By Anastasia Gnezditskaia
As the US healthcare industry continues to move along the path of digital transformation, the concept of the digital front door came to the forefront of both customer experience discussions and investment strategies. The digital front door represents a way many health systems are reorganizing the patient’s journey to care with the help of health technology tools.
And, even though healthcare was slower to innovate than a few other sectors of the economy, many health systems had to make a choice of reorganizing their health IT. This was driven by an increasing desire of patients to have the convenience of being able to select a product and the delivery time – especially when it comes to healthcare. With the rise of informed patients, expectations are increasing too, and by 2023, 65 percent of patients are predicted to access care through a digital front door, according to an IDC report.
Another report conducted by the Center for Connected Medicine showed that, following interviews with 72 leaders from 67 US health systems, over 55% of respondents said their organizations use some form of digital front door technology.
The desire to fit the rising consumer expectations is not the only reason for investments in the digital front door by health systems. Another, no less important reason, is replacing certain functions of the workforce with digital tools, vital in the face of staffing shortages.
“Prior to 2022 most of the incentive [of investing in digital front door tools] was pure experience improvement, but now in 2022 it’s all about workforce management,” says Jason Warrelmann, vice president at UiPath, a company that is involved with the automation of healthcare and other industries. “Finding administrators to perform this work is difficult in today’s work climate, and companies have to invest in digital tools.”
One example is MedStar Health, one of the biggest health systems on the East Coast. MedStar launched a new digital platform for patients aiming to be as a one-stop-shop for patients’ needs. It is available on both the website and as a smartphone app, lets patients schedule appointments with primary care, urgent care, or telehealth services. They can also access their medical records via integration with Cerner’s electronic health record, see test results, and manage their calendar.
Another feature of the platforms involves notifications about appointments as well as a new digital wallet where patients can store digital copies of their health–related documents, including vaccine card, insurance card, and ID.
What are the goals of a digital front door?
Despite what the name suggests, the digital front door is more than just an entry point. It’s a new digital approach to the way patients access and register for their care, and a new approach to their entire experience and way of engaging with the healthcare system. It impacts many steps, including search for care, finding a doctor, pre-visit checks and post-visit procedures, including payments, and follow-ups.
Aside from patients, there are multiple benefits for health systems too, as the digital front door automates workflows and eliminates many inefficiencies. From digitizing paperwork and minimizing phone calls, to collecting patient information and using digital billing, a digital front door can remove multiple time-consuming steps, which in many cases leads to improved efficiency.
There are also advantages for care coordination and patient retention. Using automated communication tools, practices can re-engage patients, which helps retention of the customer base.
What goals do the health systems pursue when developing a digital front door strategy? “We are hoping to make interacting with our organization as easy and frictionless as possible for the consumer and patient populations,” says director at Health Information Exchange Michael Marchant.
“The investment in the DFD technology provides an opportunity to improve the direct engagement, aggregates different services and technologies that may be delivered internally on many different platforms and provides a seamless interaction whether dealing with a PCP, Specialist, Billing Person, Referral Coordinators, Education, marketing, public health and all the other internal departments that may make working with an individual institution more confusing to the outside world.”
Is the digital front door a costly endeavor?
Technology funding for digital front doors has reached a level of $1.9 billion in 2021, up 67% year over year, according to a recent report by CB Insights. That number is forecast to grow more than 32% to surpass $2.5 billion by the end of this year.
So, there is more and more money invested in digital tools. That said, “depending on internal systems, technologies and processes, the investment could be great for some organizations, but with appropriate planning and strategy, targeting pain points, or organizational opportunities – you can make that large investment over time, yielding maximum results,” Marchant said.
Several experts in this arena believe the benefits far outweigh the costs. “Why invest in the tool? It’s a better experience for patients and can build loyalty between the patient and the health system,” said Anish Mehta, vice president and medical director for care transformation at Eden Health. “In many geographies, health systems are often competing for patients, so a consumer friendly digital front door can attract patients to your system.”
And, there are different ways to approach this capital expense. “Investment can be significant if a health system decides to build the end to experience themselves. There are solutions on the market but they tend to be EMR dependent and have large interoperability gaps. Depending on the approach, there is a need for additional technologies to complete the solution,” says Warrelmann.
What is the patient feedback like?
According to a study from Cedar, 41% of patients reported that they would consider changing providers for a better digital experience, with younger adults between 18 and 24 four times more likely to make the switch compared to those over the age of 65.
In terms of specific benefits to patients, a digital front door strategy aims to minimize barriers, allowing them to access care when they want, how they want and where they want. What do patients make of this strategy so far?
“There are off-the-shelf versions of DFDs with EHRs, which don’t require much investment beyond investing in the EHR but patients and providers don’t typically find convenient, “ says Mehta. “But patients do seem to like ones that are very easy to navigate and actually simplify communication with their medical team, like ours does at Eden Health,” he added.
What patients tend to like is a comprehensive solution, which is capable of collecting or coordinating digital and in-person services in one comprehensive business model.
“Most cases, patients like it as long as the experience is all-encompassing,” echoes Warrelmann. “If I can use an app to make an appointment to see my doctor but need to call to schedule one for my spouse or child, it’s not the preferred experience they expect.”
