By Rebekah Murphy
Hospitals across the country are using Digital Patient Intake (DPI) tools to help overcome key challenges related to revenue losses, staffing shortages, and rising patient expectations. These solutions enable a secure, efficient, and effective process for health systems to gather patients’ pre-appointment information, increase collections, and offer the ability for virtual check-in. Panda Health recently evaluated more than 36 suppliers and chose just seven of them to launch our DPI category on the Panda Health marketplace. In conversations with them, I gathered the top benefits hospitals can expect from having a DPI tool:
#1: Higher Patient Satisfaction
“We are seeing more five-star reviews of the patient experience, not only in hospital-led surveys but also on Google and other websites that post provider reviews. Patients now expect a high-tech experience, as evidenced by the rise in healthcare consumerism.”
Erin Zielinski, Executive Vice President of Client Success, Epion
#2: More Revenue
“After implementing our digital intake solutions, patients are greeted with efficiency and consistency. Staff workloads are lifted, and cash flow is increased. Our best performing clients see an average reduction in waiting room time of 82%. They see an average increase in point of service collections of 112%. Their insurance claim denials are reduced by 51%. New staff can be trained in half the time, and there is an average reduction in required FTEs of 33%.”
Brian Stone, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Clearwave
#3: Less Administrative Burden
“One client in particular was still working in a paper-only registration prior to installing Millennia Access. Within the first day of launching, 92% of patients completed the entire registration process digitally before they even arrived at the facility. Other key metrics we drive for our clients include: Increase in the number of patients financially cleared prior to arrival, increase in point of service collections, and reduction in inbound/outbound calls due to appointment reminder texts and messages.”
Steve Aspling, Vice President of Sales, West, Millennia
#4: Increased Efficiency
“By engaging patients with a personalized digital experience before visits, Cedar Pre improves operational efficiency and frees bandwidth for provider staff to focus on patient care and service. Cedar Pre works flexibly with existing systems and processes, including providers’ EHR and billing system, patient estimation tools, real-time eligibility, forms, and native mobile apps, which generates minimal disruption to existing provider workflow.”
Arel Lidow, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Maker, Cedar
#5: Less Burnout
“Organizations are able to retain their front desk staff and lower turnover. With digital intake tools in place, their jobs become easier and less tedious. They have the time for better patient interactions. Patients get into exam rooms more quickly, and physicians can focus on the visit.”
Brian Stone, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Clearwave
#6: Fewer No-Shows
Erin Zielinski, Executive Vice President of Client Success, Epion
What are Digital Patient Intake Tools?
Panda’s Take:
We recently surveyed 100 hospital and health system executives to learn more about their digital health technology goals, strategies, and challenges. Overall, fewer than 25% said they are confident they are selecting the best technology for their unique needs. How do you boost that confidence level? By starting out with a clear understanding of the key benefits of a solution, and then working with the right partner to achieve them. That’s the vision of our marketplace, which features only the best suppliers, selected based on their innovative and easy-to-use platforms; superior compliance, cybersecurity, and integration capabilities; and proven ROI.
