Wasteful spending in healthcare amounts to incredibly high costs for U.S. hospitals. Preventable hospital readmissions and unnecessary emergency department (ED) visits alone account for $25 billion and $14 billion, respectively, in excess healthcare spending each year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute.  

The latest hospital star ratings, recently released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), include some high-performing hospitals that make patient engagement a high priority. 

During his January 2019 State of the City address, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new initiative that guarantees affordable healthcare for every resident of the city. The new program will provide care for those who lack insurance because they can’t afford it, feel that they don’t need it, or have no access to it due to their immigration status.

One of the hopes for the program is that it will stem the tide of overwhelming overuse of the city’s hospital emergency rooms. Having insurance won’t accomplish this alone. People need the access to preventative care that insurance provides, as well as ongoing education to help them make good health decisions and take better care of themselves and their families.

Here, digital messaging can come to the rescue. A recent study that we conducted in conjunction with a U.S.-based four-hospital system showed just how powerful an impact digital education has on patient outcomes and cost metrics. Providing relevant, evidence-based information throughout the care episode resulted not only in a statistically significant decrease in length of stay and emergency room visits, it positively impacted readmissions, discharge destination and day-of-surgery cancellations.

Watch out, baby boomers—millennials are on track this year to overtake you as America’s largest generation, according to recent research by the Pew Research Center. These young adults, who will range in age from 23 to 38 in 2019, are positioned to make healthcare decisions for themselves, their own growing families and their aging parents.