Who Uses Patient Relationship Management (PRM) Software?
Healthcare providers: Healthcare providers can utilize PRM software to communicate with patients via secure messages, add post-visit notes, keep track of patients’ medications and medical issues, and monitor the patient journey.
Medical office staff: Healthcare support staff can utilize PRM software to manage appointments, prescriptions, notes, and other patient-related data. There should be an option to create and maintain a comprehensive and detailed patient profile that can be used for follow-ups and communication.
Patients: Patients can utilize the PRM to play an active role in their healthcare journey, including sending messages to their care team, scheduling appointments, reviewing test results, and updating their personal information.
Software Related to Patient Relationship Management (PRM) Software
Related solutions that can be used together with patient relationship management include:
EHR software: Electronic health records (EHR), also known as electronic medical records (EMR), are real-time digital versions of patient medical information. EHR software allows medical professionals across multiple healthcare organizations to access, input, and adjust patient data. It also allows patients to log on to their profiles so they can stay up to date on their medical records. Since EHR software is designed to share information with multiple healthcare providers, like pharmacies and laboratories, a patient’s profile can have information from all of the professionals involved in the patient’s care. When medical professionals use an EHR, they have a more holistic view of the patient’s health and will be able to more effectively serve their patients.
Patient engagement software: Patient engagement software facilitates the encouragement of a patient’s active participation in the maintenance of their health, the building of a collaborative patient-doctor relationship, and the improvement of the overall patient experience. Hospitals, medical practices, and other healthcare organizations are increasingly becoming subject to the same kinds of expectations that retail and hospitality industries deal with; as a result, patients expect compassion, acknowledgment, immediate communication, and easy access to information from their healthcare providers.
Patient scheduling software: Hospitals and health centers require patient scheduling software to manage patient appointments, automate administrative workflows, and allocate medical staff accordingly. This type of software includes scheduling algorithms that are meant to reduce patient wait time. It also handles the communication between patients and the medical personnel to confirm scheduled examination and treatment sessions.
Patient intake software: A patient intake software facilitates efficient and proactive capturing of patient data before a patient's medical appointment. Patient intake solutions minimize the time patients spend on registration, reduces any mistakes due to handwritten data, protects patient privacy, and simplifies the integration of patient data into the EHR. Both medical staff and patients, established and new, benefit from the software. With patient intake software, process bottlenecks are eased, satisfaction is raised, workload is reduced, and productivity is increased.
Interactive patient care software: Interactive patient care (IPC) systems allow healthcare providers to engage, entertain, and educate patients across the care via tablets, multimedia devices, in-room TVs, and online patient portals. IPC solutions initially referred to the caregiver communications and resources provided to the patient at the physical bedside, but the solutions have evolved to include educational resources that the patient and their family could access even after discharge from the hospital. Patients benefit from IPC systems’ ability to diminish their isolation, loneliness, and confusion. In turn, IPC systems help hospitals and healthcare organizations improve patient outcomes and care quality, as well as diminish readmission rates.
Patient case management software: Patient case management software improves quality of care and, ultimately, patient experience by optimizing the coordination of care across a hospital, practice, or ancillary care clinic. Patient case management software centralizes aspects of patient care such as scheduling, charting, treatment planning, and medical billing to accurately determine the health status of a patient. Case managers can utilize patient case management software to facilitate clinical communication and collaboration, as well as deliver better post-discharge care. Therefore, patients too benefit from effective patient case management software, which can offer them personalized services tools similar to an IPC system that they would have had access to during treatment.
Challenges with Patient Relationship Management (PRM) Software
Integrations: Patient relationship management solutions often have integrations with a variety of other external applications. This option will save administrators time on manually transferring data back and forth through third-party applications. Vendors may also charge for additional integrations.
Data migration: It can be difficult to move data from one product to another due to the exclusivity of the vendor’s hosted platform. Users may face difficulty in migrating their data successfully. Questions about data migration should be addressed in vendor demos and discussions.
Security: Healthcare organizations need to have a proactive approach to security because cybersecurity threats are real. People can be the greatest asset to preventing cybercrime. Leaders need to train all employees on security issues. Data breaches can cause serious issues for the reputation of an organization and result in fines due to HIPAA compliance failure.
Training and onboarding: Like any piece of technology, effective training courses and onboarding will speed up the adoption of the patient relationship management software. The quicker practitioners and administrators become comfortable with the software, the more empowered they will feel when utilizing and communicating about the solution. Regular training will also reduce any wrong use, insufficient documentation, or miscommunication. Training will benefit staff when it comes to professional development training courses, competency building, and maintaining compliance.
How to buy Patient Relationship Management (PRM) Software
Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Patient Relationship Management (PRM) Software
There are many issues to consider when choosing a patient relationship management software. There are unique needs to be considered when assessing software to purchase—size and team member count, onboarding process, software cost, vendor customer support options, mobile compatibility, and customization are some of them. Buyers must determine what set of features will help the users be more efficient and meet the needs of the claims management process.
Compare Patient Relationship Management (PRM) Products
Create a long list
An initial list of potential patient relationship management solutions should include any products that meet the basic feature requirements. At this point, buyers should be aiming to get a sense of the options that meet their essential needs.
Create a short list
After a long list has been created, it’s time to look at each product in more detail to determine if it will meet the needs of the healthcare providers interested in purchasing this software. This should include evaluating additional features of each product beyond the ones identified as essential to determine if additional functionality would provide more value, efficiencies, and compliance requirements. Scalability is particularly important and determining if new features can be added in the future, such as more users or more courses.
Conduct demos
Demos are a great opportunity for buyers to see how the software works. Only the shortlisted vendors should be invited to demonstrate their solutions. Demos should be performed live, using the system, and not through slide decks and screenshots. All vendors should follow a predetermined scenario that simulates the business processes of the buyer. Buyers should request to see a walkthrough from the perspective of all users to understand how the interface looks for both sides and ensure it is user friendly for everyone.
When narrowing down the list of vendors, buyers should consider questions such as:
- How does the pricing model for this product work? Are there capital and recurring costs? What are the annual licensing and maintenance costs?
- How well known is the vendor? Do they have a sizable amount of clientele in the healthcare industry?
- Can specific user restrictions be assigned depending on user type?
- How well does the patient relationship management software work on mobile devices?
- How easily can the patient relationship management software be grown to support a larger number of users and content?
- Is the software compliant with healthcare security and privacy protocols and regulations?
- Is there a disaster recovery plan? Where are the servers hosted?
Selection of Patient Relationship Management (PRM) Software
Choose a selection team
To choose a selection team, decision makers need to involve subject matter experts from all teams that will use the system. For any organization, this will likely involve healthcare practitioners, office staff, claims management employees, and decision makers. An IT administrator should also be present to weigh in on technical concerns with the products. The selection team should be a representation of the people who will use the system.
Negotiation
After narrowing in on the preferred product, it’s time to negotiate a pricing package. Buyers must consider the pricing model of the software such as, whether the seller charges a flat monthly fee or, more commonly, charges a fee based on how many user seats the buyer needs. Buyers should also note if they can negotiate to add more user seats to a package that would otherwise meet their needs. They might also consider negotiating a discount in exchange for signing a multi-year contract.
Final decision
The final decision should rest with the primary users of the software, such as managers and their employees. All parties should consider whether the software is easy to use, easy to implement, improves operational efficiency, and allows for a better patient experience.
