Provider organizations are seeking to leverage patient communication technology to enhance administrative, financial, and clinical outcomes, according to a KLAS report sent to journalists.

As patient expectations continue to change and technology matures, the demand for quick and ongoing patient-provider communication has grown. Provider organizations are looking past patient communications that solely provide automated communications like appointment reminders.

The report, Patient Communications Landscape 2022, examined the current landscape of patient communications solutions to help provider organizations better understand the market.

The report focuses on patient communication solutions and patient-driven care management solutions. Patient communication solutions are primarily used to communicate with patients, encourage patient adherence, and support provider interactions. Patient-driven management solutions help patients self-manage their care and often focus on care navigation, post-visit follow-up care, and patient surveys.

“To compete and meet patients’ needs and expectations, organizations should consider the depth of patients’ needs and the unique capabilities in either or both of these categories,” KLAS researchers stated.

KLAS determined that narrower patient communications solutions from RevSpring, CipherHealth, and Relatient face the greatest risk of being replaced.

CipherHealth and Relatient can be used for broad use cases but was mainly used more narrowly, the report stated.

Customers of RevSpring mainly utilize appointment reminders and broadcast messaging. In fact, respondents have noticed an improved volume of patients seen and reduced no-show rates with RevSpring.

However, RevSpring, with the lowest overall performance score of 82.9 points out of a 100, lags compared to other patient communication technology. Specifically, ease of use is low among patients and office staff, signaling a need for better training to boost usability.

Most Relatient respondents use appointment reminders and broadcast messaging and a modest number leverage patient-provider and ad hoc messaging. In addition, nearly all customers reported the software reduces no-show rates.

The customers planning to leave Relatient are mainly small practices with challenges caused by limited functionality, uncertainty about the tool’s design, and support issues.

According to the report, provider organizations want solutions that can support their intended use cases.

Nearly all interviewed clients plan to keep the solutions WELL Health and Klara for the long-term.

Additionally, both solutions are deeply adopted across broad use cases and have one of the highest overall performance scores. Klara earned 91.9 points and WELL Health earned 91.7 points.

“In this market, provider organizations are looking for a strong user experience for both patients and office staff,” KLAS researchers stated. “WELL Health, Luma Health, and CipherHealth customers consistently report their solutions are highly usable for both groups.”

WELL Health has won Best in KLAS multiple years in a row. Most customers of the patient communication solution stated that the tools are straightforward to use for staff and patients.

“In addition to reduced no-show rates, customers point to better overall communication with patients, increased staff efficiency, ability to reschedule appointments, and increased portal adoption,” the report stated. “Need for more consistent, responsive support is commonly mentioned, though recently surveyed customers mention signs of improvement.”

Luma Health also delivers easy-to-use solutions for office staff and patient. Particularly, staff valued the efficiency of the solution as they were able to create patient forms at a quick rate. However, respondents reported that Luma Health lacks in providing support staff.  Overall, the solution achieved the third lowest performance score of 87.2 points, KLAS researchers found.

CipherHealth has many use cases but is primarily used for follow-up care visits. Recently, the company announced its solution will further patient-provider communication among users. The platform was also rated high among its customers and patients; specifically, patients had a positive experience with the automated call system.

In addition, the CiperHealth solution seems to result in more substantial clinical outcomes like reduced readmission, the KLAS report mentioned.

Klara, which focuses on small to midsize practice, stands out among other patient communication vendors due to its clinical outcomes.

Despite its low usability among patients, interviewed customers noticed increased patient education prior to procedures, greater access to patient information, and easier patient access to clinical guidance outside the usual care setting.

Get Well was the only other patient communication vendor, with over 50 percent of respondents realizing administrative, financial, and clinical outcomes.

“Customers feel they can be in constant communication with patients without adding FTEs, and this leads to better procedure preparation and subsequent patient-reported outcomes (PROs),” KLAS reported.

In addition, Get Well customers appreciated the quality of prebuilt content that can meet clinician preferences during patient-provider communication.

According to the report, the Get Well solution received an 8.1 out of 9 on the quality of prebuilt content and a 7.9 out of 9 on the ability to create custom content.

“An important aspect of patient-driven care management solutions is the ability to get patients’ journeys started quickly with prebuilt content while also enabling customized content to meet the organization’s or department’s specific needs,” KLAS researchers mentioned.

Moving forward, patient communication solutions should focus on improving outcomes, usability, and patient-provider communication as those are top priorities for customers, KLAS stated.

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