The Closed Loop Patient Experience Has Become a Non-Negotiable

, October 11, 2024

As patient expectations continue to evolve, the demand for more intuitive and supportive healthcare experiences is higher than ever.

Today’s patients expect more than just functional care—they want care that is accessible, responsive, and tailored to their needs. Healthcare is embracing a more connected approach, with technology playing a central role in empowering patients to take an active part in their care.

Jenna Hagan, Director, Application Specialists at NextGen Healthcare, understands the potential of this transformation. Drawing on her experience as a practice administrator and patient, she knows the importance of creating a complete care experience that benefits both patients and providers. “We have to stop thinking in pieces and start thinking in full journeys,” she says. Below, Hagan explores how the NextGen® Closed Loop™ Patient and Practice Experience is reshaping care by closing the gaps between patients, providers, and technology.

Q: NextGen Healthcare is helping practices and providers reimagine the patient journey by empowering patients to take a more active role in their care. Why is this so important?

Hagan: Historically, the patient journey has been fragmented, and healthcare technology hasn’t always served us well. It often places the burden solely on the patient or the practice to manage everything from paperwork and scheduling to payments. Rarely does it support both equally. For example, some systems might automate messages asking patients to fill out forms electronically, but staff still have to enter the information into the system manually. Reimagining the patient journey means adopting a balanced, transformative approach that considers the needs of both the patient and the practice.

The right approach and technology create a more meaningful and streamlined experience, reducing the workload for staff and allowing patients to feel more engaged and supported throughout their care. This also encourages patients to take an active role in their health because they feel heard and can access care more easily.

Q: Why is it so crucial that practices keep up with evolving patient expectations around access to care?

Hagan: Healthcare has evolved tremendously over the past few decades, from paper charts to EHRs and Meaningful Use criteria, along with MIPS reporting and quality measures. Now, the patient and provider experience is evolving rapidly as science and technology advance, and we must meet the rising expectations around this transformation to ensure access to care improves.

For example, I recently moved to another state and signed up with four new healthcare providers. It was a challenging experience—one that required multiple phone calls to confirm appointments, stacks of paperwork, and even receiving 13 emails within an hour to set up a password. These frustrations are common, and if practices don’t keep up, they risk losing patients and providers. Patients may cancel appointments or not return due to the complicated process, and providers, in turn, will see their schedules suffer. It’s no longer negotiable: We must make access to care easier for patients while ensuring that providers have the support they need.

Q: What are the components of the NextGen® Closed Loop™ Patient and Practice Experience?

Hagan: The closed loop is comprised of five key areas: access, intake, visit, care coordination, and health management. This journey, supported by a single, integrated platform, encompasses both the patient and provider experiences. It starts from the moment a patient schedules an appointment and extends all the way through to billing and collections. The platform includes AI-powered documentation for providers, automated payment collections for back-office staff, and claims processing through a clearinghouse. All elements of this technology are integrated and work seamlessly together. Whether it’s the patient interacting with the system, the provider using it, or the practice tracking data, everything is connected, removing the need for staff to switch between systems or manually enter data.

Q: How does an effective closed loop experience contribute to better outcomes for patients and providers alike?

Hagan: A well-executed closed loop experience reduces inefficiencies, cuts administrative burdens, and allows providers to focus more on patient care while offering patients convenient access. The result? Greater engagement, higher satisfaction rates, and improved operational efficiency. Patient access is one of the most important buckets of the closed loop because it sets the stage for an integrated experience all the way through. For example, when a patient completes an electronic form, it should automatically flow into the system, allowing for uninterrupted, meaningful face-to-face interactions with their provider. Ambient listening technology further enhances this experience by automating documentation, freeing providers from hours of charting so they can focus on patient care.

We’ve seen significant results with this approach and technology. One client saw a 54% reduction in no-shows after implementing our integrated platform, which uses text messaging to simplify scheduling—34% of patients are more likely to reschedule through text. The technology is intuitive, recognizing responses like “yes,” a thumbs-down emoji, or “reschedule,” which automatically triggers a text with the next available appointments.

As healthcare leaders, it’s important to consider our own experiences as patients. This perspective helps us identify opportunities and prioritize solutions. Vendor consolidation is also crucial. The more fragmented your systems are, the more difficult it becomes to maintain them. A truly effective closed loop system is about integrating technology that works seamlessly to support both patients and providers.

