Patient Engagement- A New Buzzword for Providers

Patient engagement has become a new buzzword and a new trend in the healthcare landscape. Patient engagement tools enable patients to be more involved in managing their own healthcare. Also, they are critical in achieving population health management and demonstrating Meaningful Use Stage 2. 

The Saviance iHealthConnect is a comprehensive mobile integrated and cloud based patient engagement software that gives healthcare organizations the power to create active patient communities, and to engage their patients meaningfully. 

This solution gives a bidirectional communication platform to both providers and patients and facilitates an easy interaction between patient community and care team. Saviance’s iHealthConnect does more than provide a website for communication. With iHC, patients can be engaged through a range of activities, as it creates an engaging and vibrant space for the consumers to come together, connect with one another, communicate about their experiences and opinions and advance in a collaborative manner.

Benefits of iHealthConnect:

This solution enables patients to:

1.      Learn more about their diseases

2.      Monitor their progress regularly

3.      Manage their chronic conditions successfully

4.      Reduce their costs of chronic disease management

This solution enables providers to:

1.      Brand building activities

2.      Fund raising

3.      Knowledge repository

4.      Data visualization and analytics

Empowering your patients to take a more active role in their healthcare can help to improve the delivery of care, drive efficiencies, and reduce costs of care in many ways.

To better understand the value of Saviance’s iHC and the capabilities of its patient engagement software, please visit the website http://i-health-connect.com/

Why Providers are Engaging Patients in their Healthcare

The engagement of patients is an important requirement of EHR Incentive program, also called Meaningful Use. The Government directives and Stage 1 Meaningful Use objectives in the US suggest that hospitals should engage patients in their own healthcare. According to the Government directives, the providers encourage patients to play a more active role in their health programs and encourage patients’ families to participate in patient engagement activities because patients need support of their families the most. To adopt meaningful use of EHR technology, healthcare organizations are implementing effective patient portals which successfully integrate EHR functionality.

These Meaningful Use objectives provide a complete clinical summary and health information to the patients so that they can manage their health at home and practice healthy behaviors especially patients with chronic conditions such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes etc.

It is said that engaged patients are satisfied patients who in turn help to boost the business of providers. EHR system integrated with patient portal provides a better way to connect patients with their providers. Following are some of the best practices that providers can adopt to meet patients’ satisfaction, and therefore to enhance their business prospects:

• Make the patient experience a provider priority 
• Make the patient experience a hospital priority
• Create accountability
• Implement healthcare IT solutions within their practice
• Balance persistence with patience
• Build the right team 
• Use social media to connect with patients

Saviance iHealthConnect is comprehensive patient portal software that enables providers, insurers, employers & caregivers to create vibrant communities for patients or patrons to promote health related causes.  As an effective patient engagement software, it showcases a slew of unique features that encourage patient engagement and meaningful interaction between physicians and patients.