What is the Potential ROI of Digital Care Journeys

When it comes to digital patient engagement and remote patient monitoring solutions, there are currently a myriad of new point solutions that exist today and new ones entering the market. This boom is understandable considering how healthcare is increasingly becoming more consumer-centric as patients seek enhanced quality of care that meets their expectations – 90% of surveyed healthcare provider executives identified healthcare consumerism as a top priority for their companies while 60% of consumers expect their digital healthcare experience to mirror that of retail. 

Scalable Digital Care Journey platforms have proven to help healthcare leaders deliver exceptional returns – across delivery of care, patient engagement, clinician experience, and revenue generation – by improving clinical outcomes like discharging patients sooner; reducing readmissions, ED visits and phone calls, as well as enhancing operational efficiency such as easing workforce burden, lowering costs per patient, increasing surgical throughput, improving user adoption of new technologies and more. 

However, investing in the right Digital Care Journey platform can be a daunting task. Some considerations and factors that impact buying decisions include:

• Difficulty in successfully implementing new technology in an healthcare organization 
• Lack of unbiased, comprehensive information about platform vendors and solutions
• Complexities of interoperability with information systems, digital front door portals, and/or electronic health record (EHR)solutions 
• Lack of adoption and/or buy-in from clinical teams and frontline staff amid worries that it means additional strain on time and resources
• Providers being conservative about embracing unknown-to-them technology
• Sparse research or proven results on the return on investment with these technologies
• Unique nuances of each hospital or large health system making it difficult to find  “one-size-fits-all” solution

Despite these challenges, digital innovation is here to stay. Most healthcare organizations are already innovating at accelerated timelines, with one survey noting that 67% of hospital executives said their organizations will implement at least one to two new digital health solutions in 2023. 

As healthcare leaders feel the pressure of doing more with less without affecting the delivery of care, exploring and ensuring the return on investment (ROI) from these platforms – both in terms of costs and clinical outcomes – is critical. Each organization or health system or even service line, has its own specific priorities, needs, baseline metrics they are looking to improve – which in turn impacts the ROI they are expecting from a digital care journey platform. 

Over 35 academic studies have shown Digital Care Journey platforms like SeamlessMD to reduce hospital length of stay by 1-2 days, readmissions by 72%, ER visits by 47% and hospital costs by $8,100 per patient. 

What if you could quantify and assess your potential return on investment upfront? Tailored specifically for the healthcare industry, that is precisely what the SeamlessMD ROI Calculator can help you do.  

Impact on Clinical Outcomes and Costs Across Different Service Lines

The data used in this calculator to generate your custom ROI report is based on aggregated data from SeamlessMD customers. The calculator can help you model customizable scenarios based on your baseline metrics to help you visualize improved outcomes – such as LOS, readmissions, ED visits – operational advantages, including nursing hours saved, financial savings, as well the final ROI that can be achieved with SeamlessMD Digital Care Journeys. 

Whether looking to implement a platform across one or multiple service lines, in a single-hospital or a multi hospital health system, here are a few hypothetical scenarios to help outline the potential impact for your organization with Digital Care Journeys.  

Note that all of the below calculations, including the final ROI, have been made using the ROI calculator. Additionally, the results for every health system, including your own, may  differ based on your markets, patient population, geography, and/or other factors. 

Reducing Readmissions for Cardiac 

Preventing unnecessary readmissions is an important metric for both patients and providers, and lower 30-day readmission rates indicate higher care quality – it is one of the five areas of quality measured by the CMS for the Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating. However, according to a multicenter analysis, 30-day cardiac readmissions have been seen to be as high as 12.3%. 

What if you could reduce that by half, while improving patient experience and compliance?

Let’s look at a scenario where a multi-hospital health system is looking to reduce readmissions, ED visits, and other patient outcomes. Below are the baseline metrics being considered for this scenario:

• Annual patient volume: 550
• Avg 30-day readmissions rate: 12.7%
• Avg. length of stay: 9.5 days
• Approx. phone calls per patient: 2
• Avg ED visit rate: 4.8%

Here’s what the results with SeamlessMD Digital Care Journeys would look like:

Considering the above improvements in clinical outcomes and cost savings per patient per year, the return on investment would be approximately $651,156.41/year with SeamlessMD.

Cheryl Crisafi, Nurse Coordinator at Baystate Heart & Vascular Center, Baystate Health – which saw decrease in readmissions by 72%, observation stays by 69%, and discharge to SNF by 60% with Digital Care Journeys – shared, “SeamlessMD has been critical for our readmissions prevention strategy, allowing our care teams to monitor patients at home and catch complications earlier. Most importantly, patients love the SeamlessMD experience! Patients feel connected to our team every step of the way, even when they are at home.”

