Personalising

healthcare
Engaging patients in a digital age
 Contents
01
Meeting changing consumer
expectations in healthcare 3

02
Finding new ways to engage with patients 12

03
Bridging the gap with a next-generation
patient engagement system 19

04
Summary 28

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01

Meeting CONTENTS

What do these trends mean

changing
to healthcare?

Personalised care and

experience

consumer Case study: Providence

St. Joseph

expectations Value-added personalised

patient services

in healthcare
Case study: ImagineCare
01 / Meeting changing consumer expectations in healthcare 4

Consumer expectations are

evolving at an increasingly
fast pace globally as
customers demand seamless,
personalised experiences
across all aspects of their lives.
One of the major contributors
to this transformation is
technology innovation.

Digital technology advancements like the

Internet of Things (IoT), wearable technologies,
blockchain, robotics, big data and advanced
analytics are changing consumer perceptions.
People are now engaging with businesses on
their own terms, whether that’s on-demand car
services, online banking or shopping in just a
few clicks via an app or mobile device.

While this consumerisation may have started

in the retail and financial industries, it’s
quickly extending into healthcare. Patients are
coming to expect consumer experiences like
those offered in other sectors. But very few
healthcare organisations are set up to meet the
expectations of this changing landscape.
01 / Meeting changing consumer expectations in healthcare
64%
of patients use a digital device to
manage their health, expecting a similar
ease of use in these digital experiences
as in retail and other industries.
93%
of patients prioritised the ability
for care providers to easily share and
receive important information about
their medical history – wherever they
needed treatment.
Source: Transcend Insights
5
What do these trends mean
to healthcare?
Now that consumers know what’s
possible, disruption is inevitable. Patients
want the ability to access provider
services from wherever they are, on
whatever they’re using. In addition
to access, patients are looking for
more personalised and transparent
approaches for their healthcare services.
This puts pressure on healthcare
organisations like yours to deliver.
With digital transformation, modern
patient experiences are now possible.
You can turn electronic health records
(EHRs) and clinical data into meaningful
and actionable insights to provide
enhanced and personalised patient
experiences while reducing overall cost.
01 / Meeting changing consumer expectations in healthcare
Personalised care and experience
At a glance
Drawing data from EHRs and other
critical sources, healthcare providers
can create a personalised care model
and engage patients in a new, more
impactful way. Through this model, you
can give patients more control over
their care, strengthen engagement and
empower them to take a more active
role through personalised care plans.
6
Challenges
Facing a lack of effective patient engagement
strategy and an inability to capture patients
from the beginning to the end of their
healthcare journey, including medical
record history, record of calls, payments
and messages.
Being timely in engaging individuals in their
care decisions, with patient data classically
residing in different systems that don’t
interact and communicate.
Navigating multiple interaction points within
health systems, making it difficult for patients
to access, secure and control personalised
information.
How digital transformation can help

Today’s healthcare consumers expect

providers to create more customised
patient experiences to meet the needs
of their particular lifestyles.

Providers must better understand CASE STUDY

the root causes of a patient’s condition.
Such in-depth information yields
personalised treatment options that
Providence
remove the guesswork and increase St. Joseph
the chances of success.

Involve patients proactively in their

Health provides
care through an increased level of a personalised
engagement that helps them feel more
in control of their health, which boosts patient experience
their confidence and support.
with Dynamics 365
Turn care management into a
collaborative exercise that promotes
patient satisfaction and wellbeing.
01 / Meeting changing consumer expectations in healthcare 8

Case study: Providence St. Joseph “We had started with five
Health provides a personalised
patient experience with Dynamics 365 liaisons. Now we’re closer to
Providence St. Joseph Health is moving 60 liaisons. A white-glove
beyond the typical call centre using
Microsoft Dynamics 365 to provide
service, providing concierge
more personalised experiences for experience for everyone.
every patient. Liaisons from its Patient
& Provider Engagement Center are
We have been working
solving industry-wide challenges – with Microsoft to make
creating more personalised patient
experiences, better addressing patient
this happen, using their
needs and helping patients access the Microsoft Dynamics [365]
right care with the right providers.
platform.”
Learn more
Kim Swafford, Group Vice President, Telehealth
and Health Technology Strategy,
Providence St. Joseph Health

