Pocket Health, a medical image-sharing platform, has launched a tool to help patients stay on top of their follow-up recommendations.
Whether the instructions are to schedule another appointment, tissue sampling or lab work, Follow-Up Navigator will surface them to the patient and prompt them to take action. The goal is to reduce the chance of missed or delayed treatment.
Patients do not adhere to recommendations for additional imaging 60% of the time, according to one study. Such follow-up imaging is necessary to monitor health conditions or evaluate the progression of an illness.
“Complying with follow-up recommendations plays a crucial role in the patient’s healthcare journey after medical imaging is conducted,” Rishi Nayyar, co-founder and CEO of PocketHealth, said in a press release. “Non-adherence can lead to missed diagnoses and treatment delays, which impact patient satisfaction and readmission rates and increases liability for providers.”
The Follow-Up Navigator can help generate new revenue opportunities for providers through improved compliance, PocketHealth argues, while streamlining operational efficiency by reducing the need for staff intervention.
“Building strong lines of communication and relationships with our patients is a top priority,” Mishal Mendiratta-Lala, M.D., professor of clinical radiology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine, said in the announcement. “Bringing patients directly into the follow-up management process will help improve follow-up closure rates with less intervention required."
The latest feature aligns with the company’s broader effort to create a more integrated care journey for patients going through imaging events. Last year, PocketHealth launched Report Reader, which detects complex words within the patient’s imaging reports and defines them. More recently, the company launched appointment reminders, which send automated, customized prep instructions and scheduling reminders to patients via email or text.
PocketHealth is used by more than 600 hospitals and imaging clinics across North America as well as by more than 1 million patients.