Imagine you are one of the 1.1 million people about to have a joint replacement this year. Your doctor gave you information during your pre-op visit but you were so busy worrying about your recovery and how you would manage your daily responsibilities, that you missed a lot of the details. Your husband took some notes but he was also overwhelmed at the thought of you being off your feet for 6 weeks. You’ve been doing the best you can with what you remember of your care instructions and you’re hoping for a successful outcome.

Now imagine, instead, that you started to receive care instructions and check-ins from your surgeon after that first pre-op visit. The information helped you remember what your doctor said, reminded you what you need to know at every point in this process (which can be more than six months from pre-op through recovery) and eased your anxiety.

That level of engagement is known as patient activation – the act of energizing a person to manage his or her own health and healthcare with knowledge, skills and confidence. Patient activation is associated with better post-surgical outcomes, including a 40% decrease in 30-day readmissions and 21% lower care costs in the year after surgery.

Hospitals are making that impact even stronger by employing what is referred to as direct patient activation – motivating patients with regular, targeted mobile connections delivered through push messaging.

If you work in healthcare, you probably know that U.S. News & World Report recently announced its Best Hospitals list for 2018–’19. The company evaluates more than 5,000 hospitals and awards winners in a variety of categories and specialties.

While some debate the list’s merit, hospital leaders and healthcare consumers surely pay attention to the rankings. And they should. The list is part of a bigger picture. It rewards hospitals that achieve lower costs and better patient outcomes.

For our part, we were thrilled that hospitals using innovative patient engagement solutions are being honored among this year’s “Best Hospitals.”

During a care episode, providers traditionally deliver treatment through a series of independent, face-to-face interactions. For patients, however, the care episode begins prior to these interactions and continues during and after medical appointments or hospital stays.

In other words, face-to-face interactions are only one part of a patient’s care continuum.

Meaningful patient-provider interactions are increasingly important during the pre-op preparation phase of total joint replacement, one of the most common and costly surgeries in the U.S. today. Patients need to know what to expect and how to best prepare for the surgery and recovery period ahead. Miscommunication and forgotten instructions can lead to day-of-surgery cancellations, which have a significant impact on the provider’s bottom line.  

Ongoing patient-provider interactions throughout the entire episode of care can help prevent a surgery cancellation. These interactions are most effective when supported by direct patient activation technology, which educates, engages and satisfies patients at critical points along the care episode.

The benefits include significant improvement in the clinical metrics tracked at both hospitals and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Here’s a look at how one mid-size healthcare system is using direct patient activation technology to improve orthopedic metrics.

Whether you’re a healthcare executive, nurse, physician, educator or vendor, you are increasingly responsible for managing both healthcare quality and cost. This is especially true when budgeting for healthcare technology. Now, more than ever, you’ll be asked to prove the return on investment for your spending in terms of care outcomes and cost. In fact, focusing on both in tandem are keys to propelling hospital initiatives forward in 2018.