How Unified Communications Serves Today’s Healthcare Consumers

2 min read

Kyle McComas | January 20, 2025


More organizations are turning to unified communications (UC) technologies in healthcare to entice new patients or guests and improve market share, eliminating friction and improving the patient experience.


Like many industries, healthcare has discovered the value of designing services with the end user in mind.


As patients shoulder a more significant portion of healthcare costs, from rising insurance premiums to higher co-pays, they’re demanding more cost-effective and convenient solutions that provide the best possible outcomes.


In other words, they’re no longer simply patients but healthcare consumers. They evaluate quality, service, and cost, then decide where to spend their money. Their expectations include simpler provider interactions, instant access to accurate pricing information, and delivery options that fit their needs.


Maybe you’ve seen this shift in your market. Perhaps a city-based teaching hospital is building standalone clinics to meet the needs of the suburbs. A local hospital reports emergency care wait times on its website or mobile app. A physician’s practice enables patients to make appointments and complete registration forms through an online portal.


All these components represent the consumerization of healthcare and driving change in IT solutions for healthcare.


Healthcare, Unified Communications, and the Cloud


Whether access to electronic health records, remote monitoring devices, online scheduling, or telemedicine, UC enables healthcare consumers to interact with their providers and payers in entirely new ways.


Access to Information


While the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act initiated the move toward electronic health records, to achieve meaningful use, healthcare organizations must make the systems easily accessible for the patient. This dovetails with today’s healthcare consumers, who want to unify healthcare services and use their medical information to manage their health better.


The MyHealthEData initiative, launched in 2018, aims to empower patients by granting them greater access to electronic health records (EHRs). MyHealthEData fosters transparency, promotes patient engagement, and enables informed decision-making by providing patients with control over their health data.


Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma explains that the agency is considering using APIs “so that software developers, researchers, and others can design useful products – such as apps – powered by it, just as many companies do to enhance their customer experience.”


Just as they rely on web-based search and reviews to make shopping, dining, or entertainment decisions, many healthcare consumers expect the same capabilities when shopping for providers and payers. Consumers want to see quality scores and reviews. Some market leaders enable patients to rate provider services and share that information with potential customers on their websites.


Communications with Healthcare Professionals


Healthcare consumers also expect access to their providers using the same methods in other spheres, like websites, text, chat, email, and video. They want to communicate through multiple devices – laptop, mobile, or desktop. UC and the cloud make all this possible with software that joins disparate systems securely and HIPAA-compliantly for improved engagement.


Telemedicine, or virtual care or telehealth, is no longer science fiction. In one extensive healthcare system, stroke victims are attended to by a neurologist within five minutes of entering the ER. How is this possible? An on-call doctor is available for consultation at a moment’s notice. A camera, capable of zooming in and out, is accessible by doctors via any available device, be it mobile or desktop. They can interact with the patient and evaluate the situation immediately as a nurse stands with the patient—the results are better clinical outcomes and more satisfied patients.


Managing Personal Health


Several of the top fatal diseases in the U.S. could be prevented or better managed if patients changed their behaviors. As an example, one-third of cancer cases are related to poor nutrition, obesity, lack of exercise, and smoking. Similarly, heart disease and diabetes are manageable illnesses but require patients to stay on top of their numbers.


Patients can collect vital signs and communicate via wearable health technology, connected medical solutions, and remote monitoring devices via the cloud to their providers. Unified APIs can connect these devices to the patient’s electronic records.


Healthcare providers and payers are using customer relationship management (CRM) systems in new ways. More than a marketing tool, CRMs can help improve clinical outcomes. For example, knowing that the patient has recently undergone surgery, the provider can reach out via personalized communications for follow-up and to provide vital information for self-care.


The bottom line is that UC gives consumers the power to manage their health better. It also enables healthcare providers and payers to target patients' needs, produce better clinical outcomes, and grow their revenue.

Kyle McComasContent Strategist

Kyle is a content strategist passionate about crafting compelling narratives. He has over 15 years of experience in in-house and agency environments. When he's not strategizing content, you can find him on the ice playing hockey or traveling to paintball events.

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