system of 12 hospitals based in Norfolk, Virginia consists of over 300 sites of care and 28,000 employees.

Each year, the company typically spends around $2.4 billion on supply chain. But the pandemic caused the sum to spike to over $3 billion, while prices for personal protective equipment (PPE) 

. Under the new model, Sentara plans to grow partnerships with local and regional suppliers, in addition to companies owned by women, people of color and veterans.

Jennifer McPherren, vice president of supply chain, will chair the Council which will be made up of the health system’s director of diversity and inclusion, vice president of government relations, and representatives from the company’s real estate and construction divisions to help grow contracts with local companies.

The initiative began in 2017, when Sentara took a look at its existing vendors and began to stratify them and identify small businesses run by women and minorities (SWAM), explained Terrie Edwards, a corporate vice president at Sentara, in an interview with 

“In 2020, right before the pandemic, we decided that we were going to be very intentional about building our diversity base, not just ethnically, but by location, geographically, and types of businesses that align more closely with SWAM,” Edwards said.

When the COVID-19 pandemic squeezed the global supply chain and created mass PPE shortages, Sentara was able to contract with two local companies to help offset the shortage.

“There was a small business in the Virginia Beach market that was in the process of learning to make procedural masks, and we needed procedural masks, and they got the pricing of those procedural masks pretty competitive. So, we switched from the national vendor ordering the procedural masks overseas to this local vendor, who has become a partner with ours,” Edwards explained. Switching to a local vendor, the company was able to save money by cutting down on transportation costs.

Sentara currently gets vendors through its national group purchasing organization or through local and regional contracts, while a new position at Sentara will be charged with broadening the overall supplier base. Through this initiative, the company hopes to ensure enough supplies are on hand or delivered when disruptions like COVID-19 or the 

Citing the effects of Hurricane Maria on the pharmaceutical industry in 

 in 2017, Edwards emphasized the importance of diverse supply chains and alternative product streams.

“What you realize is when you become so dependent on another country, you really are at their mercy. If they dry up, you have no alternative,” Edwards said.

The company has also increased its identification and tracking of tier 2 vendors, or vendors subcontracted by those with whom Sentara contracts. “We had one project that was an emergency room project at one of our hospitals…And when we broke it down, it was about 50% of the total subcontractors, or tier 2, were minority businesses or small businesses. That was pretty exciting to see that our contractors are now moving in that direction as well.”

As part of its 3-year diversification goal, small suppliers will receive quarterly education sessions through Sentara in an effort to better respond to proposal requests and thrive as long-term partners. This way, Sentara can understand what products businesses might have and help those who qualify become certified SWAM vendors.

Because the transition offers a much richer supply chain, other health systems are interested in Sentara’s initiative, Edwards said. “I think all businesses are realizing that that's value added. And if you can infuse money in your local economy, then that helps everyone, especially at a time like this.”

Overall, the system initiative strives to look at its 

 in a holistic manner. By infusing money into the local economy, it opens a window for more jobs to be created and the potential for employer-provided health benefits, ultimately spreading equity within the community. The full diversity and inclusion plan encompasses employees, community commitments and relationships with business partners.

“What we hope to do with our diversity is really lessen our dependency on a few key vendors, invest in our local community and create jobs by supporting local businesses,” Edwards said.

Articles

Sentara Healthcare announces the formation of its Supplier Diversity Executive Council.

Sentara Healthcare Initiative Aims to Boost Supply Chain Diversity 

. Gary Fulbright, CEO/executive director of Citizens Memorial Hospital and Citizens Memorial Health Care Foundation in Bolivar, Missouri, announced his retirement on Thursday, which will be effective December 31, 2021, according 

. Fulbright joined CMH in June 1982 as its controller, became chief financial officer in 2003, and took over as CEO/executive director in January 2020. Fulbright was credited with leading CMH through the pandemic, setting up a designated treatment area, a drive-through testing site, and community vaccination events. He broke ground on the 8,300-square-foot Willard Medical Center that will open in November 2021. The CMH and CMH Foundation boards of directors will form a committee and to find Fulbright’s replacement, according to the statement.