Watch video
01 / Meeting changing consumer expectations in healthcare
Value-added personalised patient services
At a glance
To build your brand, you need to extend
your relationships and communication
beyond healthcare providers and
physicians to consumers. By delivering
patient-centric services, such as remote
monitoring and alerts based on
predictive healthcare analytics, you can
nurture direct, lasting relationships with
the people who depend on your care.
With remote communication channels,
you can work with patients outside of
the office, enabling you to provide care
where it’s needed, keep patients out of
emergency rooms, reduce unnecessary
clinical visits and control healthcare costs.
9
Challenges
Handling the explosion of patient data that
wearables and other connected home health
devices create.
Adapting new business processes with
technologies comes with its own set of risks.
Carefully consider how the trade-off for more
user-friendly experiences may increase risks
related to privacy.
Responding quickly to undesirable metrics,
such as high blood pressure and high blood
glucose, which demand some automated
communication tools to address potential
emergencies for individuals before
they happen.
Navigating the complexity of automated
processes and tools, including data security,
control, development and operational cost.
How digital transformation can help

Save time and money by streamlining

processes to efficiently serve more
patients.

Provide patients with health

resources relevant to their condition.
As a result, patients can proactively CASE STUDY
manage their health with less direct
provider oversight.

Use alerts and messages to enable The Swedish

a quick view into which patients need
priority treatment. Catch problems
solution to
sooner, and provide support when
patients need it most, by monitoring
chronic care
patient health remotely. management –
Save time and cost for both care ImagineCare
managers and patients by using
infrequent patient visits for deep,
personal consultations rather than
spending time collecting and recording
basic data.
01 / Meeting changing consumer expectations in healthcare 11

Case study: The Swedish solution to chronic

care management – ImagineCare Watch video
With the treatment of chronic diseases
amounting to 80–85% of Swedish care
resources, Primary Care in Jämtland Härjedalen
needed a solution that moved care closer to
the patient.

ImagineCare is fed with data from wearable

and home sensors, as well as ongoing health
risk assessments. The connected devices
include blood pressure cuffs, pulse oximeter
devices and activity trackers like Microsoft
Band. The collected data is transmitted to
the Microsoft Azure cloud via smartphone,
where it’s pulled into a Cortana Analytics Suite
dashboard at a contact centre.

ImagineCare pairs clinical care with

advanced analytics and machine learning
to create adaptive protocols that consider
EHRs and claims along with environmental,
socioeconomic and other data sets. At the
datacentre, registered nurses with access
to each patient’s personalised care plan
continually monitor the patient’s health status
and potentially serious trends. If there’s a
problem, a nurse receives an alert and can
immediately reach out to the patient and
authorised family members via phone call,
video chat or secure text – often before the
patient is aware of the issue.

This has helped accelerate care for patients, in

some cases resolving issues in a single day.

Learn more
 12

02

Finding CONTENTS

new ways to
Problems and challenges
within the existing system

The need for a new

engage with
engagement solution

Comprehensive consumer

patients
engagement

Case study: Inspira

Health Network

Case study: AiR Healthcare

02 / Finding new ways to engage with patients 13

The reality of interacting with the traditional

“It is extremely frustrating for
healthcare system is often quite different
than customers expect. Patients are still filling patients when basic tasks in
out the same form multiple times, receiving
an otherwise interconnected
communications via letter and waiting for the
engagement. Healthcare needs to catch up. world take too long. They
By investing in digital tools and developing don’t understand why they
strategies to adapt to consumer expectations, can have a concurrent series
you can close the gap between what patients
demand and what you provide. of events and interaction
with almost any service in the
Problems and challenges within the world, but with health, they
existing system
have to wait for things to
Current healthcare systems carry the burden
of aging solutions, fragmented tools and happen in the background,
escalating costs. Demand for care is increasing with massive gaps in
while supply for care is decreasing or growing
stagnant. between.”
Patient data usually exists in disparate systems
Gareth Hall, Director of Business Development,
that don’t interact. You must also gather
Microsoft Worldwide Health
additional information from a broad spectrum
of sources, including non-clinical data such as a
patient’s access to transportation, preferential
data like communication preferences or
historical data from patient interactions
across channels. To transform that data into
knowledge, you need to integrate tools and
data sources into a single view.
02 / Finding new ways to engage with patients 14

The need for a new engagement solution

Most health providers think of patient
engagement as a program, portal or
A shortfall of 18 million health workers
app. Instead, consider reframing patient
is projected by 2030, primarily in low- and
engagement as a strategy and platform for
lower-middle-income countries.
empowerment.
Source: World Health Organization
By building – as comprehensively as possible
– a picture of each individual patient, you can
deliver relevant information, products and
services through the channel that the customer
finds most receptive. With health data, test
results and billing statements available at According to 72% of healthcare executives,
their fingertips, patients gain a 360-degree one of the biggest barriers to better use of
view of their wellness that enables them patient data is the lack of interoperability
to fit healthcare into their busy lives. between disconnected technology solutions.

