Patient engagement technology will be the name of the game in 2020, as more healthcare providers look at innovative tools to learn more about their patients and address the shift toward consumerism in healthcare.

Population health management is not a new concept, with industry leaders have long recognized its importance in delivering on value-based, patient-centered care. Today, it is vital to understand more individual patient needs, triaging those needs and connecting the most at-risk populations with community resources that can address the social determinants of health.

President and CEO Steve Miff, PhD, at the Dallas-based Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI), advocates for person-centered community-based care. It’s the artificial intelligence and machine learning tools that makes this kind of care possible.

Miff said they are going to continue to see both AI and machine learning evolve to understand this broader information about individuals and patients.

The new year will be about making more efforts to create a consumer-centered experience, and technology use will be at the heart of that, according to Chris Pace, the senior director of digital marketing at Banner Health, the Arizona-based health system.

Banner is focused at investing heavily in driving traffic to their website. They have invested considerably in building a simple, frictionless experience so that customers can land on their site and find a pathway to care within two clicks.

About 85% of healthcare consumers begin their healthcare experience with an online search. So, Banner recognizes the importance of not only being in Google search, but having a strong, navigable website that helps patients connect with the care they need.

Mikelle Moore, the senior vice president for community health at Intermountain Healthcare said that they believe in the need to be more digital in their engagement with consumers, that in order to reach people they need to be as responsive and easy to access.