Lori House, MHA, CPHIMS, CPC, has been named CEO of Sevier County Hospital, in Dequeen, Arkansas, members of the board announced this week. House has most recently served as the revenue cycle manager for Healthy Connections out of Mena, Arkansas. She has more than 18 years of experience and described herself as a “servant leader” 

. House will begin her new post June 1, 2021. A new medical center is scheduled to open in spring 2022.

Jeanette Filpi, MHA, has been appointed interim CEO of Southwest Health System, based in Cortez, Colorado. Her appointment was effective April 26, 

 released last week. CFO Rick Shrader, briefly stepped in as CEO until a long-term interim CEO could be selected, according to Southwest Health. Former CEO Tony Sudduth resigned April 6, 2021. Filip will serve while a search continues for a permanent leader for the health system, which operates Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez. Filpi will recruit a permanent chief nursing officer to succeed Karen Labonte. Chief Operating Officer Kerri White-Singleton is currently serving as interim chief nursing officer.

Clay Ritchey has been named CEO of Verato, maker of next-generation identify resolution technology, the company announced this week. Ritchey has held senior leadership roles over the last three decades across the healthcare and technology/software space. He most recently served as CEO of Evariant, a healthcare SaaS SRM and big data analytics company—ultimately leading that company to a successful merger with Healthgrades in January 2020. Verato’s enterprise master person index (EMPI) integrates patient data collected from within and beyond the healthcare system, allowing clients to integrate their solutions for CRM, analytics, clinical, and digital experience faster and with lower overall cost than any other technology.

MED MOVES: Fulbright to Retire From CMH; Appointments at Southwest Health System, Sevier County Hospital

 for patients, regardless of what type of health insurance coverage they have, is a challenge that millions of Americans face when dealing with health issues.

A 2020 report from the Commonwealth Fund found that 1% of Americans under age 64 spent $5,000 or more out of pocket for medical services, and 5% spent more than $1,700. Deductibles in employer-sponsored plans 

 in the decade from 2008 to 2017, federal data show.


That’s why CarePayment, a patient financing company that partners with providers to offer patients 0.00% APR financing, came about.

The company was founded in 2004, but hit the restart button in 2012, primarily because it saw an opportunity to address the affordability gap in healthcare, as costs began started to shift from the payer to the consumer. A Transunion study found that 

 payments grew 52% from 2012 to 2017, and a third of hospitals have more than $10 million in bad debt.

“That increased the financial burden on the consumer/patient,” says Ed Caldwell, CarePayment’s CEO. “That manifests itself in two ways. One was patients who became saddled with medical bills they didn’t expect and can’t pay; the second was patients avoiding needed care due to the costs they couldn’t afford, which can result in a more catastrophic case somewhere down the road.”

Both outcomes were suboptimal for both the patient and provider, and coupled with the limited competition in the space, the CarePayment team felt it had a solution that far outpaced those of its competitors.


“We are the only player in the patient financing space that offers a zero percent interest program to the patient who asks for a long-term payment plan, and a pre-bad debt solution for those who are non-responsive to their provider’s attempt to collect an amount due after their care,” Caldwell says. “The end result of all of this is our ability to drive an unparalleled patient experience, along with a return on investment that’s really intently focused on collecting from patients who otherwise would have ended up in bad debt.”

Everyone qualifies, regardless of credit, and the company offers a white-glove approach to the patient collection process, which, along with the affordable payment options, creates an industry-leading and unique patient experience.

“We are so confident in our approach to the problem and the ROI we can drive for our provider clients, that we contractually guarantee a positive financial result,” Caldwell says.

The company primarily plays in the hospital space, with more than 90% of customers and clients coming from hospital or acute care. About 25% of the approximate 5,800 hospitals across the country that have formerly chosen a financing vendor that specializes in patient financing to help them solve the problem.

“Including us, there are really four major patient financing vendors, though some new competitors are making noise in the industry,” Caldwell says. “CarePayment is the largest of the four in terms of annual loans offered to patients.”

Transforming the Patient Experience Digitally

Today, there’s more of an opportunity to optimize the patient engagement and financial experience through digital means.