Through proactive reminders and tailored Source: NEJM Catalyst Insights Council
coaching, you can help patients stay true to
care plans and achieve their health goals. This
will increase your ability to deliver care at scale
and move to more value-based care.

In offering modern patient experiences,

gaining insights isn’t enough. You need
to act on insights through new systems
of engagement.

Analysts at McKinsey rate siloed technology

solutions as one of the main obstacles in
preparing for a digital future, advising healthcare
organisations to “use a comprehensive, integrated
approach, not piecemeal initiatives”, to develop a
long-term technology strategy.

Source: McKinsey Report

02 / Finding new ways to engage with patients
Comprehensive consumer engagement
At a glance
By automatically tracking data from
patients and their devices, you can
eliminate the need to track down
patient data. This way you can always
have access to the most up-to-date,
comprehensive view of patient health
– regardless of the devices they use.
A comprehensive, integrated and
personalised care approach enables you
to focus on improving outcomes. It can
help you stay connected to patients,
keeping them informed while increasing
their satisfaction with your services.
15
Challenges
Relying on manual, duplicative data collection
processes to track patient health leads
to inefficiencies across your healthcare
organisation.
Using disparate systems that force you to
consolidate patient data from various sources
before analysis makes it difficult to gain
actionable patient health insights.
Experiencing frustration with existing systems
applies to both patients and carers alike.
Patients must go through redundant steps with
multiple carers to receive effective treatment.
Carers must react quickly, with limited insights
from patient data, to provide a diagnosis and
prescribe treatment.
Improving data accessibility and privacy.
The challenge is to make this data accessible,
connected and consumable by the right people
at the right time – while maintaining strict
privacy and permissions.
02 / Finding new ways to engage with patients 16

How digital transformation can help

Create a unified, personalised care

strategy based on a holistic view of
patients and their care histories. Impact
more people, help prevent readmissions
and avoid crises.

Enhance patient engagement

and forge deeper connections. Use
automatic updates to health data to save
the patient the time it would take to
make updates manually. CASE STUDY

Provide broader access to needed

services. Enable your organisation to
easily, efficiently and cost-effectively
Health network
integrate existing devices and systems uses Dynamics 365
through solutions that are open and
extensible. to transform
Empower providers to seamlessly care delivery and
and quickly scale their capabilities.

Deliver a personalised patient

wow patients
experience with the right care at
the right time.

Improve patient and client

experiences to lead to greater
wellbeing and better outcomes.
02 / Finding new ways to engage with patients 17

Case study: Health network uses “We wanted to own our

Dynamics 365 to transform care
delivery and wow patients call centre transactions, so
Inspira adopted Microsoft Dynamics 365 to we could impress people
deepen its understanding of the histories,
habits, needs and preferences of every
from their first contact
healthcare consumer in its community. with Inspira. That effort
To create meaningful connections with
all its existing – and potential – healthcare
quickly blossomed into a
consumers, Inspira brought its call centre comprehensive ecosystem
operations in-house, creating an omnichannel
CRM platform based on Dynamics 365 for
that underlies all our
Customer Service. consumer engagements.”
This new platform helped Inspira provide
comprehensive consumer engagement across Tom Pacek, Chief Information Officer,
its 150 urgent care clinics, outpatient facilities Inspira Health Network
and multi-speciality health centres.

Whether a patient engaged via chatbot, mobile

health apps or the customer care centre, Inspira
endeavoured to not only provide the right
care but ensure that each channel offered
a seamless experience every time.