 

Listening In: How Ambient Tech Is Transforming Exam-Room Dynamics

, September 11, 2024

In the exam room, the challenge of multi-tasking often leaves physicians struggling to engage fully with patients as they simultaneously input data into a computer.

This divided attention can disrupt meaningful connections. Ambient listening technology offers a solution by seamlessly capturing provider-patient interactions and converting them into detailed documentation. This allows healthcare providers to stay fully present, free from the distraction of manual note-taking, and even regain valuable time in their day. A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that clinicians may need up to two additional hours of electronic data entry for every hour of direct patient contact. Ambient listening technology aims to change that.

“Having ambient technology listening in the exam room improves the provider-patient experience by capturing the entire conversation, including nuances that might be missed during a busy day,” says Jeremy Dixon, vice president of product development for NextGen Healthcare. In this conversation, Dixon discusses the power of ambient listening technology to transform exam room interactions, improve clinical workflows, and help providers reclaim joy by being more efficient and empathetic.

 

Q: How do you see AI reshaping the healthcare landscape, particularly in terms of improving patient care and operational efficiency?

Dixon: I like to compare the current state of AI in healthcare to the introduction of the first iPhone. When the iPhone was first released, it was limited—no app store, no 4G or 5G—but everyone could see its potential to revolutionize the digital world. Similarly, AI in healthcare is at an early stage, but it’s already starting to transform how we approach patient care and operational efficiency. Take imaging, for example. AI is now helping providers and radiologists by pinpointing details in scans that might have been missed before. Ambient technology is also advancing to overhaul clinical documentation processes, leading to greater accuracy, more quality time with patients, faster billing processes, and less burnout.

Q: Can you share the vision behind NextGen Ambient Assist and what specific challenges it aims to address in healthcare?

Dixon: Documentation burdens are a significant pain point for providers and clinicians,  exacerbated by government regulations and demand for more detailed records. Many providers find themselves working nights and weekends to stay on top of documentation, which can detract from their personal lives and contribute to burnout. NextGen Ambient Assist aims to alleviate this burden through discreet listening technology that captures conversations during patient exams. The technology then generates a structured note so that when the provider finishes the chart, they're getting a good foundation of what happened in that room. The result is a more interactive discussion between the provider and patient with fewer distractions and a more efficient clinical workflow overall, with some of our providers indicating a 60% reduction in after-hours charting. Additionally, clients have reported up to a 50% reduction in billing process time.

Q: NextGen’s ambient listening technology offers EHR integration—why is that so important?

Dixon: There's much hype around ambient technology with the explosion of vendors in the healthcare space. However, many of them are not integrated with the EHR, which forces providers to move data between different systems. They end up manually copying data from their laptop into specific fields in an EHR browser, losing that efficiency that ambient listening technology promised initially. Producing a note that is relevant to the conversation that happened in the room is just table stakes.

At NextGen Healthcare, we are focused on reducing the number of screens, clicks, and the amount of editing through robust EHR integration. What’s critical today is enabling providers to add data with a single click. We're doing that on the narrative fields and going a step further by integrating into other key clinical workflows that are very click-heavy. For example, our technology can correctly identify and add medications and diagnosis codes directly into the EHR without the provider having to do anything other than accept the  AI-generated suggestion.

Q: What has been the feedback from healthcare providers who are using this technology?

Dixon: Providers are excited to have a tool that helps accurately document the encounter in less time and with more accuracy. When they finish their charting, they have a note that is about 95% accurate. This consistently helps reduce cognitive fatigue because they don’t have to go back and relive all these encounters hours after the fact.

They are also excited about having a better work-life balance. For example, one provider who is an early adopter of ambient listening technology has a lake house she goes to with her family in the summer. Before using this technology, she always took her computer with her to catch up on notes while everyone else was sleeping in. But now, for the first time in years, she’s been able to enjoy that family time. Another provider who uses Ambient Assist said they are seeing as many as five more patients a day while still getting home earlier to be with their family.

Overall, providers report that they are saving five to ten minutes per encounter on EHR documentation time. This tool allows them to spend more time with patients because they can trust the system to document the encounters accurately.