CarePayment is leading the effort on that front, with solutions now available through Epic’s App Orchard with MyChart integration, helping to digitally transform the patient experience, drive increased patient satisfaction and make things easy for hospital or health system staff.

The integration of MyChart offers a digital-first experience that allows a patient to see their balance in MyChart, inquire about long-term payment plan options with CarePayment, how to pay over time and view the monthly payment and term length if they choose the program. The patient is fully informed and can make a payment decision quickly and without staff intervention.

Yet, this is just one way the company is helping providers digitally transform the patient

experience, as not every patient is comfortable in a digital only environment. Seniors, who are high utilizers of healthcare, have told the company they want high touch but with human support when needed, including the ability to call CarePayment’s in-house customer support team with questions.

“You have to have a robust, comprehensive platform to meet patients where they are because healthcare consumers are incredibly diverse, and their engagement and payment support needs are diverse,” Caldwell says. “Our focus at CarePayment is to make it easy for all patients to afford and pay their healthcare bill.”

CarePayment has seen significant year-over-year growth since 2012, even during the pandemic.

“This is a situation where everyone wins,” Caldwell says. “Patients win because they can afford to pay their bill; providers win because they see an improved patient experience coupled with increased collections that otherwise would have turned into bad debt.”

The company hit the restart button in 2012 when it saw an opportunity to address the affordability gap in healthcare, as costs began started to shift from the payer to the consumer. 

CarePayment’s Digital Strategy Aims to Improve Patient Experience

Mary Caffrey is the Associate Editorial Director of AJMC/Managed Care for MJH Life Sciences. Her editorial responsibilities include 

The COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity for organizations to think about how they can be proactive and monitor new regulatory changes in real time, said Ogi Kwon, a manager in the regulatory team at 

Kwon explains how he feels price transparency as a whole while be something that continues to be iterated upon going forward and how requirements could take different forms. 

R1 RCM is a revenue cycle management company that offers technology-driven solutions to transform health care providers' patient experience and financial performance.

Videos

Ogi Kwon, of R1 Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) offers insights on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and the future of price transparency. 

The Effects of COVID-19 on Patient Experience and Price Transparency 

David Hunt is the founder and chief marketing and development officer at

Over the last several years we have seen a gradual shift towards home healthcare and a renewed effort by physicians across the spectrum to support aging comfortably in place. While the COVID-19 pandemic and its dramatic impact on hospitals and senior care facilities have certainly accelerated the adoption of this model, many hospitals and health systems were making gradual investment in the home care delivery model long before overcapacity, fears of COVID infection, and patient isolation came to the forefront.

One of the biggest non-COVID factors fueling this shift is the looming surge of older Americans. According to

, by 2030 all baby boomers will be older than 65 years old, which means that 1 in every 5 U.S. residents will be of retirement age. Additionally, by 2034 there will be more people over 65 years old than under the age of 18 for the first time in history—an important demographic milestone and one that our already burnt-out healthcare system may not be prepared to handle.

Recently, we have begun to see more action when it comes to federal support for this shift in care. Part of President Biden’s newly announced $2.3 trillion

 would devote $400 billion to providing seniors more medical care at home, with the aim of shifting treatment away from the hospitals and senior care facilities still struggling financially and operationally from the COVID pandemic, and looking for better ways to deliver care in a lower-cost setting.

Over the last several years we have just begun to see the benefits of this evolution in post-acute care delivery. Not only do seniors 

, but research shows they are more likely to experience better outcomes when they do. We also know that the less time patients spend in the hospital, the less likely they are to experience the cognitive decline, disorientation, and behavioral health challenges that often stem from the isolation of long-term inpatient care.

For hospitals and health systems, the growing momentum behind value-based care models coupled with programs like CMS’ 

—which enhances the fee-for-service model to deemphasize volume and prioritize value and experience—have created plenty of reasons to explore how to better plan, educate, and support a patient after discharge to reduce readmissions. Increasingly this has meant expanding the role of their primary care physician and providing in-home services to improve outcomes.

How Technology Is Enabling Better Collaboration

Leveraging new health technology has been—and will undoubtedly continue to be—critical to ensuring that seniors have access to the same care coordination support that they would in an acute or skilled nursing setting.

