What might be your challenges

• patient support alerts
• medication reminders
• appointment reminders
• logistics efficiency
• process automation
• Benefits of automations

According to a report to be published later this week by Cambridge based analysts Wireless Healthcare, a simple mobile phone based service is already having an impact on hospital performance data.

The report reveals that SMS patient reminder systems have reduced some outpatient clinics' DNA rates by up to 30% in spite of the fact that less than 20% of patients choose to use the service. 'The patients most likely to forget, or not bother, to turn up for appointments fall within the 16 to 35 age group,' notes Peter Kruger, Senior Analyst with Wireless Healthcare, who goes on to point out, 'by a lucky coincidence people in this age group are heavy users of mobile phones and text messaging. This is one reason why text message based reminder systems have been successful from day one.' However, Wireless Healthcare warns that this early success could result in diminishing returns as reminder services are expanded.

In the report Wireless Healthcare points out that SMS patient reminder services provide mobile communications vendors with an ideal entry point into the healthcare IT market. Wireless Healthcare sees vendors who become established in the market leveraging their position by adding services, such as patient support and medication reminder and compliance monitoring, to their existing messaging platform. The report sees evidence that this is already happening in the field of mental healthcare where outpatient clinics and social services are under political pressure to ensure that patients keep appointments and comply with medication regimes. The report also sees a number of established IT vendors adding patient reminders to the list of outsourced services they offer hospitals.

Another wireless technology that is being used by outpatient clinics is patient paging. Wireless Healthcare s report concludes that sales of these systems, which currently use proprietary networking technology, could come under pressure as restrictions on the use of mobile phones in hospitals are lifted. Then text-messaging vendors will start providing systems that alert patients who are waiting within the outpatient clinic itself. Wireless Healthcare notes that the ease with which patient paging can be deployed, and its relatively low cost, have been instrumental in the rapid growth in sales of systems to outpatient clinics. While patient paging is currently marketed as a technology that improves the patient's experience of the outpatient care process, it could, according to the report, when integrated with Patient Administration Systems (PAS), also be used to increase a hospital's workflow efficiency.

How Gokomo can help you

Through the use of our corporate SMS service, we can increase your level of automation and service capacity - increase your professionalism, image and service -- opening up an entirely new market full of potential.

We can automate and schedule outgoing SMS alerts based on a set of pre-defined, pre-scheduled dates across geographical boundaries, across multiple timezones.

Alerts such as:

• Payment due
• Renewal
• claim process updates
• Best wishes (on special occasions)
• Product update
• Service level update

A practical example:

The Situation

A UK's government-funded Care Trust (CT)  needed to maximize the effectiveness of its budget spend, finding cost effective ways to provide people with healthcare information, and allow them to ask for information. Its mandate is exceptionally broad, and as much as 70% of its client base is from ethnic minorities, sometimes with associated language and cultural issues.

SMS was an obvious choice as it has a number of attributes making it a particularly suitable communications tool for the health care industry. Not only is it one of the cheapest ways to communicate, estimated to cost 95% less than any other form of direct communication, but with the increasing ubiquity of mobile phones, the easy-to-use technology makes it a guaranteed channel to reach more people.

The Solution

To build a system that allows people needing healthcare information to access it via SMS on their mobile phones. The system also allows the CT to send information out to people in a variety of ways, to provide facts, reminders, support and alerts.

The SMS-based service allows subscribers to access a wealth of health information via text message. Users can create their own profile by filling out an online questionnaire focused on common health issues. Subscribers will then receive information and advice via SMS (Short Message Service) on health issues pertinent to their profile, such as information on drinking, smoking and much more. Alternatively, users can send the system any particular health related text or phrase to receive facts on a range of topics such as obesity, safe sex or useful information such as the contact details for a 24-hour pharmacy.

The Results

The costs involved in printing and distributing information in traditional printed form can vary and actual penetration into the target audience is often less than 1%. By comparison SMS messages cost mere pennies and are targeted directly to the mobile phone of the user and so have a penetration into the target audience of +90%. This simple example shows a saving of between 50-60% in production and distribution of key messages using SMS as a delivery system.

SMS has allowed healthcare organizations to deliver health information on demand 24 hours a day directly to the mobile phone of the person who needs the information - This is powerful and often life changing.