‘mHealth’ May Simplify (and Improve) Patient Follow-Up

Patients visit your urgent care center because they know they can get excellent care without waiting days for an appointment or languishing for hours in the waiting room. So why do so many seem to disregard your advice for postdischarge care or follow-up just as promptly? Before you shrug and file that in the “just one of those things” folder, bear in mind that your helping them to follow through may cement their positive experience and get them to return to your location, and to tell their friends how impressed they were with your thoroughness. That may be why mHealth—use of mobile devices as a medium for patient education and follow-up—is on the rise. For example, CityMD just partnered with a vendor on an automated text messaging service that will send patients instructions after their visit. In CityMD’s case, the aim is to improve care coordination and management among 85 locations in the New York City and Seattle metropolitan areas. Its application to the industry overall could be to convey lab results, prompt follow-up care, facilitate preapprovals, share referrals, and disseminate patient satisfaction surveys. You do a lot to promote your services and ensure patients get the care they need, so regardless of the method it just makes sense to make sure the relationship continues after they walk out the door.