In one hospital study, approximately 20% of patients were 

discharged with one or more vital sign instability

. These people had higher odds of readmission or death within 30 days of discharge. Leveraging digital health tools to improve patient education and discharge planning is one way that hospital systems can more easily help patients successfully transition back into their home environment, improve patient satisfaction, while reducing risk of readmission and also costs. Remote patient monitoring, artificial intelligence, and virtual care have all become critical parts of successfully bridging these gaps in care.

How Hospitals Are Benefitting from the Shift

The good news is that not only are these technologies increasingly accessible and customizable, but financially advantageous for health systems to implement. The Affordable Care Act, CMS’ 

, and the recently instituted Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, or MIPS, have all made pursuing or expanding value-based-care driven home health programs more advantageous for hospitals and health systems than ever.

The impact of this shift is, rightfully, becoming a major topic in the national conversation around healthcare. Big-tech leaders like 

 to encourage policymakers to include the home as a major site of healthcare delivery, shining a light on just how transformative they expect this demographic shift to be.

As an unprecedented number of older adults enter retirement age, the entire healthcare continuum, from older adults to pediatrics, will need to be prepared to handle and adapt to a higher demand on resources than ever before. Moving healthcare home is just part of the growing personalization of healthcare that has been made possible by advancements in technologies that seamlessly connect a patient to their care team. In the coming years, physicians must be poised to leverage these technologies to continue providing care that keeps patients safe, allowing them to recover, rest, and age in place.

David Hunt is the founder and chief marketing and development officer at 

, an industry-leading healthcare organization creating new pathways to modern aging with technology-driven preventative care services

Moving healthcare home is just part of the growing personalization of healthcare that has been made possible by advancements in technologies that seamlessly connect a patient to their care team.

Bridging the Gap: Moving Large Healthcare Systems into the Home

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to rethink what can effectively be done from home. One of the most serendipitous realizations is that the home can be the safest, most cost-effective and restorative setting for delivering and receiving healthcare. While the negatives of the pandemic are too numerous to count, as the founder and CEO of a healthcare technology company, I view the movement of more healthcare services into the home setting as a positive trend that will continue even after we reach herd immunity. But this shift to more home-based care requires that providers update the technology required to deliver care effectively.

When you consider the size and medical complexities of the aging population, combined with the shrinking workforce to care for them, and the declining numbers of hospital systems nationally (leaving “care deserts” and swaths of underserved communities), it’s not hard to see how the home is poised to be a critical locus for the future of care delivery.

Yet for healthcare to come home—and for it to remain there – a different kind of infrastructure must be built. The formula for that infrastructure can be broken down into three parts: 

. This is a formula for achieving optimal results in the home health, hospice and rehabilitative sectors, where we have equipped healthcare organizations with the right tools to manage people, streamline processes, and digitize clinical documentation so they can deliver the best care possible.

Historically, “people” has meant the individuals working in the back office and the clinical teams who tend to patients. Today, this term is more universal, and it starts with 

 people, as well as the demand that healthcare be more affordable, accessible and effective. What better place than the home to satisfy all three?

During the pandemic, regulations like the 

Home Health Emergency Access to Telehealth

 (HEAT) Act propelled greater adoption of home healthcare, especially by newer market entrants. But ask any seasoned home healthcare, hospice or rehab therapy provider and you’ll learn that these experts long ago mastered how best to deliver care at home, working alongside caregivers and understanding social determinants of health before that was a buzz phrase. The challenge to these providers now is to optimize their internal operational processes to meet the demands mentioned above. Streamlined workflows to reduce administrative overhead and smart systems to accelerate cash flows are critical to growth.

With their people aligned to their goals, and their processes fine-tuned to be best-in-class, many identify technology as the differentiating factor for their successes. Most obviously, those providers who were using cloud-based software had a far easier transition to remote workforce operations than those dependent on a physical fax machine to keep their businesses running. But healthcare is exceedingly complex, and when care delivery was wrenched away from its normal boundaries, those providers who had command of their operational and revenue management processes and care coordination from a central, digital dashboard had a clear advantage over those who did not. Undoubtedly, so did their patients, who were less likely to see their care interrupted. While the exponential adoption of telehealth in the healthcare industry made headlines—and deservedly so—it’s the more foundational technology applications that will truly transform how, and where, care can be delivered.

