The healthcare market is a challenging one for provider organizations of all kinds, but none more so than independent community-based hospitals and health systems. It’s even more challenging for those with large nearby competitors.
Northfield Hospital + Clinics in Northfield, Minnesota is an independent regional hospital with six multi-specialty clinics across southern Minnesota. Just 45 minutes south of the Twin Cities and less than an hour from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, NHC works hard to remain the destination of choice for patients in their community. Founded over 100 years ago, they’re one of the few remaining independent hospital systems in the state.
“I like to refer to us as the David between two Goliaths,” observes Vern Lougheed, Northfield’s Information Security Officer and Director of IT. “We’re constantly on the lookout for ways to distinguish our organization, and offering innovative digital services helps us set ourselves apart and keep our brand relevant.”
Lougheed believes that patient loyalty today is more influenced by convenience than anything else. As evidence, he notes that more new patients come to Northfield via online self scheduling than through phone calls. That’s why he and his colleagues strive to make NHC “easy to choose and easy to use” — which means making the organization more accessible from a digital perspective, and constantly looking for ways to innovate to enhance patient access and convenience.
“Expanse is a great platform for innovation, and MEDITECH will always be our foundation,” says Lougheed. “But digital innovation requires building on top of that platform, which is why we’re excited about what MEDITECH is doing with its Greenfield Workspace and MEDITECH Alliance. By working with other software developers to build solutions that connect to the EHR, we can do some really innovative things.”
One of those things involves Luma Health. In May, NHC began working with Luma to implement their patient access and communications solution. Luma — a MEDITECH Alliance partner — used MEDITECH’s Greenfield Workspace to set up and test their solution for Northfield. Following validation, they began sending patient reminders for upcoming appointments, with options for confirming, canceling, rescheduling, and even asking questions via chat.
The results were immediate and impressive. In the first month they saved 80 hours of staff time by eliminating manual reminder calls — which had totaled 150-200 daily per FTE. The automated text reminders proved highly effective. A very large majority of their patients (86%) engaged with the messages.
“Our biggest surprise was how quickly everyone was ready for Luma,” said Debbie Oathoudt, IT Program Manager at Northfield. “Patients are responding to texts, filling out forms, even sending chats.”
The positive results expanded from there.
Patient engagement with automated messages helped cut their no-show rate by nearly 15% — a number that feeds directly into the bottom line, since it keeps appointment spots full and maximizes revenue. And by eliminating the need to make hundreds of reminder phone calls daily, staff could engage in more meaningful communication with patients. While nearby health systems were experiencing hold times of 30 minutes or more, Northfield was able to reduce their own hold times to an average of thirty seconds. |
It’s the kind of convenience Lougheed believes keeps patients coming back to NHC.
“These new forms of digital patient engagement are helping us provide the convenience our patients are demanding and keeping our organization competitive.”
Looking ahead, NHC has even bigger goals for their digital innovation strategy. Lougheed and his team are developing a plan to create a fully self-guided urgent care experience, allowing patients to check in on their phones, complete any pre-visit documentation, and wait to be seen by a provider without the need to check in at the front desk.
“What we are doing with our Urgent Care really is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to patient engagement technology. Having partners in Meditech and Luma will help us reveal the rest of the iceberg.” says Lougheed. "The key to our success is being able to offer a level of patient technology that matches the need of the patient, when, where and how they desire.”
Interoperability Product Manager Garry Miller notes that the MEDITECH Alliance has continued to grow rapidly since its inception in 2022, with a host of trusted third-party developers offering innovative FHIR-based apps for securely connecting to the Expanse EHR.
“We're encouraged by the strong, growing interest among the vendor community for using FHIR APIs to integrate their products with Expanse,” says Miller. “MEDITECH continues to work to expand its FHIR offerings to increase the breadth and scope of integrations we can enable.”
MEDITECH customers can learn more about the MEDITECH Alliance, including the growing family of Alliance partners, at ehr.meditech.com/meditech-alliance. Software developers interested in joining the Alliance can learn more and apply for membership.
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