6 min read

Breaking Down Patient Barriers to Therapy Through Mobile Messaging & Virtual Assistants

Learn how healthcare virtual assistants are coming along and where the future could point towards.
Learn how healthcare virtual assistants are coming along and where the future could point towards.

Current State of Healthcare Technology

It’s evident within our healthcare system just how challenging it can be for patients and families to receive information and status updates regarding their care. Portals, apps, and websites all pose challenges for patients: remembering logins, potentially missing or incomplete data, and the inability to keep track of items that need to be monitored for care such as symptoms, medications, etc.

Personally, I watched my family in the fall of 2020 to the spring of 2021 struggle to manage the healthcare of my mother-in-law as she suffered from a major stroke. The Critical Care Unit, the rehab center, the skilled nursing, and the long-term care facility lacked the ability to share data between sites and with the family. It was up to us to understand which physician prescribed which treatment and to provide her care team the details that they needed. I watched as my wife printed out clinical care documents from various portals, had care plans mailed to her, and built her own tracking sheet of which medications had been prescribed so that all her caregivers knew what was happening.

Needless to say – technology in healthcare is broken. But perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel with new standards such as HL7 FHIR and new legislation such as the data blocking rule, that will improve the ability for the patient and their families to better understand and manage their healthcare. In this blog, I want to share just a small snippet of how these improvements are coming along and where the future could point towards.

Smartphones, Apps & Mobile Messaging

With the broad adoption of the smartphone, we saw the push by pharma to work with agencies and tech providers to create apps to support their brands. Even though healthcare apps have been around for over a decade, broad use and adoption continues to be lacking. One potential reason is app fatigue. One study cites that on average a person has more than 80 apps installed on their phone; however, the average person uses only nine apps per day and 30 apps per month1. In the contrast, considering what a consumer does use often is SMS texting. Approximately 95% percent of text messages are opened within three minutes of being received2.

We see that text messaging is very limited in its ability to create meaningful engagement. For example, the options to respond to a text are typically “Y”, “N”, “Help” or STOP.”  So, in the last few years, we have seen the advent of healthcare virtual assistants and intelligent mobile conversations driven by chatbots and scripted conversations. Mobile messaging is a powerful method of communication to patients that UBC is currently leveraging across both patient support and late-stage programs within a wide variety of indications, patient populations, and communication touchpoints.

The Future of Healthcare Virtual Assistants in Care Coordination & Delivery

UBC’s virtual assistant, Linda, works to keep patients and providers informed and engaged throughout their therapeutic journey. Linda provides real-time, intelligent messaging to enhance activities that traditionally occur telephonically from a case manager or call center. Through automated conversation journeys tailored to your program needs, UBC Pathways® Engage delivers more effective patient support and critical care updates via a patient’s mobile device.  As technology and standards improve, the ability to integrate key information delivery such as patient clinical care documents, provide symptom tracking, and patient support backed by data science, will drive an improved patient experience.

I am passionate about the potential that mobile messaging and virtual assistants can do for the patient and their access to treatment. I’ll be speaking during Informa’s 2021 Hub, SP, and eServices Conference on September 28th at 10:55 AM and welcome the opportunity to share with you how mobile messaging and virtual assistance improves patient engagement.

I will be sharing innovative approaches to patient engagement through tailored touchpoints and digital concierge services, create more meaningful relationships and better patient outcomes. We will share use cases for how these virtual patient engagement platforms can effectively educate patients, improve contract rates, utilize virtual enrollment, and positively impact patient adherence.

To register and join my session, head here. To demo the technology ahead of my session at Informa, launch Linda today.

About the Author

Ron Lacy is the Vice President of Global Product & Innovation at UBC. Ron brings over 20 years of experience in the design and implementation of technology and services that align to market demands. He uses innovative solutions to help in the execution of your patient support services. To connect with him, head here.

Other Recent Posts

Press
1 min read

UBC Listed as a Citeline Awards Finalist for Excellence in RWE

UBC is once again a finalist for the Citeline Awards, with our 2024 nomination coming in the Excellence in RWE category.
Press
5 min read

UBC Successfully Implemented REMS Administration Software DuringHL7® FHIR® Connectathon

UBC demonstrated our commitment to optimizing safe medication use and health outcomes by participating in the HL7® FHIR® Connectathon.
Press
5 min read

UBC Selects Oracle Cloud Safety Technology for its Safety Programs

UBC selected Oracle Life Sciences' safety case management solution.

Thank You for Connecting with UBC

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Mi proin enim ipsum nascetur. Venenatis odio scelerisque non netus ac et pellentesque.

What You Can Expect Next

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Cras aliquam erat eget magna sollicitudin.

Get Ready to Change Your Business

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Mi proin enim ipsum nascetur. Venenatis odio scelerisque non netus ac et pellentesque.

Service Request

Bekki Bracken Brown

President & Chief Executive Officer

Bekki Bracken Brown serves as the President and CEO of UBC, guiding the company’s mission and values, including the improvement of access for patients to receive better outcomes. She oversees all aspects of UBC, such as operations, business growth strategy, sales and marketing, and acquisition support.

With over 20 years of industry experience, Ms. Brown brings knowledge from a successful career in senior management from her tenure at Quintiles, INC Research, and, most recently, with Syneos Health. She’s been a member of the North Carolina BIO Board of Directors since 2019. She is also a member of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association — Southeast Chapter and CHIEF, an organization that supports women executive leaders. Ms. Brown earned her bachelor’s degree at Duke University.