Transforming the Digital Healthcare Experience - Starting from Rural America

Today, consumers interact with digital experiences for almost everything—banking, shopping, entertainment, traveling, and now health care. However, there is an “experience gap” between some of the most widely-used digital platforms—and logging into an electronic health record or a health care provider’s website.

Our patients are the same consumers who use Amazon, Netflix and their banking apps on a daily basis. It’s no surprise that they expect the same digital sophistication with their health care experience.

Consider my recent trip to a leadership symposium in Arizona. While at home in South Dakota, Delta Airlines sent a notification on my smartphone that my boarding passes were available and that I could check-in even though I was still hours from departure. Two simple taps on my screen and four seconds later, I was done. I am a frequent flyer, and my airline seat was upgraded automatically without any action required from me—the experience was personalized, and the airline reserved a window seat to align with my retained preference. Inside the Delta app, I could easily find restaurant and retail amenities for all of the airports that I traveled to and an estimate of how much time it would take to walk to my next gate. Arriving in Phoenix and clicking open my Uber app, I was “ushered” through the airport to the Uber pick-up site. I tracked my driver (picture and license clearly visible) as he approached, and the app even offered to select the style of music and interior temperature I preferred. Shortly after I arrived, I received an alert suggesting food delivery from Uber Eats since I had been traveling all day. Making a payment for the ride or the meal was a single-click option.

So just six taps on my smartphone, maybe 10, and I traveled seamlessly halfway across the country– 1,245 miles from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to the door of my digitally prepared hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Great digital experiences make complex things simple, and we know that healthcare can be overly complex.

Imagine for a moment a digital health experience that was just as simple, smooth and personalized—one that empowered patients to take control of their health by accessing care where, when and how they want and need it. That is the future of digital we are focused on at Sanford Health – for the more than 1.5 million patients we serve across 250,000 square miles in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Iowa.

The opportunity to engage with health care consumers through digital solutions cannot be overstated. According to Pew Research, 85 percent of adults in the U.S. own a smartphone. While two-thirds of the communities we serve are rural, our patients’ expectations are not all that different from those who live in urban areas. For example, 7 in 10 of our patients would prefer to make an appointment online or through an app rather than calling the clinic for a regular check-up/wellness visit or prescription needs. Nationally, 78 percent of consumers prefer scheduling appointments digitally according to Experian Health. Cedar’s 2019 Healthcare Consumer Experience Study revealed that 41 percent of consumers would switch to a different provider who offered a better digital experience.

"Great digital experiences make complex things simple. A digital health experience can be just as simple, smooth, and personalized to empower patients to take control of their health by accessing care where, when, and how they want and need it"

So, how do we create an even better digital health experience for our patients? First, we need to listen. What are their expectations and preferences? What are the friction points and barriers that are preventing them from seeking care or maintaining their health?

These insights will help us to identify the right solutions for the right problems – and make health care more accessible, seamless and equitable. At Sanford Health, we call this “outside-in” ideation. If we build a new digital experience around our patients’ needs, they are more likely to come on the journey with us, and we are more likely to see improved health outcomes as a result.

As part of our commitment to transforming the health care experience for the communities we serve across the upper Midwest, Sanford Health has launched a $350 million virtual care initiative to expand access to convenient, high-quality health care.

Patients will be able to access on-demand urgent care, behavioral health care and primary care – just like they can order groceries online to be delivered at their doorstep within two hours.

We expect to transition more than 350,000 outpatient visits a year to care from home, reach more than 11 million lives and extend care to more than 275 clinics across the Midwest.

One of the goals of our virtual care initiative is to make virtual visits possible within 24 hours for anyone in our care footprint who needs access to a mental health provider. Our patient satisfaction survey results show patients want a choice when it comes to scheduling a virtual or in-person visit. In fact, one in 5 behavioral health appointments scheduled today with a Sanford Health provider is a virtual visit (21%), and patient satisfaction is slightly higher for behavioral health virtual visits compared to in-person visits.

We are optimistic about the future. We believe rural America is uniquely positioned to lead the way in delivering a consumer-focused digital health care experience that meets the needs and preferences of all those we serve no matter where they live or the challenges they face.