Learn more
02 / Finding new ways to engage with patients
CASE STUDY
How AiR Healthcare is solving behavioural
health challenges
With more than 100,000 patients, AiR
Healthcare, a provider of behavioural health
services based in St. Paul, Minnesota, needed
a solution to improve patient care for common
behavioural issues related to substance use,
mental health and eating disorders.
Powered by Health360, Microsoft
Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Azure, AirCare
gives AiR Healthcare’s staff secure access to
case files, valuable population-level data and
comprehensive records of patient interactions –
all in one centralised location. The user-friendly
tool has improved efficiency across the
organisation, empowering clinicians to deliver
quality care to each of their patients more
effectively. With the solution in place, individual
clinicians have been able to dramatically grow
18
their caseloads, increasing from roughly 40–60
cases per clinician to managing approximately
400 patients at a time, while simultaneously
delivering even better patient outcomes.
Learn more
“We’re very excited about our ability to
promote remission at scale, and a better way
to say that is we can help more people, and we
can help them stay well – which is all we ever
really wanted to do.”
Andrew Wainwright, Founder & Chief
Development Officer,
AiR Healthcare
03
Bridging the CONTENTS

gap with a
Real-time patient care

Case study: Silver Chain

next-generation
Continuous patient
engagement

Case study: Helsinki and

patient Uusimaa Hospital District

engagement
system
03 / Bridging the gap with a next-generation patient 20
engagement system

To meet patient expectations, you need to first “To really reap the benefits
understand who they are. By consolidating
information from all parts of the patient of patient engagement –
experience on a single platform, you can improved care outcomes,
deliver better care and experience through the
patient’s preferred channel. This new paradigm healthier lifestyles and
also helps you rightsize the level of patient faster recovery, you need
interaction. Reach out to patients through
email, chatbot and call centre depending on an empowerment platform
the patient’s needs. Plus, keep a history of the that empowers consumers
patient’s interaction availability, offering them
a personalised experience while using the same and the clinicians they trust
technologies to codify a care plan. to stay connected and
communicate about the
things that matter most to
them during the 5,000 hours
between office visits.”

Elan Hekier MD, Chief Medical Information

& Innovation Officer,
Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group
03 / Bridging the gap with a next-generation patient engagement system 21

How patient-generated
health data systems are
opening the door to greater
engagement
To the fullest extent possible, healthcare
systems need to track all kinds of interactions –
from scheduling appointments to checking lab
results. Getting insights from these interactions
builds a more comprehensive understanding
of what patients are going through and better
engages them with their chosen preferences.
Systems of engagement Systems of insight
A modern patient engagement platform
encompasses systems of records, systems
of insight and systems of engagement. Each
system supports the other. The classic ‘systems
of record’ are optimised through ‘systems of
Systems
Systems of
of record
record
insight’ that analyse data to help you predict
and prevent health incidents, and determine
effective treatments. Meanwhile, ‘systems
of engagement’ provide you with new ways
to treat illness faster and more long-term.
This unified platform offers a consistent
user experience that’s easy to integrate and
automatically benefits from any updates
to the underlying platform.
03 / Bridging the gap with a next-generation patient engagement system
Real-time patient care
At a glance
Delays can result in higher costs and
risks. A real-time patient care platform
can help your teams connect and
share information quickly, so you can
give patients the information and care
they need in real time. By working
with patients at the right time, and
with the right information when both
sides need it, you can recognise health
abnormalities when they occur and
ensure faster, smarter interventions.
22
Challenges
Dealing with communication delays among
care team members, care facilities and payers.
Communication processes can take days or
weeks, adding to patient frustration and stress.
Taking a long time for basic tasks can be
extremely frustrating for patients. Such tasks
may be delayed by having to follow concurrent
series of events and interactions, with massive
gaps in between.
Navigating interoperability issues among EHRs,
as well as integrating legacy EHRs with analytics
solutions, can be an obstacle to taking true
advantage of real-time data analytics.
Encountering non-availability of information
in a dynamic and complex environment, which
can lead to decision-making about specific
patient treatment occurring under non-optimal
circumstances.
Maintaining integrity and resiliency of a
platform, which can prove critical to patient
outcomes. It’s not only about the data, but life
and death.
 23

How digital transformation can help

Enable care teams to connect with

each other, and with patients, at reduced
latency. This also improves patient
outcomes and reduces costs.

Strengthen patient relationships

and quality of care by sharing real-time CASE STUDY
information, not only with those who are

Silver Chain
receiving health services, but also with
the people around them who provide
support.
boosts healthcare
services with
Enable real-time patient reporting
to improve the transparency of patient
care.
Dynamics 365
Deliver more targeted and rapid care
to high-risk patients.

Support real-time patient care

whenever possible. Implement
actionable, clinically translated
intelligence into workflows.

