Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1191144
24 PATIENT EXPERIENCE Smartphones are important for patient engagement, majority of hospital execs say By Jackie Drees S martphones are becoming a crucial compo- nent for patient engagement, helping hospitals receive feedback from patients about their visits, satisfaction with care teams and more, according to a Reaction Data report. Reaction Data surveyed 48 leadership individuals from healthcare providers across the U.S. for its 2019 Patient Engagement report. Executives includ- ed CEOs, CNOs, CMOs, CFOs, COOs and quality directors, among other titles. Survey participants were asked about their thoughts on patient engagement as well as strategies they've applied at their respective organizations. When asked if patient engagement via smartphones is important, respondents said: • It's important, but not critical: 44 percent • Yes: 39 percent • It helps but has a negligible impact: 14 percent • No: 3 percent When asked what current patient engagement strate- gies their organizations use, respondents said: • HCAHPS surveys: 31 percent • Phone calls: 27 percent • Patient portal: 24 percent • Secure text messaging: 11 percent • Other: six percent • Nothing is particularly effective: 1 percent n More than 50% of patients find providers via social media, survey finds By Andrea Park W hen looking for a healthcare provider, the majority of patients turn to the internet, with more than half searching social media to find providers, according to a report from online reputation management firm Binary Fountain. According to the report, which surveyed 1,000 American adults, 51 percent of consumers search for a provider via social media plat- forms. That number represents a more than 621 percent increase from the 2017 survey, in which only 7 percent of respondents reported using social media for this purpose. Among platforms used to seek out healthcare, Facebook is the most popular, with 45 percent of respondents saying they had used the platform to find a provider — a 264 percent increase year-over-year. Meanwhile, 29 percent said they had used Instagram to assess pro- viders, and 21 percent did so on Twitter. n Physician sues Kaiser Permanente over opioid-related patient satisfaction scores By Emily Rappleye A n emergency medicine physician filed a lawsuit Sept. 18 against Kaiser Permanente over its patient satisfaction scoring methodology, which she alleged incentivized overprescribing opioids and hurt her career at the Oakland, Ca- lif.-based health system, The News Tribune reported. Eryn Alpert, MD, worked at Kaiser Permanente from 2012 to December 2017, when she was fired. The lawsuit alleged her dismissal stemmed from her failure to accept patient satisfaction scoring tools. It claimed these tools were structured to incentivize physicians to prescribe opioids, even when medically unneces- sary. The lawsuit said this pressure was greater in the emergency department, where patients often went seeking prescriptions and would leave poor reviews if they didn't receive them, according to the report. In the lawsuit, Dr. Alpert alleged her resistance to prescribing unnecessary opioids created a high standard deviation in her patient scores, which in turn prevented her from gaining share- holder status three years in a row, according to the report. Kaiser Permanente declined The News Tribune's request for comment. n