Patient Engagement
TikTok and similar apps have cracked the code
With more than 1 billion monthly active users and over 4 billion global installations, TikTok has quickly become one of the most engaging social media platforms with an average engagement rate of 4.24%. TikTok users spend an average of 95 minutes per day on the platform. The average user opens the app 20 times per day.
Let us examine the status of Patient Engagement
The current patient engagement software Vendor landscape features around 345 large, mid-sized and small companies. There are now more than 350,000 digital health apps available to consumers.
Yet, according to a study by the NEJM Catalyst, a mere 34% of healthcare leaders said their organizations were highly effective at patient engagement. These low numbers lead to a vicious cycle of missed appointments, increased emergency room visits, and, ultimately, a whopping $150 billion annual loss for healthcare providers in the U.S. alone. Less engaged patients are 3x more likely to have unmet medical needs. They are also 2x as likely to delay getting care, compared to patients who like to actively participate in their treatment
On the other hand, 92% of patients expect their healthcare providers to send them personalized reminders and messages. Texting patients can increase medication adherence for chronic disease patients from 50% to 67.8%, or a 17.8% overall increase. Facilitating ongoing communication between patients and physicians via apps and online portal can improve engagement rates by 60% or higher.
With all these numbers, there simply is no proven solution out there that can claim engagement in the vicinity of TikTok and its ilk.
The Nature of Engagement: TikTok vs. Healthcare
TikTok and similar platforms have cracked the code on how to build and maintain high engagement levels. So, why can’t healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies adopt similar strategies to enhance patient engagement?
The simple answer: healthcare engagement and social media engagement serve very different purposes.
These platforms create a bilateral relationship between users and the content served. Although platforms, in general, are tripartite, the creators have little control over the distribution of the content and who the specific end user would be. The users log in primarily for entertainment, exploring various topics, and the platform learns from their preferences. Users are constantly fed content that keeps them entertained, even if it’s not particularly beneficial for their well-being. The platform’s primary goal is to retain user-attention for longer timespan and keep them engaged, regardless of whether the content improves their lives.
On the other hand, patient engagement in healthcare is far more complex. It involves three parties: the patient, the provider, and the platform (whether it’s an app, portal, or remote monitoring device). Second, the creator of the content is targeting a very specific user. Third, the platforms cannot arbitrarily decide the content or strategies that are intended for that specific user. Lastly, the key difference? End user (patient) outcomes matter. The aim is not just to keep patients on the platform but to deliver real, measurable improvements in their health.
Here are the major differences:
- Personalization and Outcomes: In healthcare, content and engagement strategies are tailored to specific patient conditions, such as managing a chronic illness. The ultimate goal is better health outcomes—not simply keeping a patient engaged.
- Subject Matter: The topics for engagement are predefined based on the patient’s specific health needs. For example, a diabetes patient needs tailored content about diet, glucose monitoring, and exercise—not random trending topics.
- Modes of Engagement: How a patient is engaged depends on their health condition, social determinants of health (SDOH), and the care pathways prescribed by their healthcare provider.
So, can Healthcare Create Meaningful, High-Engagement Through Technology?
The answer is yes, but not in the same way that TikTok does. To understand how, let’s take a step back and look at how technology has brought back ideas to their original form, not just in healthcare.
The disintermediation of everything
First, let us talk about disintermediation in general. Take the case of media. Historically, ideas were exchanged face-to-face in places like local coffee shops, where meaningful conversations and community interactions occurred. As society grew, these conversations shifted to intermediaries, such as newspapers, which pushed certain ideas while suppressing others. With the rise of social media, however, we’ve returned to a form of disintermediation—giving individuals a voice and bypassing traditional gatekeepers like mainstream media. Similar disintermediation has occurred, more spectacularly, in the travel industry and others.
