Medication non-adherence costs the already strained healthcare system between $100 and $289 billion a year. Even worse, a lack of adherence causes nearly 125,000 deaths annually and 10 percent of hospitalizations.
These numbers are staggering, but it doesn’t need to be this way.
As the healthcare system moves from a fee-for-service to value-based care model, improving adherence is critical. After all, ensuring a patient’s medication and medical plan adherence delivers better outcomes, lowers overall healthcare costs and offers strong benefits for payers and pharmaceutical companies.
But how do we accomplish this task? To start, we must better empower patients, providing them with quicker, more effective access to their health information through innovative technologies.
It’s no surprise engaged patients who take an active role and interest in their healthcare have better health outcomes and lower costs. It’s also no surprise healthcare consumers now expect more from providers. Patients want tools that are flexible and easy-to-use to help them meet their health needs, according to a recent report by Deloitte. In addition, patients want to be thought of as customers and engaged with via the same channels other businesses use to nurture those valuable relationships.
How Secure Text Can Improve Patient Adherence
Today, Americans exchange five times as many texts as phone calls. In addition, only 33 percent of business voicemails are listened to, and over 90 percent of emails are marked spam. If these old-school forms of communication are no longer relevant in other aspects of business, it is crucial healthcare providers begin to adapt new forms of communication, too.
To meet this demand, medical practices, specialty clinics, community pharmacies, and the like must begin to adopt and implement new, cutting-edge solutions that offer multiple channels to connect with patients, based on their preference and convenience, as well as a single place for staff to manage communications.
Remember that stat about texting? This is where Updox comes in to help. Updox Secure Text is a critical piece of our Engagement solution. It offers your practice or pharmacy an easier, more effective option to reach patients in ways a phone call never could. With Secure Text, practices or pharmacies can:
- Use pictures and videos to capture patient symptoms rather than relying on descriptions
- Make it easy for patients to submit insurance cards, forms or billing items
- Send patients educational materials, lab results, copies of medical records
- Alert patients when urgent follow-up care is required
- File patient conversations to the chart for future reference
If your practice or pharmacy is on the quest to improve patient experiences and increase medication adherence, please contact a member of our team today to learn more about what Updox Secure Text can do for your business.
