First Opinion

Conversational AI is an advanced technology that allows machines to understand, process, and respond to human language in a way that is both contextually relevant and interactive. Within the healthcare sector, this technology is increasingly deployed to automate routine tasks and deliver a more robust and personalized patient experience. Conversational AI leverages a combination of machine learning, natural language processing, and occasionally deep learning to interpret and respond to user inputs, with a conversational user interface that mimics human interaction. Digital health companies deploy conversational AI through chatbots, voice assistants, messaging apps, or any other type of platform where natural language interactions occur.

What is the digital front door? Digital front door describes a set of interactive and transaction-ready capabilities to enable digital interactions between patients and health systems throughout the care journey, from pre-service to follow-up and payment. When leveraged appropriately, a digital front door strategy can improve patient experiences, drive access, and reduce (or eliminate) reliance on paper-based workflows and manual processes.

AVIA Marketplace's 2024 Top Digital Front Door Companies, including: Why the digital front door matters What leading solutions offer AVIA Marketplace’s top digital front door companies

Patients demand convenient healthcare access akin to online services. A robust digital front door, integrating online scheduling, telehealth, patient portals, symptom checkers, and payment management, is crucial. It offers a competitive edge by enhancing accessibility, patient loyalty, brand perception, market reach, revenue, and leveraging data for insights, ensuring health systems meet modern expectations and stay competitive. Modern patients rightly demand that healthcare access be as straightforward as ordering a meal online or hailing a ride, which is still far from the norm.

According to a report from Accenture, patients are increasingly switching providers, and at least a portion say it’s because of the digital experience. In fact, the report goes on to show that digital engagement is a strong predictor of loyalty. Increasingly, patients say they are less likely to stay with a provider who doesn’t provide a good digital experience, and a bad digital experience effects how they feel about their entire healthcare interaction. In other words, great care or bedside manner doesn’t mean a patient will stay if the rest of their experience doesn’t meet their needs.

In today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, health system CIOs, Innovation, Strategy, and Marketing executives are faced with a daunting task: selecting the optimal digital front door solution from a sea of options. This abundance of choices often leads to decision paralysis, costly DIY endeavors, or the adoption of solutions that fail to deliver value to consumers and yield no return on investment.

A consumer-grade digital patient experience solution must facilitate the holistic integration of all patient data, disparate technology solutions, and care services to deliver an experience that’s worth investing in — for both the patient and the health system at large. Otherwise, organizations risk introducing yet another fragmented solution into the market, one that fails to adequately address the diverse needs of patients.

In today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, optimizing revenue cycle management (RCM) in healthcare is paramount for providers aiming to maintain financial health while delivering exceptional patient care. However, traditional RCM solutions suffer from glaring inefficiencies that lead to frustrated patients and lost revenue. Enter the digital front door (DFD)—a holistic approach that enhances RCM by digitizing and centralizing various aspects of the patient journey. By streamlining everything from intake to bill pay, the DFD drives efficiency and addresses many of the shortcomings of traditional RCM along the way.

As health systems seek out new ways to improve patient engagement, deliver a more consumer-centric experience, and expand capacity, having a clear digital front door strategy has become an increasingly essential component of their efforts.

The future of healthcare hinges on the powerful synergy between advanced technology and human expertise. The integration of AI is not just a trend but a pressing necessity. Patients are no longer willing to endure long wait times and often switch providers if their expectations for timely service are unmet. Additionally, the heavy workload and stress experienced by healthcare professionals in an overwhelmed system highlight the urgency of adopting AI solutions. AI’s transformative impact on the healthcare sector addresses the critical need for improved patient care and operational efficiency. By strategically integrating augmented intelligence at various touchpoints, health systems can streamline the care journey and offer a comprehensive digital front-door experience, resulting in increased patient satisfaction and higher-quality professional time.

In today’s digital age, a robust digital front door is not a luxury but a necessity for health systems aiming to meet patient expectations, improve operational efficiency, and stay competitive. By adopting a comprehensive DFD strategy, health systems not only enhance the patient experience but also achieve significant operational and financial benefits. As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, the digital front door will play an increasingly central role in shaping the future of patient care and fostering patient loyalty.

