Engaging patients digitally with athenaOne®

Loren Aberts is the Manager of Registration Services for Holzer Health System, a multi-specialty organization in Ohio. We talked with her about how Holzer drove adoption of the new appointment scheduling workflow, used athenaOne to improve digital patient engagement and reduce administrative burden, and how she sees AI helping streamline workflows.

Q: What does Holzer Health System look like today, and what does your role involve?

A: Holzer Health System is located in southeastern Ohio. We have 160 providers and 2,500-plus employees. We are multi-specialty, so we have 35-plus specialties. We’re spread out across six counties, and we’re actually in two states — across the river in West Virginia as well.

Q: How did you approach early adoption of the new appointment scheduling workflow in athenaOne?

A: We made ourselves familiar with the product first. We wanted to be the experts in any questions that our staff would have. So we went through some of the workflows, tried to be the expert in that, and then we held those trainings for them.

We wanted to make sure that we provided them with the education. It was a beta, so it was very new. But we could provide feedback for that data and kind of help build that product to make it the best that it can be.

So, we started with just our reception workers during the beta, but we were also provided a usage report from our CSM (customer success manager), which later brought to our attention that we had more than just reception. We had secretaries, providers, and nursing staff scheduling.

Q: What helped drive buy-in and stronger adoption across teams?

A: We were provided those usage reports from our CSM, and we provided those to our operational managers, and they shared that with their team. It kind of helped create that competition between departments.

We initially did 80% (adoption rate) for the receptionists, but again, the operational managers increased some of that adoption. So they were saying we want you at 85%, 90%, 95%, and it created competition.

The workflow went really well. Providing those usage reports opened up everyone’s eyes about who was scheduling and we were able to get that back to our team.

The receptionists are doing several specialties at a time, different types of appointments, and they’re looking at it differently than what a nurse or a provider would be. Our nurses are scheduling post-op appointments primarily or discharge appointments. And the providers are usually scheduling just regular checkups.

Q: Which updates in athenaOne made the scheduling experience easier for staff to use?

A: I would have to say the preload calendar (schedule filter). The preload calendar is pulling in a lot of information. We have 160 providers, so that helped streamline some of our workflows.

Also, save views (loads pre-saved filter preferences). Some of our staff like seeing it as a work week versus a day. Setting up their screen in the way they want was a huge win for us.

Q: What advice would you give other organizations preparing for a scheduling migration in athenaOne?

A: Make yourself familiar with the product first. Make sure that you have some experts out there. Roll it out to some of your leads, or your more tech-savvy people in your department, just so they can be the voice and promote the product.

Q: How is athenaOne helping Holzer engage patients more digitally?

A: I would have to say the portal or enhanced self check-in.

With the portal, they can send messages to their provider in their own words. They can request their refills and be a part of their own healthcare needs. With enhanced self check-in, they can actually do some of the forms that they need to complete before they get to the office, as well as upload their insurance cards for us.

The insurance card is really, really good for us because we do have nonparticipating payers, and it helps us check those out, get a view on if it’s participating or not, and have those conversations with the patient before they actually arrive.

Our patients love being able to send their own messages and use the enhanced self check-in. It saves them the time and effort of calling into our call center.

Q: Where has athenaOne helped reduce administrative burden for your practice?

A: We work the no-show bucket. We let athenaOne do the calls for our no-shows (patients), as well as the scheduling online, and they can reschedule their appointment if they need to.

Also, the Patient Portal and (patients) being able to schedule online are a big part of (reducing administrative burden). It saves them time and effort of calling into our call center (which reduces administrative workload).

Q: How do you view the role of artificial intelligence in healthcare today?

A: We currently use it for Ambient Notes. So it’s available 24/7. It helps that provider be able to spend more time with their patient and streamline their process.

I think it’s a positive impact. It will help streamline those workflows and make your day a little bit easier.

Q: What helped your team get up to speed in athenaOne?

A: We made sure that we used the videos, attended the live meetings, and asked questions. Get on there and make sure that you’re going through some of the videos that are available and the workflows. There are a lot of resources, so just dig as deep as you can into those.