We all know that a lot goes through when we need to book an appointment as well as set reminders for when the appointment is scheduled as well as other hassles related to healthcare such as taking medications as well as other things. Now, what if we told you that you can eliminate all this with just a two-way text messaging system which reminds you that your appointment is scheduled as well as giving you an appointment in the first place. Virtua Health also saw this problem and said that their goal was to “remove the unnecessary barriers patients encountered when seeking answers and do so in a way that empowered the clinical team to provide the best care experience possible”.
That is when this two-way text messaging was introduced by them with the help of Memora Health, a health IT vendor which automates patient-symptom triage as well as guidance and education. Virtua Health’s Dr. Tarun Kapoor said, “Their technology platform offered to communicate with our patients through the accessible platform of SMS texting to support them after discharge or after an appointment”. “This means there is no phone application necessary to download or any fees associated with using Memora’s platform”.
He added that “Patients can receive quick answers when they are at a crossroads on their care journey, and receive reminders about medications, appointments and side effects to look out for,”. “All of this supports a better, easier patient experience”. Along with that, he said “Memora’s intelligent platform will communicate with patients to ensure they understand the severity of the patient’s concern – which can typically be done within a few quick text-based interactions, usually within the first five interactions,” Kapoor noted. “From there, the patients who need responses most urgently are triaged accordingly, so the care teams can respond quickly.”
The ultimate goal with the introduction of this system, he explains is that “We want our patients to report they felt well-informed and well-cared-for every step of the way. In the same regard, we want our care teams to feel more effective in their role because we’ve taken the repetitive administrative tasks off their plate, and empowered them to focus more on patient care.”