Today’s care delivery model mostly favors providers who own and operate physical care locations, with patients at the mercy of an inflexible scheduling system and a pricing structure that may render some procedures unaffordable. Imagine a future where the model is flipped, and care providers compete to deliver care directly to a patient, in the patient’s home, according to the patient’s schedule, simultaneously reducing costs.

If anything, the COVID-19 pandemic is the catalyst that helps us realize that a patient-centric future may not be, and should not be, that far off. We will get there faster when we embrace the value, practical experience and potential of those providers who have always delivered care at home. Couple that with a sector fortified by the right people, process and technology, and I’m confident that even better care at home is on the horizon.

For healthcare to come home—and for it to remain there—a different kind of infrastructure must be built.

Healthcare Is Coming Home—Here’s How to Keep It There

 spoke with Waqaas Al-Siddiq, PhD, founder and CEO of Biotricity. We discussed how telehealth and remote patient monitoring will help shape health care going forward and what challenges lay ahead. We also talked about how the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan has impacted these health care technologies and what efforts are being taken to ensure that they continue to be accessible to patients.

Podcasts

Wasaas Al-Siddiq, founder and CEO of Biotricity, discusses how the Biden-era American Rescue Plan is impacting telehealth and remote patient monitoring and how these technologies will fit into a post-COVID-19 society.

Podcast: Telehealth, Remote Monitoring, and the American Rescue Plan With Waqaas Al-Siddiq

The majority of patients with COVID-19 who received home-based 

 did not require care escalation to a traditional hospital setting, according to study findings published in 

. This finding was consistent even if patients were older or obese.

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced health care systems to rapidly transform care to meet patient demand, Atrium Health implemented the Atrium Health Hospital at Home (AH-HaH) program early on to deliver home-based hospital-level care to increase the system’s bed capacity. The non-profit health system provides care to patents in North Carolina and Georgia.

To determine which AH-HaH patients were at increased risk for care escalation to traditional facilities, researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of adults aged 18 and older who received treatment via the AH-HaH program between March and November 2020.

“Patients who the evaluating provider would otherwise have admitted to the brick-and-mortar facility who had safe living situations and clinical stability at admission” were eligible to participate in AH-HaH, authors wrote.

The program included telephonic access to nurses, daily in-home visits from paramedics, and virtual visits with a hospitalist, among other services. Baseline covariates and treatment information for each patient were collected via electronic health records.

Of the 391 eligible patients, 53% were female, 43% were White, and patients had a median age of 56 years. In addition, the median length of AH-HaH stay was three days. Analyses revealed:

84 patients (21%) were transferred to a brick-and-mortar facility within 14 days (median time to transfer, 2.2 days [interquartile range, 0.8 to 3.3 days])

Among hospital admissions, 33 required intensive care, 11 required mechanical ventilation, and there were 11 in-hospital deaths (causes included organ failure and shock)

Higher oxygen saturation was associated with decreased odds of transfer (odds ratio [OR], 0.87 [95% CI, 0.81-0.93]), whereas higher comorbidity burden was associated with increased odds of transfer (OR 1.12 [95% CI, 0.99-1.26])

Respiratory aberrations (such as low oxygen saturation, supplemental oxygen ≥3 L/min, and high respiratory rate) and tachycardia at enrollment were frequently observed among patients who required immediate care escalation

High-risk chronic conditions (such as hypertension and diabetes) were common among patients who required nonimmediate care escalation

Overall, approximately one in five patients were admitted within 14 days. Researchers hypothesized the lack of an independent association between older age or obesity and transfer may be due to providers being more cautious about enrolling these patients into the program.

“Although not statistically significant, race/ethnicity and area-level deprivation warrant additional research given established COVID-19 health disparities and possible bias due to home-based AH-HaH eligibility criteria,” they added.

The retrospective nature of the study, which was conducted at a single health system, marks a limitation, while its relatively small sample size could limit identification of significant risk factors for care escalation.

