Consumers love their mobile apps. And healthcare organizations are capitalizing on that fact by offering apps for their patients. But there are a lot of health-related apps available. How do you fight the app clutter? Saint Luke’s Health System, based in Kansas City, MO, has found a solution.
The hospital system offers multiple apps to its patients: Epic MyChart, MDLive for telehealth visits and online scheduling via ZocDoc. However, patients found having to use the separate apps somewhat taxing. So Saint Luke’s teamed up with VenueNext to develop an integrated app that combined the separate apps into one mobile presence.
VenueNext has worked on big projects in the past—concerts and sporting events such as the Super Bowl and the Kentucky Derby. But this was the vendor’s first healthcare engagement.
In addition to providing a single mobile app from which to launch the MyChart, MDLive and ZocDoc apps, additional functions have been included, such as informational and educational content from the Saint Luke’s website, as well as wayfinding, proximity notifications and in-app ordering capability for food and beverage.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for this project was vendor cooperation, especially with the integration of VenueNext and Epic platforms, according to Saint Luke’s CIO Debe Gash. But she says both vendors were willing to step up and get the job done.
The goal for the integrated app is easier navigation of available services, leading to increased adoption of those services. In addition, it is expected that patient experience will be improved, leading to more attraction and retention of patients.