Essentia Health is leveraging technology in an ongoing effort to improve the patient experience. The health system now offers text message appointment reminders and posts wait times on its website for many of its ER, Urgent Care and Convenient Care locations.
In addition, Essentia offers patients online access to their medical records through a portal called MyHealth. Existing Essentia patients can sign up for MyHealth online, and once they have an account they can schedule appointments, pre-register for appointments and even order prescription refills and have them mailed to their home free of charge.
One of the newest offerings called eCheck-In allows patients to pre-register before their appointments using a computer or mobile device. eCheck-In can be done up to seven days in advance of an appointment or as late as 30 minutes prior to their appointment.
Patients can update insurance and personal information, and if necessary, fill out a Medicare Secondary Payer Questionnaire. “We’re doing this because patients have told us they would like to have more technology and the ability to update their information prior to coming in,” says Kathy Wrazidlo, who is responsible for improving a patient’s ability to receive care at Essentia.
“Once they arrive, patients will still have to check in, since we cannot upload insurance information through our online portal yet, but we are going to create a special lane in our large registration areas to help speed up the process for them,” Wrazidlo adds.
Reducing the amount of time patients spend waiting in line is also the goal of Essentia’s new on-line prescription refill service. Patients who have MyHealth can view a list of their current prescriptions and, with one click, place an order to have the prescription refilled and sent right to their door.
“We have patients living in rural areas who don’t have a pharmacy near them,” says Tim Cernohous, who leads Essentia’s pharmacy services. “Some of these patients have to travel up to 50 miles to get to a pharmacy, so this will be a great benefit for them.”
Regardless of where you live, receiving a reminder about an upcoming appointment via text message and being able to confirm or cancel the appointment at your convenience eliminates the possibility of playing phone tag.
“Texting us back is much simpler for our patients,” says Lisa Johnson, who coordinates Essentia’s Telecare department projects, like text reminders. “They asked for this service and we are very happy to be able to provide it. We feel this will be much less obtrusive in their daily lives.”
Last Update: Oct 23, 2016 4:29 pm CDT
