In the diverse landscape of fertility clinics, the University of California San Francisco Center for Reproductive Health (CRH) stands out as a personalized care model with 11 providers and over 6,000 live births in the last 10 years. Located in a teaching hospital, this group practice prides itself on tailoring care to each patient. Each doctor contributes unique specialties to each patient's treatment plan, highlighting CRH's unwavering dedication to crafting exceptional patient experiences. CRH's journey toward personalized care is aided by EngagedMD, which seamlessly fits into its vision to streamline processes, enhance patient education, and elevate the overall experience for patients and staff.
Accelerating access to fertility care
Despite the high demand that could lead to extended wait times, CRH effectively manages the situation by offering personalized fertility care, supported by EngagedMD. From simplifying injection training to facilitating document signing and education, over 9,000 CRH patients have benefited from this transformative integration during their fertility journey.
EngagedMD's impact goes beyond wait time challenges. It shows remarkable efficiency gains, especially regarding consenting appointments, which used to be a bottleneck. Patient interactions are transformed as consent visits move from in-person to seamless digital processes. Current patients no longer have to return to the office to sign papers.
Eliminating these challenges has expanded staff availability from five to ten appointments daily, allowing new patients quicker access to fertility care.
EngagedMD saves staff from having repetitive conversations and allows patients to contemplate critical — and often sensitive — decisions at their convenience from the comfort of home. As a result, staff has more time, and patients are prepared and well-informed, facilitating personalized, productive, and smoother appointments.
Erica Hunkin, Practice Manager at UCSF Center for Reproductive Health, says she’s been able to witness firsthand how this has impacted the staff and patients and tells us,
“It's just a meaningful use of both the nurses and the patients’ time because it's more talking about the journey that the patient is going to embark on and not the logistics, like consents and signatures.”
This process and use of EngagedMD have helped nurses who were once burdened with administrative duties focus on what they love to do: caring for patients.
Educated patients, efficient consults
When it comes to ensuring patients are educated, CRH redefined their journey in response to survey feedback that indicated patients were feeling confused or overwhelmed with information after consultations. Erica notes that although REIs and nurses provide patients with a wealth of knowledge during consults, with just 60 minutes, it's challenging to address all patient concerns and cover essential topics as in-depth as they'd like. To address this feedback and ensure a delicate balance between time savings and a comprehensive patient journey, CRH decided to try sending relevant EngagedMD modules to patients before their appointments.
After implementation, patients were entering consultations well-prepared, armed with essential information – a positive shift in their experience. Instead of navigating through the basics of IVF, they delved into more specific aspects of their personal journey and treatment plans. The post-implementation survey underscored the success, with 83% of CRH patients acknowledging that EngagedMD modules effectively addressed questions that would have traditionally prompted calls to the clinic.
The impact didn't go unnoticed by Erica and the clinic staff. They observed a noticeable decrease in inquiries and phone calls related to injections, procedural steps, and foundational aspects of patient care.
Weekly calls to nurses drastically decreased from 54 to 20. Furthermore, with EngagedMD seamlessly managing patient education and consenting processes, CRH realized a substantial saving of 2,734 staff hours – a testament to heightened operational efficiency.
As patients arrived better prepared, REIs at CRH also began noticing the transformative impact of EngagedMD. Erica reports that after consultations, providers would note how "quick" and "easy" they were, with one provider commenting that their consult "took less than 60 minutes because the patient understood everything.” This streamlined the medical staff's workflow and made patient-provider communications more meaningful and efficient. The success of this EngagedMD-powered approach stands as a testament to CRH's responsiveness to patient needs, creating a synergy that benefits everyone involved in the fertility care journey and working towards the goal of more accessible fertility care for all.
Fertility care transformed
A partnership like CRH and EngagedMD illustrates the potential of combining fertility clinics with cutting-edge technology. By seamlessly integrating technology to enhance patient education and streamline processes, CRH saved time and elevated the overall patient experience. The clinic's commitment to personalized care and EngagedMD's capabilities transformed challenges into opportunities, ensuring a future where patients are more informed, providers are less burdened, and the fertility journey is genuinely patient-centric.