A similar shift is happening in healthcare. In the past, a village doctor provided holistic, personalized care, visiting patients and understanding their full context—social, physical, and emotional. As society expanded, healthcare became fragmented and specialized, with each provider focused on a narrow slice of a patient’s overall health. Now, the movement toward value-based care (VBC) is leading us back toward a model of holistic, patient-centered care, but with the help of modern technology.
Value-Based Care: Returning to Personalized Care
The core idea behind value-based care is to reintroduce the personalized, holistic approach that the village doctor once provided—only now, it’s supported by advanced tools and technologies that allow healthcare providers to scale this model to a larger population. The aim is to deliver high-quality care, with better outcomes at lower costs.
While social media strategies aren’t a perfect fit for patient engagement, technology can still play a transformative role in patient engagement through high-impact engagement that is personalized, proactive, continuous, and preventative.
Why Traditional Patient Engagement Tools Fall Short
Tools like patient portals—used for tasks such as refilling prescriptions, scheduling appointments, and paying bills—are essential for basic patient management. However, these tools don’t drive the kind of high engagement that leads to better outcomes. Patients rarely feel motivated by these tools, and as a result, they often remain passive participants in their care. Factors such as age, education level, cultural background, location, and financial standing impact a patient’s ability to engage in their own care.
High-Impact Patient Engagement Tools
high-impact engagement that is personalized, proactive, continuous, and preventative.
- Personalized Care Pathways:
Just like a personal trainer tailors fitness plans to individual clients, healthcare providers can collaborate with patients to develop personalized care pathways and treatment plans. This not only enhances engagement but also empowers patients to take an active role in managing their own health.
- Preventative engagement:
Wearable devices, at-home visits, and telehealth services allow healthcare providers to do remote patient monitoring continuously, gathering real-time data to assess risk, adjust care plans, and intervene before complications arise. This proactive engagement improves outcomes and ensures that patients receive timely, relevant care.
- Patient Navigation and Support Services:
Providing patients with personalized educational content, navigation support through call centers, and proactive outreach helps them navigate complex healthcare systems. This is particularly important for managing chronic conditions, where ongoing support is critical for adherence to care plans.
- Real-Time Dashboards:
Healthcare providers can use real-time dashboards to monitor patient cohorts, gather actionable insights, and implement interventions based on the data captured from patients. This allows for more targeted and efficient care, improving both patient outcomes and satisfaction.
- Engaging Technologies:
Interactive features like gamification and real-time health data dashboards can make the patient experience more engaging. These tools motivate patients to stay active in managing their health by making it easier to visualize progress and providing rewards for adherence to treatment plans.
- Measuring Engagement Levels:
Tracking patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) and utilization rates gives healthcare providers insight into how well their engagement strategies are working. This data can be used to refine strategies and ensure that patients are both satisfied with their care and achieving positive outcomes.
Empowering Providers to Craft Unique Engagement Strategies
Different value-based care organizations have different care models, business strategies, and patient needs. That’s why it’s essential for healthcare providers to have the ability to define, craft, and implement their own patient engagement solutions.
79% of patients are likelier to choose healthcare providers offering online support and self-service portals. It promotes effective communication between healthcare providers and patients, enhancing their experience quality. When healthcare organizations switch to a custom solution tailored to their specific requirements—one that integrates smoothly with existing systems and places a premium on user experience—there’s a remarkable turnaround. Patient engagement rates not only recover but can increase significantly, often by upwards of 45%.
This is where platforms like blueBriX come in. blueBriX empowers providers to create their own unique engagement strategies using a low-code, no-code platform that can be tailored to their specific needs. Whether it’s collaborative care planning, remote monitoring, or patient navigation, blueBriX enables healthcare providers to reach more patients, more effectively.
Technology can’t replace the human touch in patient engagement, but it can certainly extend it. By using high-impact engagement strategies, healthcare providers can achieve the same level of personalized care that was once only possible in a small village—but now on a much larger scale.
Let me leave you with this final question: when was the last time your doctor reached out to assess your health? Wouldn’t you feel more supported if they did?