“Nevertheless, this study provides practical initial evidence to help inform patient selection guidelines as health systems and payers increasingly leverage hospital-at-home as a standard care delivery option,” researchers concluded.

A study identifies factors that put patients with COVID-19 receiving home-based care at risk for care escalation. 

Identifying Factors Linked to COVID-19 Care Escalation From In-Home to Hospital

Rich Bailey is an IT consultant for Atlantic.net.

In the year 2020, a virus swept the globe, forcing the world’s population to seek shelter at home. Scientists worked day and night to find a vaccine as the world’s economies start to collapse. Less than two years ago this might have seemed like the start of a Hollywood blockbuster, but sadly, this is the world we now inhabit.

Global healthcare has faced unprecedented challenges, and on top of the daily demands professionals face, the need to double down on cybersecurity efforts and comply with the 

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

 (HIPAA) has never been greater. Before the pandemic, the healthcare sector was a prime target for cybercriminals. But the rise of remote work has only increased vulnerability.

An insider threat might be a current or former employee. They might work for a supplier, a third party or they could a visitor at an employee’s home. Protected Health Information (PHI) is a valuable asset, and in the wrong hands, sensitive data can be easily sold to the highest bidder on a dark web hackers forum. What can be done to reduce the threat of an insider perpetrating accidental or deliberate harm during these challenging times?

How Has COVID-19 Changed the Insider Threat?

The past year has created many new challenges. Most originate from organizations requiring remote work during periods of lockdown. In March 2020, healthcare organizations transitioned large numbers of employees to work-from-home status, non-essential treatment was canceled, and many patients were only offered teleconferencing appointments with front-line medical personnel.

This abrupt change may have increased the risk of non-compliance, unauthorized PHI disclosures, fraud, and the increased likelihood of a data breach, simply because so much more data was now leaving the enterprise perimeter. The pandemic has also fast-tracked many healthcare organizations’ cloud migration strategy, which has created several challenges for 

Employee complacency or ignorant insider’s actions could result in a data breach. Some cloud tools that were implemented urgently at the start of the pandemic, such as cloud storage, may have been misconfigured. Cloud storage creates an offsite copy of any data, data that can be shared with ease to anyone with an internet connection. Unfortunately, the majority of the publicly available services are not HIPAA compliant. Instead, they increase the attack surface of the business.

Only outsourcing to a HIPAA-compliant cloud provider can guarantee a quick turnaround to PHI protections. No matter the urgency caused by implementing business continuity planning, covered entities, and business associates still have a duty to uphold the integrity of patient data.

How Can HIPAA Business Associates Mitigate the Insider Threat?

Data exfiltration is a big concern for the healthcare sector, and outsourcing IT services to a HIPAA compliant hosting business associate is an easy win to avoid the insider threat. Business associates work with the healthcare provider to identify in-scope PHI data and the flow of data around the business. Outsourcing to a provider that encrypts data at rest and in transit will limit the exposure if data is compromised.

Coming to grips with your organization’s mobile device strategy and consider denying access to mobile phones, USB sticks, or portable hard disks when plugged into business assets. Only grant access to personnel that must use these devices, such as computer engineers.

Your provider may offer additional managed services that provide a detailed logging analysis, or tools to scan event logs, network logs, and so on. Set up processes that kick in immediately when an employee leaves the business, locking their user account immediately, disabling any VPN connections, and blocking access to HIPAA-compliant applications is a good start. It is also best to be proactive and become familiar with the details of 

To conclude, there is no doubt that the insider threat is very difficult to manage. However, many steps can be taken to minimize the risk and maintain HIPAA compliance. Security controls should be robust without being intrusive to legitimate end-users, but tight controls are needed on any system that touches PHI. PHI must not be altered or deleted without the appropriate authorization, and technical safeguards can be introduced to substantiate this approach.

Encrypting all PHI is a great start. Securing user access with TLS certificates and an encrypted VPN connection will help, and having a technical solution that blocks users from plugging in personal devices into laptops, servers, and medical devices will protect against data theft. Combining all these solutions with an education program will put your organization on the front foot to combat the insider threat.

Rich Bailey is the lead IT consultant and 

, with 20 years of experience in Linux, Cloud, automation, and infrastructure, as well as code. He is a graduate of the University of Bradford, England.

