How Automation Makes Patient Care More Personal and Efficient
November 14, 2022
The old saying, “Time is money” is very fitting in today’s post-pandemic world, especially given the massive shift in the work environment it caused. Few industries know that more than healthcare. Think about the post-operation process. Often a dozen or more people bear partial responsibility for the successful and safe release of patients. Doctors, nurses, billing coordinators, transportation, pharmacy ... lots of people, means lots of time.
To expedite the process, we must expedite communication — while preserving the necessary audit trails and ensuring HIPAA compliance — so that everyone leaving the hospital will have everything they need to recover quickly. It’s become such a priority that healthcare providers must now turn to automation solutions to help with patient experience. In fact, 94% of businesses say AI is critical to success, according to a Deloitte report on AI.
Here’s an example: Let’s say Greg falls off the roof trying to finish his honey-do list. While he’s mostly fine, he did fracture his hand. But that doesn’t hurt as much as his wife’s scolding words. Following quick surgery to set the bone, Greg is ready to go home. This is where AI and Automation can help.
Communications, Simplified
By changing Greg’s status to “ready for discharge” in the medical records system, a nurse initiates a workflow inside of Five9 that activates a phone tree. Each member of Greg’s medical team receives a call from a Five9 Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA) asking for a verbal, voice print authenticated, confirmation that Greg is good to go home.
Text messages are sent to the floor nursing staff instructing them to deliver Greg’s discharge instructions. Once complete, a quick reply to the IVA automatically sends the information to the relevant systems for auditing purposes.
Even messages to Greg’s wife, his authorized medical contact, are automated. She receives a link with driving directions leading her directly to the pickup area. She also receives an email with discharge instructions and information about where to pick up Greg's prescriptions – just in case Greg loses his copy.
Once all the confirmations are complete, Five9 updates the relevant systems, including billing and EMR, and notifies the orderly that Greg is ready to go. Thanks to all this automatic coordination, this hospital shaved an hour off the discharge process and was able to serve more patients in a single day.
The next day, Greg received follow-up text messages from a Five9 IVA to check on his status and to schedule a follow up appointment with the doctor. He replies and schedules the appointment without speaking to anyone.
The hospital also provides Greg with the option to arrange for medical transportation to his appointment. Greg can engage with either a voice or text-based IVA to complete this activity and save his wife from having to take a day off work.
Finally, Greg receives a reminder call the day before, and a text when the van is 15 minutes out. He’s amazed by the level of proactive communication available to him and takes comfort knowing should any of this automation not work for him, he can always opt to speak to a live agent.
Efficiency Through Automation
We just explored how a healthcare provider delivered Greg exceptional patient care while:
Creating better efficiency with automation
Improving communication in and outside of the hospital
Streamlining scheduling of appointments
Offering enhanced services like transportation
And increasing the number of patients they can service in a day
Get results by adding IVAs and automation to your patient communication strategy. Five9 makes it easy with our low-code IVA builder, which includes a library pre-configured healthcare tasks for booking appointments, test results, prescription management and more. Learn more by visiting the Five9 IVA solution page.
