WebMD Ignite developed a new suite of tech tools it says will help health systems supercharge provider referrals.
The new solutions build on WebMD Ignite’s set of healthcare provider applications that include data analytics, targeting capabilities, omnichannel activation services, and referral measurement tools.
Hospitals and health systems are under significant revenue pressures and margins remain tight. A key strategy to close financial gaps is to keep patients inside the hospital network, or decrease “patient leakage.”
WebMD Ignite developed analytics and tech solutions purpose-built to drive higher provider referral volume. It launched two new solutions to help identify which providers have the opportunity to drive higher referrals and enable health system leaders to devise strategies to drive them.
WebMD is well known for offering medical and health information to consumers, and it launched the Ignite brand about a year ago to develop tech solutions for providers and health plans.
“At WebMD Ignite, our vision and strategy is to build a truly comprehensive engagement platform that combines the ability to reach consumers and patients in a truly omnichannel way and reach healthcare providers, and then combine that reach with precision, in terms of who you should be communicating with, and crafting the right message with content that can create engaging experiences. And then we have the analytics to measure the impact of that engagement,” Ann Bilyew, executive vice president, health and president of the healthcare solutions group at WebMD/Internet Brands.
The company is building on its well-known patient and consumer engagement platforms to focus those capabilities on the healthcare provider community, Bilyew added. It developed an end-to-end suite of technologies and services to help providers target and engage the right provider audience segments at the right time.
“We’re focused on helping health systems accelerate growth by understanding how successful they are currently in being the referral destination of choice across their top service lines in their markets,” she said.
The company’s provider suite analytics platform can analyze referral patterns and identify specific providers and service lines with opportunities for growth. Health systems can use this data to develop actionable intelligence for creating strategies that engage providers, according to the company.
Another solution, called referral growth targeting, uses first- and third-party data from sources including verified Medscape members and WebMD Ignite’s in-house demand-side platform (DSP). Provider organizations can use this to optimize their referral campaigns.
WebMD Ignite’s analytics technology can aid health systems in evaluating how provider referral patterns have developed and changed over time. Health systems can focus on particular audience segments and reach them with compelling content in an omnichannel way and then measure the impact of that engagement as it relates to referral volume, according to the company.
“This offering combines a tool to understand and engage and optimize health systems’ physician network along with the ability to take that understanding and reach those healthcare providers in a way they’ll find compelling and at the right moment and then measure how that impacts their behavior over time,” Bilyew said.
WebMD Ignite’s tech solutions can reach unique audience segments down to the National Provider Identifier level.
Driving referral volume requires more than just data analytics, Bilyew noted.
“Provider organizations must have the ability to identify and reach their target audiences wherever they are, while also having advanced measurement tools that allow them to adjust and refine their strategies. That’s what makes WebMD Ignite the preferred growth partner,” she said.
WebMD Ignite says it works with 95% of the top 40 health systems in the U.S. The company also has access to 98% of payer data, according to Bilyew. “We’re able to see through that claims data how a physician has shifted referral patterns. And, has this communication and this engagement made a difference?”
Many health systems use physician relationship management (PRM) solutions combined with physician liaisons but Bilyew contends that those services don’t easily scale. And, as health systems continue to face a financial crunch, many hospitals are cutting their physician liaison groups.
“What we’re offering is a deep understanding of how each position at the NPI level is behaving in a market, where they’re referring, to whom they’re referring and what sorts of patients are they referring. Are they splitting the referrals? Are they consolidating their referrals? Have their referral patterns shifted over time? And then we offer the ability to engage them digitally,” she said.
WebMD Ignite recently expanded it tech solutions for payers as well. A few months ago, it launched a new HealthHub Interactive offering that bundles three of its platforms together into one package that allows insurers’ clinical teams to engage with members in a more personalized way.
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