Quality care all of the time
Aceso worked with Tāmaki Health in deploying their branded telehealth consultation service to maintain a close relationship with their patients
Background
New Zealand’s largest general practice owner, Tāmaki Health is the first private general practice network to deploy a bespoke telehealth consultation service partnering with Aceso Health. The platform, known as Bettr is focused on offering, virtual care options alongside the traditional in-person healthcare model. Covid-19 has reiterated the need to provide quality care all of the time. Telehealth is just another way that providers like Tāmaki Health can provide convenience while maintaining a close relationship with their patients.
“This is about providing better healthcare services for our patients… and, if we can do that, that also helps provide better sustainability for our provider networks” says Tāmaki Health’s Chief Executive, Steffan Crausaz.
Bettr was built using Sorsix’s Pinga platform for health systems, a modular solution that enables health organisations and systems to innovate and transform service delivery. The service features have been designed and implemented with customer experience at the forefront. The platform capabilities include; an online triaging workflow, video and audio consultation, and a secure payment gateway, all of which are immersed into a single platform. One of the aims of the platform was to engage customers and providers through a seamless, comprehensive healthcare experience.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, Tāmaki’s networks conducted more than 25,000 teleconsults and this fast-tracked Bettr’s deployment, with Aceso, thanks to the depth of the Pinga platform, taking just weeks to develop the “front end” of Bettr, Mr Crausaz says.
"This is about providing better healthcare services for our patients… and, if we can do that, that also helps provide better sustainability for our provider networks,"
— Steffan Crausaz, Chief Executive of Tāmaki Health
Technology
The practices participating in Bettr use Medtech Evolution, which is Bettr’s clinical “back end”. Aceso’s Virtual Health Service has offered a branded front end for Tāmaki’s use that integrates directly with Medtech.
Sorsix’s Virtual Health service features include a waiting room for urgent care and multiple waiting rooms for varied specialist services, a billing and invoicing module, to enable payments to be collected according to configured pricing schedules that can be controlled. In addition, the Sorsix Pinga E-forms module has enabled the capture of enrolment information and the ability to deliver customised data collection at the point of care.
Patients booking a Bettr consult complete online triage questions to assess whether a virtual consult is suitable. If so, they are sent a text to their smartphone confirming their appointment and click on a link to start the video consult. Payment is taken via the secure, integrated payment platform as well. With no apps to install, patients and clinicians can join the telehealth consult from their browser and still have a full fidelity high resolution video call.
Challenges
Recent McKinsey & Company research indicates that providers’ concerns about virtual health include security, workflow integration, effectiveness compared with in-person visits, and the future for reimbursement.
On a parallel note, there is a gap between consumers’ interest in virtual health (76%) and actual usage (46%). Factors such as lack of awareness of virtual health offerings and education on types of care needs that could be met virtually are some of the drivers of this gap.
Virtual health can increase access to necessary care in areas with service delivery shortages, such as behavioural health, improve the patient experience, and improve health outcomes.
Fundamentally, the integration of fully virtual and near-virtual health solutions brings care closer to home, increasing the convenience for patients to access care when they need it and the likelihood that they will take the right steps to manage their care.
"It's just amazing. I normally have to go to the doctor just to get a prescription which is time consuming and expensive. For years I have been sitting in the waiting room for an appointment and it is often late. I can now enjoy seeing my doctor whilst in my own living room and not waste away half my day”
— Patient and Bettr user
Results
Tāmaki’s provider networks have received a custom branded and configurable platform built on Sorsix Pinga and is available for all health organisations.
“This is a secure, easy to use and affordable platform that people can access from wherever they are. While it will never eliminate the need for face to face consultations altogether, there are many health concerns that can be addressed remotely, saving time and potentially lives,” said Crausaz.
Bettr lets you see a doctor via video or phone consultations from the convenience of your house, car or workplace. Consultations cost $10 for patients enrolled with White Cross or Local Doctors and $49 dollars for others.
Steffan Crausaz, says the platform has already received an overwhelmingly positive response. “Within the first two weeks of testing the platform we’ve already seen demand outstrip supply on several days and have ramped up resourcing accordingly. The response from our team of Bettr doctors has been great. Tāmaki can draw Bettr’s clinician roster from 40 of its 48 practices and urgent-care clinic staff.
“What became quite obvious is there are a range of consultations that become more accessible for patients if you do them virtually.”
Future Plans
The company could apply to access some of the $20 million the Government allocated in Budget 2020 to help practices improve telehealth capacity, to improve Bettr.
Analysing anonymised user data will help further hone Bettr to patients’ and clinicians’ needs, says Mr Crausaz. Health systems need to consider how they can accelerate the development of an overall consumer-integrated ‘front-door’. In addition, segmenting patient populations and specialties coupled with quantification of clinical outcomes could be hugely valuable.
Above all, building capabilities and incentives for the provider workforce to support the virtual delivery of healthcare is critical when planning for the present and the future.
Read more about our Aceso Virtual Health service here to see how you can maintain your patient relationships.
