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The key to quality cost-effective health services delivery is finding ways to enhance care, driving positive outcomes while lowering expenses.

Varolii  has come out with two new hosted, proactive, multichannel automated messaging solutions that are aimed at doing just that, by helping healthcare organizations reach patients and members to enroll them into programs and engage with them to influence their behavior.

Organizations that deliver disease management and wellness programs spend a large portion of their operational budget trying to connect with healthcare consumers, the firm points out. But most only reach 10 to 15 percent of the most at-risk patients using traditional methods such as direct mail and manual phone calls by engagement specialists.

The first new solution, Varolii Enrollment, helps recruit patients through two interactive, automated conversations that are HIPAA-compliant and tailored to patient preferences, such as text, phone or e-mail. These are:

Engage: This conversation informs patients that information is coming about a program designed to help them lead a healthier lifestyle and reduce disease risk. In addition, the call offers an option to speak with an enrollment specialist to immediately enroll in the program and receive one-on-one assistance;

Enroll: This interaction offers patients the option to enroll in a healthcare management or support program via automated technology, describing the benefits of the program and offering an option to speak with a specialist for more information and assistance.

The second new solution, Varolii Progressive Engagement, is designed to help disease management and wellness organizations both enroll and engage patients, with the ultimate objective of encouraging and influencing positive health behavior. In addition to the Varolii Enrollment conversations, this solution includes:

Monitor: It checks with patients to monitor a health condition or any medication or other side effects. It also assesses and monitors progress in a wellness program and offers an option to speak with a healthcare specialist during the program lifecycle;

Reminder: This feature reminds patients about upcoming appointments and offers options to reschedule, if needed;

Re-engage: It provides proactive outreach to patients if they are enrolled in a program but have not taken any action, asking if they would like to re-engage or transfer them to a healthcare specialist for one-on-one assistance.

The Progressive Engagement solution leverages cross-channel communications to leverage multiple channels such as voice, e-mail and SMS text messaging to reach patients. For example, a patient could receive a phone call to confirm an upcoming appointment with a health practitioner. If the patient does not answer or respond, Varolii can automatically follow up with a text message or e-mail to make sure the patient receives the information.

These solutions take advantage of Varolii ID, which personalizes each message to individual recipients, based on business rules that automatically determine the most effective way to interact with each patient. Varolii ID also “learns” the more it is used, enabling further personalization based on patients’ preferences, such as what time to call or which language they prefer.

In addition, Varolii offers detailed reporting capabilities to enable clients to analyze and improve all aspects of their automated communications campaigns, using more than 40 detailed reports and an online dashboard to track daily interactions in real-time.

Varolii has already helped two of the three largest disease management companies to effectively reach patients. Early adopter healthcare organizations that have deployed the firm’s tools have seen a seven-fold increase in initial response rates and up to a five-fold increase in program enrollment.

“Getting patients enrolled and actively engaged in wellness and disease management programs is the biggest problem that healthcare organizations face,” said John Pierson, senior vice president of services at Varolii. “Varolii Enrollment and Progressive Engagement solutions provide organizations a rapid and simplified path to smart automated communications: which allows them to reach more patients more cost effectively and drive positive outcomes.

“The healthcare industry has a great opportunity to embrace newer technologies and approaches to patient engagement that can solve cost challenges, improve response rates, and – ultimately -- help patients live a healthier life,” he adds.