The patients, staff, and physicians at Keck Medicine of USC’s busy Los Angeles-based academic medical center have already noticed a change during the initial adoption of Lumeon’s care pathway management (CPM) platform.
Keck Medicine deployed the platform’s automated appointment reminder pathways to minimize no-shows and late cancellations. But that is only the beginning for this innovative institution. Keck Medicine may also incorporate Lumeon’s advanced analytics, patient outreach, and recall campaign capabilities.
Laurie Johnson, executive administrator of ambulatory services at Keck Medicine of USC, explains, “Keck Medicine of USC is an academic institution, which means by virtue of our mission, value, and goals we must be innovative, creative and look for new ways to provide the best care to our patients. Lumeon’s vision fits and aligns with our goals. The implementation of the Lumeon platform by Keck Medicine gives us the opportunity to use technology to improve the patient experience and increase efficiency in our operations.”
With consumerization taking hold of the healthcare market, patients now demand modern engagement and interactions when it comes to their care. CPM becomes critical in equipping providers with the capabilities they need to cater to these expectations, while improving efficiency and capacity through automation.
According to Robbie Hughes, Lumeon’s CEO, “The new era of digital health demands a different approach, one that allows providers to digitize and automate the care delivery experience. We’re particularly excited to work with Keck Medicine, who are true innovators in the way they drive improved outcomes.”
Taking the Pain out of Appointment Reminders
Lumeon’s automated appointment reminder function seeks to address one of the Keck Medicine administrative team’s biggest pain points. For many years they had been managing appointment reminders using a system that required manual intervention and resulted in high overheads. Staff had to batch upload CSV files, abide by character limits, troubleshoot EHR misalignments, and were restricted in making modifications.
Considering that Keck Medicine now manages around 100,000 reminders every month, this system required a lot of time and attention. Not to mention the no-show and late cancellation rates were higher than desired, resulting in revenue leakage for the health system.
Lumeon’s CPM platform fully automates appointment reminder activities and processes. Patients receive three reminders for each appointment, via voice, email or text without manual intervention from staff, in the most appropriate language. The system is programmed to avoid calling patients during inconvenient hours. Staff have access to a centralized self-service library of pathways so they can make changes as and when needed.
Seamlessly integrated with Keck Medicine’s Cerner EHR system from the outset, all reminders are in sync with the latest information concerning the patient and the institution. If a patient cancels an appointment, for example, the reminder is automatically canceled. If a patient has multiple appointments on the same day, then the system only sends one reminder to cover all of them. The system also manages patient consent paperwork that often delays appointments when done in-office.
This level of automation seeks to improve efficiency and lower administrative burden, as well as reduce the likelihood of errors. It promises to cut costs by ensuring more people come to their appointments or are prompted by reminders to cancel or reschedule with sufficient notice.
“No-shows are costly to any organization,” says Laurie Johnson. “In just one month after implementing the first stages of Lumeon, we saw no-shows decrease markedly. The value of Lumeon is highlighted by the flexibility in the product. Lumeon provides the software, but we control the message, the frequency of the message, and the mode of communication. We have received positive comments from our staff, patients, and physicians.”
Clearing the Way for Full-fledged Care Pathway Management
With appointment reminders managed automatically, Keck Medicine is looking to add improvements to patient engagement and operational efficiencies.
Keck Medicine is now well positioned to move toward robust care pathway management. Every patient is placed on a personalized plan of care which is orchestrated and automated from referral to discharge, through to outcomes monitoring. CPM provides a kind of air traffic control system for a patient’s care, not only reminding them of appointments, but also guiding them through the process of seeking, making, preparing for, recovering from, and following up after them.
“It’s the beginnings of a comprehensive digital appointment experience, akin to a modern airline experience, that guides you every step of the way. Starting with reminders, evolving to electronic surveys and assessments, and then into digital care pathways. It helps every patient and care team coordinate tasks before, during and after appointments and procedures to assist with a rapid recovery,” says Rick Halton, Lumeon’s vice president of product and marketing.
By adopting this powerful care pathway management model, Keck Medicine is placing itself at the forefront of healthcare innovation — just where a future-looking academic health system should be.
