Improving patient engagement and health outcomes with Commure’s omnichannel communications

Challenge

Commure needed a single solution to build an omnichannel communications strategy that could support the entire patient journey, at scale. 

Solution

With Twilio, Commure’s Engage platform can help providers engage patients over chat, on the phone, and/or via SMS. 

In today's healthcare landscape, patient engagement is critical in effective care delivery. In fact, 50% of patients say that a bad digital experience can ruin their entire experience with a healthcare provider.

To help healthcare organizations deliver the consumer-like experiences patients expect, digital health company Commure offers an omnichannel engagement solution that streamlines patient care, along evidence-based patient care journeys. The solution, called Commure Engage, helps healthcare providers activate, engage, and monitor their patients via automated digital navigation pathways, or “digital nudges,” according to Rick Strobridge, Vice President of Commure Engage.

These nudges enable healthcare providers to engage patients on their preferred channels, enhancing patient care and creating better healthcare experiences at scale. “While face-to-face patient care is high-touch, intimate, and engaging, it's not scalable,” said Strobridge. “It's also inconvenient for patients in rural settings where their clinical team may be miles away. We’ve found SMS, email and IVR to be very effective methods for patient care. They can scale readily and integrate with patient-facing apps.”

During the pandemic, the demand for digital patient engagement surged, and Commure sought a single partner to support its omnichannel communications. Twilio emerged as the top contender, meeting all of Commure’s requirements:

• Globalization: Commure needed a solution for seamless communication with patients worldwide, supporting multiple languages and countries. 

• Scalability: Commure needed a versatile platform for messaging, SMS, and voice that could scale with its business and customers’ needs.

• Flexibility: Commure needed a system that could support complex healthcare use cases and work alongside the various health systems and applications. 

Thanks to Twilio, Commure Engage allows healthcare providers to communicate with their patients on their preferred channels, allowing them to deliver personalized, cost-efficient, and high-quality digital care at scale. 

Building an enterprise patient communications platform

Today, Commure uses Twilio-powered messaging, SMS, and interactive voice response (IVR) to orchestrate two-way communication for 35 million patient encounters and counting. This is achieved through 500+ unique automated care pathways, including to:

• Schedule in-person and telehealth visits 
• Share pre- and post-appointment instructions
• Discuss ongoing care needs
• Deliver multimedia educational content and materials
• Conduct population health outreach

Some of these pathways are designed to not only increase patient satisfaction, but also recapture lost revenue for the healthcare providers. When a patient cancels an appointment via text message or IVR, Commure’s platform can automatically reach out to individuals on the waitlist and fill canceled slots. This means patients can get the care they need, and healthcare providers can secure revenue they otherwise would have lost. 

“This library of automations that we've developed not only allows us to do one-to-one prescribing of these digital care pathways, but also one-to-many,” said Strobridge.

And while SMS is a preferred channel for many individuals, Commure has seen strong engagement via phone and IVR. After all, some less digitally savvy patients prefer to interact with their healthcare providers over the phone. 

“Many people just simply do not have access to smartphones, whereas voice is a more universal way to create engagement,” said Strobridge. “What we're finding is that SMS and voice can have very high levels of interaction, which allow us to keep patients engaged way beyond what we’d see with a downloadable app.” 

Additionally, Strobridge explained, “With the ability to use large language models in personalized communications, we've been able to make these interactions more engaging because what engages one person is not the same as what engages another.”

Unlocking better patient outcomes 

Since partnering with Twilio, Commure has published multiple studies alongside its healthcare customer partners, evaluating the effectiveness of omnichannel communications along validated care journeys. These results include:  

• Fewer no-shows: Missed appointments and aborted procedures are costly for healthcare providers. Using Twilio to send email and SMS reminders and pre-procedure instructions has helped Commure’s healthcare customers improve appointment attendance and procedure success. One such customer even saw an 84% reduction in colonoscopy no-shows and same-day cancellations after introducing the tool.

• Improved clinical outcomes: Another Commure customer used Commure Engage to remotely monitor chronic heart failure patients via an app –– ultimately driving a 56% decrease in readmission rates for enrolled patients.

• Increased patient engagement and satisfaction: Commure Engage helped a customer establish an electronic health record-integrated solution so they could offer telehealth appointments. By using Twilio-powered appointment reminders and instructions via email and SMS, the company experienced average patient satisfaction rates of 94%, with 84% of patients expressing interest in future telehealth visits.

So, what’s next for Commure? The company plans to introduce Twilio Branded Calling to display a healthcare provider’s name when they call a patient. This should improve call answering and allow Commure customer’s to better engage their patients. 

“I don’t know about you, but if I don't recognize a phone number, I'm not going to pick it up,” said Strobridge. “I've missed healthcare calls in the past because I just don't pick up random calls. I think this feature is going to be useful in terms of increasing engagement, further driving down the cost of care.”

Commure's patient engagement solutions, in partnership with Twilio, are transforming the healthcare industry by creating seamless, personalized, and efficient patient experiences. Together through voice, chat, and SMS, Commure and Twilio are empowering healthcare providers to a patient-centric approach, empowering healthcare organizations with innovative tools and solutions tailored to the industry's unique needs.

“Twilio enables us to focus on what we do best,” said Strobridge. “We know that the communication aspect is taken care of, so we can deliver a best-in-class clinical solution while Twilio allows us to deliver a best-in-class communication solution.”