Reducing ED Visits for Orthopaedics 

The CDC notes that an estimated 131 million ED visits occurred in 2020, with a total ED visit rate of 40 visits per 100 people; and in that time, over 20 million cases of COVID-19 caused a disruption in access to and use of care. 

In the meantime, subspecialities experiencing the greatest declines in surgeries performed were surgical oncology, cardiac, urology, orthopedic, and general surgery (according to a 2022 JAMA Network Open study), which continues to impact the current severe backlogs and deferred surgeries that could have serious health care and cost implications for the future.

So how can Digital Care Journeys for Orthopaedics help health systems combat these challenges? 

Leading healthcare organizations have seen as much as 62% reduction in 30-day ER visits for Hip Surgery, with 90% of patients reporting that Digital Care Journeys made them more confident during recovery. These tools empower care teams with intuitive technologies that reduce avoidable post-op phone calls and ED visits that can save hundreds of nursing hours and still deliver high-quality care. Doing more with less.

Let’s look at a scenario where a large hospital is looking to improve patient experience and reduce ED visits for their ortho service line. Below are the baseline metrics being considered:

• Annual patient volume: 1200
• Avg 30-day readmissions rate: 6.7%
• Avg. length of stay: 2.1 days
• Approx. phone calls per patient: 2
• Avg ED visit rate: 17.88%

Here’s what the results with SeamlessMD Digital Care Journeys would look like:

Considering the above decrease in number of phone calls, readmissions, ED visits, and improvement in cost savings per patient per year, the return on investment would be approximately $464,307.74/year with SeamlessMD.

Reducing Phone Calls for Bariatrics 

The North American bariatric surgery market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 5.3% between 2023–2028. This elective surgery market is not only expanding among adults but “more young people between the ages of 10 and 19 are undergoing weight-loss surgeries,” according to research published by JAMA Pediatrics. In 2021, 1,349 youths between the ages of 10–19 underwent metabolic and bariatric surgery, a 19% increase compared to 2020; while among adults, 207,834 weight-loss surgeries were performed in 2021, a 24% increase from 2020.

With a continued increase in surgical volume brings with it a rise in phone call volumes as well as length of stay and readmissions. SeamlessMD Digital Care Journeys for Bariatrics has been developed for patients undergoing weight loss surgeries like a gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and duodenal switch surgery. Providers can automate education, remote monitoring PROs collection, reminders and alerts to empower patients to better track and prepare for their perioperative journey, thereby reducing length of stay and potentially avoidable calls.

Let’s consider a scenario where a multi-hospital health system is looking to reduce workforce burden and costs, while improving overall clinical outcomes, including decrease in length of stay and phone calls. Below are the baseline metrics being considered for this scenario:

• Annual patient volume: 1000
• Avg 30-day readmissions rate: 7.78%
• Avg. length of stay: 1.66 days
• Approx. phone calls per patient: 2.5
• Avg ED visit rate: 15.66%

Here’s what the results with SeamlessMD Digital Care Journeys would look like:

Considering the above nursing hours saved from reduced phone calls, a decrease in an already adequate length of stay, as well as other improved outcomes, the return on investment would be approximately $348,317.27/year with SeamlessMD.

Lowering LOS for Colorectal Surgery

Digital Care Journeys help streamline processes that support shortened hospital length of stay and same-day or earlier discharge, including outlining what patients should expect and providing access to a centralized location for information about their care and recovery. 

Recent research suggests that optimizing preoperative care for colorectal surgery patients for instance can improve outcomes. In fact, a 2021 study found that better perioperative education and managing the expectation patients have about discharge can reduce LOS within the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) program and fewer patients experienced postoperative complications – which means faster discharge and lower costs for the hospital without added risk of readmissions or complications.

Let’s look at a scenario where a large, multi-hospital health system is looking to optimize its ERAS program and lower length of stay, readmissions, and ED Visits for Colorectal surgery. Below are the baseline metrics being considered:

• Annual patient volume: 450
• Avg 30-day readmissions rate: 22%
• Avg. length of stay: 4 days
• Approx. phone calls per patient: 2
• Avg ED visit rate: 24%

 Here’s what the results with SeamlessMD Digital Care Journeys would look like:

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Considering the above decrease in length of stay, as well as other improved outcomes, the return on investment would be approximately $504,871.67/year with SeamlessMD.

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In today's healthcare landscape, making data-driven decisions when investing in new technology is paramount. The ROI Calculator empowers you to confidently assess and quantify the impact of Digital Care Journeys for your organization. Digital Care Journeys enable you to engage, connect and monitor patients across surgical and chronic episodes of care. With SeamlessMD, you can discharge patients sooner, increase surgical throughput and enable safer transitions from hospital to home. Assess your potential ROI, use the calculator and download your customized ROI report today. 

To see firsthand how the SeamlessMD Digital Care Journey platform works, request a demo or email us at info@seamless.md.

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