The Digital Front Door (DFD) methodology has emerged as a pivotal element in enhancing patient engagement, streamlining operations, and ensuring a competitive advantage. In a 2022 KLAS Top of Mind Research Report, 55% of healthcare leaders stated that their organization uses some form of DFD technology. The organizations that didn’t yet have one said it was on their radar for later implementation.

Jen Magaziner, VP, Digital Health at Boston Children's Hospital and Sonia Singh, Chief Insights Officer at AVIA discuss the latest on accelerating innovation at Boston Children's Hospital in AVIA's "Voices of the AVIA Network" series.

Virtual visits are the ability for patients to access care remotely. It is being delivered in two ways: Synchronously with a scheduled or on-demand real-time encounter Asynchronously on-demand through email, text, or chat message

The Top Virtual Visit Companies Report is intended to provide healthcare leaders with a broad view of virtual visits and showcase standout companies and solutions with proven market traction. Users can view quick summaries to help them identify which solutions might meet their needs and visit AVIA Connect to access detailed profiles and verified client lists, compare solutions, and generate Match Scores to narrow their selections.

We are LifeScience Technologies, a healthcare technology company and the developer of the m.Care® virtual care platform. During COVID, we all saw the benefits of being able to treat patients remotely or virtually. Healthcare delivery has changed forever, and now the challenge is in providing an engaging and easy-to-use technology platform that meets the needs of populations and individuals. Access to and communication with the patient’s care team is critical, and patient adherence to care plans is crucial to improving outcomes. For some patients, it is not financially feasible to supply expensive equipment like Bluetooth scales, connected blood pressure cuffs or wearable devices. Social determinants of health are another key consideration when delivering a solution to meet the needs of entire populations. The m.Care platform is designed for ease of use and to encourage and support patient engagement. Our platform supports both synchronous and asynchronous communication–all HIPAA-compliant with data encrypted. Our objectives are to drive better patient outcomes and patient satisfaction through a robust and highly configurable virtual care platform that can accommodate as many patients as possible, with accessibility features that include voice commands in multiple languages for patients who are physically unable to use other means to report data.

This webinar will help you learn about: Evaluating staffing and provider network needs Investing in a user-centric experience Exploring new business and operating models Piloting innovative care models Developing asynchronous virtual care strategies

Bright.md’s asynchronous telehealth solution focuses specifically on low-acuity care, which drives down costs and increases provider capacity for higher-acuity patients. The Navigate solution captures symptoms and instantly guides patients to the appropriate level of care within the health system, with pathways that can be adjusted based on the time or chief complaint. The Interview offering utilizes a library of evidence-based clinical interviews to support diagnosis, with automated documentation and interoperable chart-ready SOAP notes. Providers can utilize the Treat solution to treat more than 140 low-acuity conditions in as little as two minutes, with instant diagnosis, prescriptions, and referrals.

Zipnosis aims to improve the virtual care experience for both patients and providers with a flexible platform that automates administrative tasks and reduces clinical work time to an average of 89 seconds per encounter. With both synchronous and asynchronous virtual visit capabilities, Zipnosis walks patients through virtual triage and automatically pre-populates the platform with relevant data to reduce the need for manual documentation. Care teams can access a wide array of clinical protocols within the platform, and custom workflows are available to meet the needs of a variety of service lines.

Amwell enables health providers, payers, and innovators to achieve their digital ambitions, making every action across the healthcare system easier, more reliable and optimized for better outcomes. In 2006, Amwell pioneered virtual health care. Today, our future-ready platform, Converge™, connects care across in-person, virtual, and automated modalities and provides an open and scalable infrastructure that can grow alongside our customers. We bring a suite of strategic services that deliver true partnership and better outcomes, ensure consistent and timely execution, and provide solutions to close gaps in care, including an affiliated network of medical providers. Together with our customers and innovation partners, we forge a model that adapts as needs evolve and enables the kind of care that can truly create a healthier world.

AVIA Marketplace's Top Virtual Visit Companies Why virtual visits matter What leading solutions offer AVIA Marketplace’s top virtual visit companies

AVIA Marketplace's Top Virtual Visit Companies Report | Fall 2024