CASE STUDY
Adena Health +
Spark
modernize the patient experience.
Technology + process redesign removes barriers to care and improves financial health
SNAPSHOT
With a vision to be
its region’s most trusted partner in healthcare, Adena Health embarked on a
mission to improve the patient journey and remove barriers to care by
modernizing the scheduling and registration processes across their hospitals
and clinics.
Adena looked to Spark to help implement best
practice scheduling and pre-registration processes, redesign walk-in
registration processes and maximize Epic MyChart adoption across their
entire patient community. As a result, outpatient registration wait times
decreased by 80%, pre-service collections increased by 34% and patient
satisfaction in outpatient facilities increased by more than 6%.
PROFILE
- Nonprofit, community health system
- $739M NPR
- Ohio
- End-to-end RCM partner since Mar. 2018
Challenges
With an outdated telephony platform and legacy EHR system, Adena lacked the convenient and efficient communication capabilities patients expect from modern healthcare providers, such as self-scheduling, text-based appointment reminders and one-call issue resolution. In addition to technology gaps, pre-registration and in-person registration processes were inconsistent and disjointed, causing inefficiencies throughout the patient intake process, long wait times and frustration for patients and staff.
Solutions
Recognizing the patient benefits of the newly implemented Epic system, Adena embarked on a mission to improve their patients’ experience by fully maximizing Epic’s software and increasing adoption of MyChart functionality. They launched a concerted effort across their four hospitals and 35 clinics to share the benefits of MyChart by encouraging patients to sign up, resulting in an increase of more than 1,000 patients in the first week.
We strive each day to be the most trusted partner in healthcare for the communities we serve. Our patient access team has been instrumental in not only enhancing our patient experience but also our financial health.
- Deployed specialized patient engagement teams and technology to improve patient scheduling, expedite preregistration and enable accurate patient estimates. An upgraded telephone system and the implementation of new Epic functionality boosted patient scheduling and enhanced payment estimation capabilities. This enabled proactive outreach to patients and streamlined inbound call scheduling by including pre-registration and patient responsibilities in a single conversation.
- Redesigned patient flow and deployed dedicated staff for walk-in registrations to reduce wait times and improve overall registration satisfaction. A reimagined patient flow in the outpatient area and a dedicated walk-in registration desk keeps patients moving through the process while avoiding long lines.
- Implemented tablet-based “instant activation” processes during patient registration and financial counseling; initiated proactive call campaigns to non-sign-up patients; and facilitated system-wide MyChart training. Through a combination of these efforts, Adena increased conversion rates by 35%, and exceeded their goal of 50% patient adoption within 12 months — an accomplishment even Epic commended.
Results
average wait time
for outpatient registration
call wait times
POS collections
patient satisfaction
with registration