Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1468176
30 EXECUTIVE BRIEFING 3 EXECUTIVE BRIEFING Key functionality in a provider directory software solution includes: • The ability to curate data: Health systems require the best data available and putting the power to manage that data into hundreds or thousands of staff hands — crowdsourcing data curation, in effect — is a best practice. For peace of mind, changes to profiles made by staff, and inbound data feeds, should be configurable to be sent to a worklist for further review, to ensure the highest level of data governance and integrity. Collaboration between teams to curate data allows departments across the health system to collectively use better provider data. • Real-time provider data updates: Via an integration between the EHR and provider directory software, real-time data updates must be fed to all departments that depend on it. Existing workflows such as EHR, marketing, and claims are optimized as they are continuously supplied with up-to- date and accurate provider data. • Scalability: Software platforms must grow with healthcare organizations. For example, the push to value-based care from fee-for-service models continues unabated and demands a provider directory solution that can expand to meet changing needs. Provider data is needed for health plans, accountable care organizations, direct to employers, and other networks. Managing it and preparing for growth requires a solution that can assign providers to multiple networks, assign specialties and subspecialties based on locations, and make updates about availability. • Freedom to edit data: A health system's data is its own, and authorized users require the ability to make changes in-house and see those changes reflected in real time on internal sites, on patient-facing sites, and in other mission critical systems. Incredibly, not all provider directory solutions allow your users to make changes to data without incurring costs. The power to modify data in the moment allows for continuous curation, promises better quality data, and removes the need to contact a vendor, which creates delays and wastes resources. The role of digital customer intimacy There's another avenue of return from the EHR, which has made a timely appearance in this era of increased competition for providers. Provider consolidation and business models that require payers to align with providers, providers to align with employers, and all parties to assume greater risk under healthcare reform means keeping patients in-network via digital customer intimacy is needed. In the simplest terms, adding real- time healthcare provider data to a health system's digital front door (e.g., a consumer-facing website or a mobile application) can put lost value back into the EHR. Consumers are hungry for digital healthcare experiences that parallel their experiences in digital retail shopping. They want to search for, find, and book the perfect service seamlessly and in minutes, on their timeline. The stage is set, and the timing is essential, to extend the capabilities of the EHR to meet the expectations of patients through the digital front door. By exposing real-time provider schedules to patients ready for mobile, online, on-demand scheduling, the provider directory solution — combined with the EHR — can be the missing and final link in achieving the highest levels of patient experience in healthcare. Access to complete, correct, and reliable provider data gives healthcare consumers the ability to search online for a qualified provider who: • Has appropriate specialty/subspecialty training and experience • Lists helpful reviews • Accepts their health plan • Is conveniently located and has availability • And more In minutes consumers self-serve by booking an appointment online, assured that it is a perfect patient-provider match. Only the EHR platforms — and third-party software scheduling vendors — can satisfy the availability part. Job one in the process to create open scheduling is for the CIO to begin the necessary dialogue with physician leaders in both primary care and specialties about the need for open scheduling. One symplr customer that opted to make the leap to open scheduling isn't looking back after achieving the following results: • Six percent of its scheduling is now done online directly by patients. • They've diverted tens of thousands of calls a month from their call centers. • Savings exceed $5 million a year. • Providers are happier because they are busier with patient care, not administrative tasks. • Concerns over payer mix have proven unfounded. The next chapter in the story of meeting consumer demand for online appointment scheduling is about better provider data. Provider data management is not the province of EHRs — they are purpose-built patient data platforms. But provider data requires a purpose-built solution — and this is where symplr comes in. Learn more about symplr Directory and all of symplr's provider data management solutions today. n symplr's comprehensive healthcare operations solutions, anchored in governance, risk management, and compliance, enable our enterprise customers to efficiently navigate the unique complexities of integrating critical business operations in healthcare. For over 30 years, our customers have trusted our expertise and depend on our provider data management, workforce and talent management, contract management, spend management, access management, and compliance, quality, safety solutions to help drive better operations for better outcomes. As your trusted guide, we follow a proven approach to help you achieve your organization's priority outcomes by breaking down silos, optimizing processes, and improving operational systems. Learn how at www.symplr.com.