As usual, we’re wrapping up the month with some highlights from the latest news on healthcare patient engagement, along with a few things that we just thought were fun and interesting.
Who Doesn’t Love Puppies?
There were a few pieces this past month about Tombot’s robot dog companion. In An Immortal Puppy – and a Remote Monitor, Tombot CEO Tom Stevens gave Colin Hung a demo. This may not be directly about patient engagement but who doesn’t love puppies.
Cris Ross of Mayo Clinic Talks about Patient Engagement Technology
In a This Week Health Keynote, Cris Ross, CIO of the Mayo Clinic talked about the future of Health IT. Chris has written a short book with Ed Marx of Marx Advisory about their experience as cancer patients while also being healthcare CIOs. We’ve found they both have great insights to share. This one is worth a listen.
New Data and Research Highlights
HealthITToday shares a weekly recap that incudes new research and reports. There were a few we found pretty interesting.
- A PayZen survey found 36% of Americans had skipped or postponed medical care in the last 12 months because of the high cost.
- The 2024 Healthcare Reputation Report from Reputation found 73% of consumers demand a minimum 4-star rating to even consider engaging with a provider. Additionally, patient feedback volume has increased 150% in five years.
- Less than 26% of patients said they’d experienced a high level of care, according to a report from Soliant. That’s compared to more than 36% who said they were dissatisfied with their care experience.
Mergers and Acquisitions are Growing
You might be wondering why a piece on mergers and acquisitions is important in a conversation about patient engagement. Well, we’ll tell you. When hospitals grow they are trying to combine brands and technology. This impacts patients and their experience. Digital Health Wire reported this month that “the number of hospital mergers and acquisitions jumped in the first quarter of 2024, with 18 transactions and over $10B in total revenue for the targets. Those figures easily eclipse the 12 transactions and $3.4B of target revenue seen in the first quarter of last year, reflecting a general rough operating environment and increasingly ambitious consolidation.”
This month’s news reflects the fact that a lot of things impact patient experience, and it’s important to think broadly about how to engage patients and reach them in the ways they prefer.