Increase operational efficiency by

streamlining your processes.
03 / Bridging the gap with a next-generation patient engagement system
Case study: Silver Chain boosts healthcare
services with Dynamics 365
Twice the size of the next biggest home
hospital in Australia, Silver Chain needed
a robust system to support both its large
number of patients and geographical region.
The answer? A platform that combines
Dynamics 365 and field services management
through the Field Service solution on mobile
devices, providing a single source of truth.
This replaces the outdated spreadsheet –
allowing real-time patient reporting and
ensuring improved transparency of patient
care. Information can be updated across the
business in real time to ensure rapid delivery of
updates on essential care services.
Learn more
Watch video
24
“The patient measure is critically important
when it comes to ensuring the quality of care.
Imagine a drug that needs to be given at a
specific time; if it is delayed, then there is a drop
in the level of the actual drug within the blood
of a patient, which can have significant health
impacts. The Microsoft Dynamics 365 solution
ensures this critical risk can be addressed with
immediacy through the real-time flagging
of issues.”
Dr. Daryl Kroschel, Director Clinical Operations,
Home Hospital, Silver Chain
03 / Bridging the gap with a next-generation patient engagement system 25

Continuous patient engagement

At a glance Challenges
Connecting with patients at the right Tracking treatment progress or success
time, and with the information they accurately beyond the clinic can be difficult.
need, encourages them to be more
involved. It creates a more integrated, Monitoring treatment progress effectively for
continuous feedback loop. Technology
patients who don’t always actively participate
can realise this level of engagement,
in their own care represents another hurdle.
with patients staying connected to
(For example, they may fail to adhere to
providers inside and outside of care
care regimens, such as taking prescribed
facilities. Care continues when patients
medications.)
are still well, too, so you can track
success and improve health outcomes.
Through intelligent services and trusted Putting patients in control, with reminders and
platforms, you can develop pervasive secure access to their health data, care plans
relationships, providing patients self- and wellness from anywhere, has become
service access and proactive reminders increasingly important in the digital age.
while reducing admissions and
readmissions.
 26

How digital transformation can help

Work to strengthen patient

relationships and improve outcomes.
Achieve more flexibility to effectively
engage with patients.

Reduce readmissions and boost health CASE STUDY

outcomes by providing preventive care
and other health updates to patients.
Virtual Hospital
Stay connected to patients through
remotely managed care plans. Help improves patients’
ensure that patients are taking the steps
needed at home to stay healthy.
healthcare access
Enable patients to stay true to their and dramatically
care plans and achieve personal health
goals. Recognise health abnormalities
cuts costs
when they do occur to facilitate faster,
smarter interventions.

Equip care workers with the proper

tools to serve remote populations.
Extend care and treatment options to
previously hard-to-reach patients.
03 // Bridging
03 Bridgingthe
the gap
gap with
with a next-generation
a next-generation
patient engagement system
engagement system
Case study: Virtual Hospital improves
patients’ healthcare access and
dramatically cuts costs
Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District (HUS)
used a Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365 for
Customer Service and Office 365 platform to
create their Virtual Hospital, which provides
digital health services that improve patient
access to quality care, reduce costs,and enable
healthcare providers to treat more patients in
less time.
In Finland, this platform provides the ability to
access medical information, self-help programs
and virtual treatments via computer or mobile
devices. This has improved access significantly
for the elderly, people with disabilities, those
who live in remote areas and others who find
it more convenient or affordable to pursue
medical treatment from home rather than
travel or take time off work to visit the hospital.
Learn more
patient
27
“We studied how many patients who receive
lifesaving surgery for a cardiac infarction
continue to take their medications and make
the necessary lifestyle changes after leaving
the hospital. Only 8% followed their doctors’
orders; 92% went back to their old habits or
didn’t take their medications as directed. That’s
where the virtual tools will be really helpful. .
“Virtual visits are half the cost of in-person
visits. We have calculated that if we can use
virtual therapies to decrease outpatient visits
by only 5%…we will pay for these digital
services five times over in just three years. With
this hybrid approach, where virtual health
services and physical, face-to-face services are
intertwined, we can treat more patients than
ever before.”
Visa Honkanen, Director of Strategic
Development, Helsinki University Hospital
 28

04

Summary
Consumerisation is changing the way patients expect to interact and
engage with their providers. To bridge the gap between that expectation
and what providers can do requires rethinking and reworking an effective
patient engagement strategy and platform. You need to understand patient
touchpoints, map common journeys and build a clearer picture of existing data,
while learning from success stories in other organisations. Create a personalised
and tailored view of each patient, and deliver real-time and continuous
interaction among patients and carers.

Health organisations can take the first steps toward building a new approach to
meet future needs. No matter where your organisation is on in its technology
innovation journey, you can help pave the way for even greater disruption and
better care.

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