Before the pandemic, the healthcare sector was a prime target for cybercriminals. But the rise of remote work has only increased vulnerability

How to Mitigate the Insider Threat to Healthcare

Ellen Harrison, RN, MBA, is the senior vice president of Operations & Market Strategy at HMS

It has become more difficult to engage healthcare consumers in a meaningful way, such as motivating them to act or to shift certain behaviors. Generally, healthcare organizations, such as providers, payers, and government agencies, attempt to improve methods of engagement based on behavioral theories and motivational tactics. However, they may overlook the first step of the process: capturing consumers’ attention.

Today, an effective health engagement strategy must have a mobile component. According to 

, 96% of Americans own a cell phone and 81% have a smartphone, which are the devices they use to communicate and access information on a daily basis. Furthermore, according to the CDC’s 

, more than 60% of U.S. households have cut the cord and are wireless only. By adopting strategies that cater to a mobile-dependent environment and ensuring the first step of the engagement process is successful, healthcare organizations will better reach their consumers to achieve more meaningful and increased consumer engagement.

Three Best Practices for Capturing Consumer Attention in Digital Age

In today’s digital age, the copious amounts of illegal robocalls, phone scams, and caller ID spoofing has made people weary about answering calls from unknown phone numbers, leading to more missed calls, including those that are legitimate and important. With mobile call branding, the caller's name and sometimes the reason for calling is displayed to the recipient on their cellphone, which helps encourage more calls to be answered when identified as a healthcare-related message.

Second, use regulatory COVID communication exemptions

 stating that the pandemic constitutes an “emergency” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). As a result, specific COVID-related calls and text messages from health plans, hospitals, physicians, pharmacies and government officials were made exempt from the TCPA, allowing healthcare organizations to lawfully communicate through automated or prerecorded calls, and through text, about COVID-19-related information to healthcare consumers during the emergency period. In addition, this exemption is an opportunity to capture consent by asking individuals to opt-in to receive future communications about relevant healthcare needs and services.

The relaxed communicative protocols between healthcare organization and patient have been pivotal in ensuring that Americans get timely and accurate information about COVID-19 safety, health benefits and vaccinations over the past year and a half. As part of your health engagement strategy now and moving forward, it is good to keep in mind that in some cases, a text or email message can feel less abrasive and more welcomed by the consumer than a phone call. However, since these digital channels aren’t always fully secure, deciding whether a message is sent in writing or over the phone should in part depend on the type of information being shared.

Third, explore mobile applications for secure information sharing

In healthcare, it is always a priority to make sure that personal health information is transmitted securely when being shared digitally. One way to support safe information sharing is by using a secure digital channel or consumer-facing application developed for, or by, your organization. By requiring that patients and members log into a secure website or application to access web-based health information from their smartphone, tablet or computer, the provider can easily engage their target patient populations with messages, including those containing more sensitive information, and patients can securely access all the information they might need at their leisure. Having access to their health information and to their providers allows patients to stay engaged in their healthcare journeys, from receiving reminders for appointments to reviewing information to support medication adherence at home.

Today’s digital dominant, mobile-centric world demands a multi-pronged approach to successfully capture and keep consumer attention to achieve valuable engagement between provider and patient. Besides simply cutting through the noise of the countless messages and notifications sent to cell phones each day, healthcare organizations must also navigate complex regulatory hurdles to stay compliant. Now more than ever, effective healthcare engagement can serve as a lifeline for patients. As more healthcare moves online and to virtual platforms, we must evolve our current processes and systems to ensure providers are able to meet patients wherever they are and get them the resources they need for better patient outcomes.

Ellen Harrison, RN, MBA, is the senior vice president of Operations & Market Strategy at HMS, where she’s focused on the company’s Population Health Management product portfolio. She brings over 25 years of experience in strategic planning, managed care operations and consulting experience with demonstrated results leading teams to build and redesign health care solutions, provider incentive systems and developing successful quality, cost and utilization improvement programs for commercial, government and senior populations.

According to Pew Research, 96% of Americans own a cell phone and 81% have a smartphone, which are the devices they use to communicate and access information on a daily basis.