Increasing Prevalence of Technology Provides More Access and Opportunity for Patient Engagement
Recent data2 shows more
than three-quarters of U.S.
adults report they own
a smartphone, up from
35% in 2011, making the
devices one of the most
quickly-adopted consumer
technologies in recent history.
Further, adoption rates have
risen rapidly among older and
lower-income Americans in
recent years. For instance,
from 2013-2016 alone,
the share of adults 65 and
older who reported owning
a smartphone rose 24
percentage points. This trend
is likely to increase over the
coming years, with the result
of providing digital access
to nearly all patients and
their families, including the
five to seven million (about
15%) who are long-distance
caregivers – a number that is
projected to double by 20203.
CMS Supports Tools to Foster Patient Engagement
The most commonly-held definition of patient engagement focuses on care providers working with patients to encourage involvement in their own healthcare in order to strengthen their influence on healthcare decisions.
Research underscores the growing value of a positive patient experience and demonstrates that hospitals that deliver a better patient experience perform better financially.
While increased patient participation and engagement is
well-recognized as a core component of high-quality care,4
patient engagement is also central to achieving high-quality person-centered care5, 6 and has been found to be associated
with improved self-care,7, 8 better physical functioning9, 10
and satisfaction with care.11, 12, 13, 14 Fortunately, many new
technologies are available to providers and they hold the
potential to better motivate and engage patients in their
recovery – and much of that technology is, literally, in the
patients’ hands. In rehabilitation care, patients take a uniquely active and
ongoing role in their treatment and recovery – and leveraging
technology to engage these patients can be particularly
beneficial. Specific to rehabilitation, research supports a
patient’s health technology experience that clearly identifies
goals, rules and a feedback system. Ideal systems provide
patients with a sense of purpose, engage them in their own
goal achievement and provide the feedback to motivate them
to keep trying.15
Strategies to Create Patient-Centric Tools
With new technology, change brings challenges. When
designing, evaluating and implementing patient-facing
technologies, providers should be prepared to overcome
obstacles, including different communication preferences,
ease of use and the ability to integrate collected data into the
patient record.
To ensure that patients and their caregivers derive the most
benefit from interactive technology, designers must consider
issues of computer literacy, access and trust. However, a
challenge particular to healthcare is that many designers of
these digital innovations are typically not high utilizers of
healthcare or the technology associated with that care.
Importantly, the design of patient-interactive technology
and applications must be grounded in medical experience
and expertise. To ensure patients are optimally engaged,
personalized technologies must be easy to navigate and
understand, while providing valuable information based on the
patient’s unique condition and treatments
– thereby increasing the receptivity, use
and utility of the digital offering. Given
the complexity of rehabilitative care,
digital platforms should consist of input
from experts in rehab services, ensuring
that patients understand their own rehab
plan and receive the necessary feedback
to motivate them toward their goals
throughout the digital interaction.
RehabTracker – A Solution Designed With Your Rehab Patients in Mind
A key benefit of partnering with experts
in rehab services is gaining access to
innovative tools without the heavy lift
and burden of creation from the ground
up. A key patient engagement offering
from Kindred Hospital Rehabilitation
Services, the RehabTracker app, allows
patients to set goals with their therapists,
track their own progress, share their results with invited family and friends and even receive
messages of support – all at the touch of a button.
In the short period the app has been in pilot phase, an
overwhelming majority of pilot sites utilizing the app have
experienced improvements in FIM gain and discharge to
community. “Our patients are medically complex; their
conditions are challenging, so it helps them focus on their
goals,” explains Muhammad Khan, physical therapist and
program director at St. Catherine Hospital, where the device
was first piloted for the hospitals of Community Healthcare
System. “Motivating them every day is a big challenge and we
have seen improvement in our functional gain scores since
January. We do believe that motivation by any means, whether
it is sharing stories or information, helps with a patient’s
recovery.”
This rehab-centric application is invaluable in improving
patient engagement scores for host hospitals of rehabilitation
units, and helps prepare post-acute facilities for the future of
value-based payment models. The RehabTracker app ensures
that the patient, clinical team and family are all on the same
page. It supports shared goal-setting and recognizing and
celebrating rehab milestones throughout
the patient’s recovery. It also engages
and involves long-distance friends
and family in daily patient progress.
RehabTracker can be used by patients
and families during bedside shift report,
interdisciplinary rounds and physician
visits to document important information
and the care plan for the day.
The app is HIPAA-compliant and
available for patients and invited family
and friends using Apple as well as
Android devices.
Kindred Hospital Rehabilitation
Services is dedicated to treating the
needs of highly acute patients in a
compliant environment, staffed by
expert therapists who focus on meeting
patient goals, leading to recovery and
successful discharge. It is driven by a
culture of patient advocacy and access,
developing and implementing technology
solutions aimed at improving outcomes,
increasing patient engagement and
family communication, and improving
operational efficiency.