Research shows that patients who understand and take action with regard to their own health and healthcare decisions, have better health outcomes and may even have lower healthcare costs. Thus, it is imperative that healthcare providers embrace patient engagement.

However, healthcare customer engagement isn’t merely the responsibility of the healthcare providers. Successful engagement requires that patients become actively involved and healthcare literate – they understand their role in the care process and have the knowledge, skills, and confidence to take on that role.

In a prior blog, “3 Tips for Using Social Media in Healthcare Customer Engagement,” we offered ideas to help you integrate your social media presence with customer engagement. Now we’d like to suggest looking at the new guide offered by the National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) to help healthcare organizations develop and strengthen their patient engagement strategies using electronic tools and resources.

The Patient Engagement Framework is the result of several months of work by over 150 experts in healthcare, technology, and human behavior. It includes several categories ranging from informing and empowering patients to collaborating with patients and healthcare communities.

Though the Framework focuses primarily on electronic tools, not all consumers are aware of how technology tools can make it easier for them to maintain or even improve their health. It will likely require more patient education and awareness to drive the growth of these tools.

Meanwhile, the NeHC has developed a business intelligence tool in partnership with HealthCAWS. The tool helps organizations evaluate the status of their consumer engagement efforts and provides customized progress reports along with guidance for improving organizational strategies.

As a healthcare provider, you require a complete customer engagement solution to unify communications, business processes, and patient data. USAN can help. We offer patient engagement solutions that can:

• Improve patient relationships and trust
• Centralize visibility into and control of patient data
• Leverage existing IT systems and investments
• Reduce operating costs

Once you’ve established your healthcare customer engagement strategies, contact us for more information about how our products can help you meet your current engagement goals.