News: Telehealth patient navigator positively affects visit attendance with ROI, research says

Patient navigators can increase patient visit attendance for telehealth visits in a cost-effective way, according to a new research article published by JAMA Network Open. A 12-week telehealth patient navigator pilot program increased patient visit attendance, with 91.6% of video telehealth patients contacted by a patient navigator attending their appointment compared to 82.8% of patients attending who were not contacted. The pilot program’s return on investment was $11,387, HealthLeaders reported.

The research used data collected from 4,000 telehealth patients in April to July 2021, where 1,000 were attempted to be reached by a patient navigator before their visit and 3,0000 has usual communication by phone and text. A patient navigator would contact the patient by phone the day before the telehealth visit and offer technical assistance as well as answer any questions about accessing the video call. Data showed further that 5.8% of the contacted patients canceled their appointment compared to 9.2% of patients who weren’t.

This method may address the concern many patients have of encountering a problem with technology before or during their video telehealth visits. “The findings of this study suggest that adding a patient navigator to episodic telehealth visits may increase visit attendance and provide a net financial return,” the research article’s co-authors said.

“At our institution, the Telehealth Patient Navigator program proved to be an effective, cost-effective, and high-value intervention associated with improving telehealth visit attendance and fewer patient no-shows and cancellations and increased successful video visits over the course of a 12-week pilot,” the co-authors said. “Implementing a Telehealth Patient Navigator may be a high-value proposition for healthcare systems, as it uniquely benefits patients and clinicians while being cost-effective and yielding a positive net return on investment.”

Editor’s note: To read HealthLeaders’ coverage of this story, click here. To read the JAMA research article, click here.