| | August 20228UTLOOKHealthcare Tech Over the last two decades,technological advances have drastically improved customer experience, satisfaction, and self-service capabilities across all industries. For example, you can now buy homes, receive loans, and order food delivery from any device with the internet. Amazon is a demonstrative example of at-home shopping with finger touch technology and excellent, real-time customer support. Healthcare, however, had not yet leveraged technology to achieve this level of transformation, at least, until recently. The COVID-19 pandemic has fast-tracked the adoption of technology in healthcare out of necessity. With this evolving progression, applied technology will be opportunistic to revolutionize the patient experience.The patient navigation experience is essential for patient satisfaction and quality healthcare. Patient navigation includes accessibility, support and guidance for the patient at all stages across the care continuum. Technology can be leveraged to track clinical progress, support patient assessment, and enable virtual telemedicine visits with healthcare team members. Successful patient care navigation utilizes emerging technology to add value to patient healthcare by facilitating access, scheduling flexibility, and enabling resource management at the moment when patients need it. Through the lens of care navigation, value depends on the ability of the care team to deliver proper care at the right time and the right place. Technology should create expedited access for patients, while also providing a comprehensive summary of their health. Value is not only from collecting the appropriate information, but also by applying that information in a timely manner. This communication must get to the patient in an actionable way yet easy to understand to improve patient care. The mobile Global Position System (GPS) is a parallel example for the opportunity in patient navigation. Before the ease of access to the internet, you would pull out a map (or multiple), locate the starting and destination locations and create an itinerary. This was a valuable albeit a tedious process fraught with gaps for real-time support.As the internet became more accessible, navigation evolved with websites (such as "Mapquest") that would generate a route for you based on starting and destination locations. Additionally, you could add preferences to the route, like avoiding toll roads and freeways. However, without accessible internet, this could not solve the need for real-time (detours for example). Finally, the smartphones came with mobile GPS capability, which allowed real-time navigation. This incorporated the core features of prior navigation systems, and enhanced navigation by allowing the system to automatically update and adjust the route for unexpected conditions. This real-time feedback loop for updating the route ensures the directions are dynamically current. This provides flexibility for the driver to make additional stops and navigate road closures seamlessly. This mobile GPS navigation process is the form of "care navigation" we need to bring to healthcare; navigation with real-time, relevant updates for our patients.Under our current system, patients may linger for months or years between visits with their primary care team without any ongoing dialogue. The patient may be given an initial care plan and be discharged to "manage their care" with limited support, until their next visit. At that time, the primary care team will reassess the patient and devise an updated care Healthcare "GPS" ­ The Patient Navigation RevolutionBy Mitchell Fong, VP of Virtual Care, Renown HealthIN MY OPINION
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