Digital self-service tools benefit not only patients but also health organizations as a whole. Check out the most common ways to use them.
Simple tools in patients’ hands can provide them with the initial medical information and guidance they require. Those same tools can relieve medical experts from tasks like answering repetitive questions, triaging patients remotely, and completing patient entry data. All parties win with a well-implemented digital solution.
At a glance
- 7 things to remember when adding symptom checkers to digital front doors
- Benefits of adding symptom checkers to digital front doors
By using symptom checkers, organizations can reduce the number of low-acuity patients in EDs, increase telemedicine adoption rates, support doctors, and drive cost optimizations.
Symptom checkers, especially those created in consultation with medical professionals, bring great value to all healthcare system participants. Symptom checkers can be optimized by being integrated into digital front doors, the most common examples of which are web pages, patient portals, and mobile apps.
Connecting a symptom checker to a digital front door can help healthcare businesses with a variety of needs:
- Provide preliminary symptom assessment to patients
- Automate triage processes for incoming digital patients
- Fill in the initial data on patient records
- Navigate patients to services or content that’s related to their diseases
- Equip physicians with basic patient data and lists of possible conditions
- Shorten the time spent on documentation
- Give insights into population health needs
With the ability to increase patient engagement, empower users, and improve whole health systems, it’s no wonder that symptom checkers are becoming widely used by hospitals, health systems, and insurance companies.
We analyzed several symptom checkers used as part of digital front doors to determine best practices for the healthcare industry. Here are some techniques that lower the barrier to entry and maximize the connection between patients and the healthcare system.
7 things to remember when adding symptom checkers to digital front doors
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Educate users about symptom checkers
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Symptom checkers and relying on digital tools for patient-physician communication in general are fairly novel concepts. Patients can find the new technology to be overwhelming, may not know how to use it, or simply just not trust it until they become more familiar with it. That’s why it’s important to present symptom checkers at all the key touchpoints (main web page, visit-booking subpages, newsletters, etc.). There are a variety of ways to achieve this, like banners, news sections, and in-text links. The selection should depend on user preference. We also recommend preparing a separate subpage that explains the tool and displays its benefits.
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Market your symptom checker
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As with any new solution, symptom checkers must be promoted. This could be with large marketing campaigns or precisely constructed mailings. All are good and crucial for proper product adoption. As symptom checkers are relatively new in healthcare, they, along with their use and benefits, must continuously be presented to users.
Symptom checkers are also an excellent solution to promote various occasions like children’s day or health awareness day, as well as a tool to invite patients to check their symptoms in periods of higher morbidity.
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Provide symptom checkers for free
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Symptom checkers can be thought of as personal assistants and marketing tools. Providing them to patients for free brings organizations more than just potential clients. Well-integrated symptom checkers can fill out patient records in EHRs, support doctors’ decisions, and simplify access to health services. Providing them free of charge allows organizations to reach out to all potentially interested users with personalized service offers based on their checkup results.
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Connect symptom checkers to health services
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We recommend that a symptom checker’s flow of questions not be interrupted by other messaging. We also recommend streamlining symptom checks by integrating them with patient records so that information like age or gender need not be re-entered.
Where there is room for add-ons, however, is at the end of the questionnaire. This is where organizations should add various elements to promote their services or products. These can be anything from links to patient self-care instructions to bookings for those advised to seek consultation. There are plenty of options, but one thing is for sure—not linking symptom checkers to existing services is a great waste of potential.
Example: IMC presents a call to action right under each possible condition. Image by Tomek Tuz.
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Use symptom checkers before recommending services
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When paired with the recommended health services, symptom checkers create a seamless patient journey in which the patient is taken care of from their first sign of symptoms. To experience their full potential, symptom checkers should be used to connect patients with the downstream services and systems offered by your healthcare organization. They can also be used to recommend individualized questionnaire-results-based service offers to clients.
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Provide unlimited use of symptom checker
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Do not limit the use of symptom checkers for unregistered users. Advise early users to use symptom checkers not only for their own health but also for that of their partner’s, children’s, parents’, and friends’. Invite them to use the health services that their checkup results recommend.
If the users are registered, remind them of the benefits of using this service in a variety of instances. Registered users can use symptom checkers to prepare for their upcoming doctor appointments, update their electronic records, or check if the visit is necessary.
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Provide symptom checkers in multiple languages
- Symptom checkers should be accessible to all users, regardless of their language or location. Ethnic minorities and recent immigrants often face challenges accessing healthcare. This can be improved by using multi-lingual symptom checkers. Collecting personal information in a user’s native language eases communication and helps better assess their needs.
Benefits of adding symptom checkers to digital front doors
Having symptom-checking tools as the first touchpoint to a digital healthcare service improves access and reduces patient inequities. Symptom checkers also help patients narrow down what services they need from the vast array of options. This improvement in navigation translates to higher patient satisfaction and streamlines healthcare as a whole. By using symptom checkers, organizations can reduce the number of low-acuity patients in EDs, increase telemedicine adoption rates, support doctors during visits, and drive cost optimizations.
Symptom checkers can also be used outside of the digital world. The same mechanisms that patients use online can be implemented elsewhere by physicians, nurses, or call center agents as physical or phone-based touchpoints.
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