Providence St. Joseph Health, Washington-based Catholic health system has moved towards making it easier for patients to access and remain activated in it with the use of digital patient engagement system.

Just like online travel companies who face losses if the airplane seats they fill go empty, health care faces a similar issue. As a supply constrained industry, healthcare organizations need to utilize their resources - available clinicians and appointment slots efficiently to be financially sound.

According to the 2013 statistics of Pew Research Center, 35 percent of patients seek online resources to learn more about their health. Seven years hence, this number is likely to be much higher, as online search has become popular. Thus, organizations are trying to stem the flow of misinformation that tarnishes a patient’s perception of her own care or her patient-provider communication / relationship.

Providence is revamping its online resources looking to create a consolidated and authoritative platform for patients so that patients know more about their conditions and other health needs.

The next step in digital engagement is streamlining digital transactions. Finding an appropriate provider for specific patient needs.

Providence is moving towards managing the non-pharmaceutical products or actions that providers prescribe to their patients. As Aaron Martin, chief digital officer at Providence St. Joseph Health pointed out, there are many things that the clinician recommends outside of just prescribing pharmaceuticals. Using dedicated space in the patient app, providers can now send messages about the online educational video- rideshare service.

The physicians can now prescribe anything that’s not a pharmaceutical as if it were a pharmaceutical according to Martin. Then it shows up in Providence Health Connect in the engagement application.

These kinds of investments are intuitive for Martin and his team. He said that taking inspiration from other consumer-focused industries pointed him in the right direction.

Through consumer focus groups, other website and digital assessments, the team was able to know what its consumers wanted and needed from health care.