Supporting Women’s Health Outcomes: How TeleVox Can Manage Relationships with Breast Cancer Patients

By: Amber Hull, Marketing Manager

Televox’s patient relationship management (PRM) platform supports efficiencies, education, and better health outcomes for women. We’ve shared previously about how digital care programs promote maternal health through critical education, support, and accessibility for pregnant women and new moms. PRM technology can also help women who receive a serious health diagnosis.

Overall, the average risk of a woman in the United States developing breast cancer sometime in her life is about 13%, meaning there is a 1 in 8 chance, according to the American Cancer Society. From streamlined referral scheduling for quicker time to treatment, to continuous care management and improved protocol adherence, the TeleVox platform ensures cancer patients stay on track with their appointments and empowers them at every step of their journey back to full health.

Here’s an example of how personalized, relevant communications can help a breast cancer patient, Sarah, throughout her experience:

 

Faster Referral Scheduling for Improved Time to Treatment

Sarah is referred to Modern Cancer Center by her provider. Modern Cancer Center sends Sarah a message in her preferred format, SMS, about her referral, prompting her to reply to schedule her appointment with a representative. By automatically sending this message via SMS, it increases the probability that Sarah will schedule her appointment and prevents the staff from needing to play back and forth calling with Sarah.

SMS has proven to improve appointment compliance in a clinical review of 162 studies, as well as increase medication adherence and promote other healthy behaviors across the healthcare spectrum.

Sending Automated Reminders

Before Sarah’s oncology consultation, she is sent reminders via SMS and email to ensure that she arrives on time and is prepared for her appointment. A survey by MediaPost shows 75% of millennials find text appointment reminders helpful. Additionally, digital appointment reminders help lower patient no-show rates, with 54% of healthcare providers using automated systems. Health providers with such systems report a significant decrease in no-show rates, which is incredibly important for cancer patients to ensure that they don’t suffer any costly delays in their diagnosis and treatment

 

Diagnostic Imaging – Pre-Appointment Instructions

Using TeleVox’s Digital Care Programs, Sarah receives timely instructions from the radiology department before her imaging appointment. This ensures that Sarah arrives on time and is prepared for her imaging appointment, reducing the potential need to reschedule. Additionally, poor patient preparation for medical imaging appointments can result in low quality images, which require retakes and extra radiation dose.

A study published in BMC Health Services Research found that the rate of no-shows or rescheduled MRI appointments was 34.8%. Factors such as lack of education and unclear instructions were significantly associated with these outcomes, further highlighting the importance of sending clear pre-appointment instructions

Education and Personalized Information

Digital care platforms can help provide personalized information in response to patient questions throughout their journey. In Sarah’s case, her imaging reveals a breast tumor that may require surgery to be removed. Before her consultation, Sarah has some questions that are answered via Iris, TeleVox’s omnichannel virtual agent. This puts Sarah at ease and gives her trusted responses directly from her healthcare institution.

For example:

Sarah: How long does it take to recover from a lumpectomy?
Modern Cancer Center: Hello. Lumpectomy procedure recovery time can vary from patient to patient based on a variety of factors such as age and other health circumstances. Most patients can return to normal activities within 1 to 2 weeks.

 

Pre-Surgery Readiness

Once Sarah’s surgery is scheduled, she receives timely appointment reminders and instructions via TeleVox’s Digital Care Programs, which ensures that she arrives at the appointment prepared and has followed the pre-surgery instructions, including stopping medications, fasting, skin prep, what to wear, transportation instructions, and arrival time.
Preoperative education has been shown to reduce anxiety and improve surgical outcomes. We also know that patients who are well-informed about their surgery and recovery process often experience less pain and faster wound healing.

Post-Surgery Follow-Up

After her surgery, Sarah receives check-in messages to ensure that her recovery is going smoothly and that she is adhering to her medical recovery plan.

Modern Cancer Center: Hi Sarah. This is Modern Cancer Center. How are you feeling after your recent lumpectomy surgery? On a scale of 1-10, please rate your pain (1 being the least amount of pain and 10 being the most amount of pain).

After providing her response, Sarah is given helpful post-care advice for rest and activity, wound care, and pain management.

Getting Ready for Radiation Appointments

The next stage of Sarah’s road to becoming cancer-free is to undergo radiation therapy. She is given proper instructions via SMS and email ahead of her appointments through automated Digital Care Programs. This ensures that she is prepared and on time for her sessions.

It’s been shown that patients who miss radiation therapy sessions during cancer treatment face a higher risk of their disease returning, even if they complete their full course of treatment.

A Personalized, Accessible Journey

Digital patient communications can play a crucial role in supporting a breast cancer patient throughout her journey by providing timely, accessible, and personalized information. Through tools like AI-powered virtual agents, automated digital care programs, and secure engagement platforms, women can receive updates on their treatment plan, ask questions, and stay connected with their care team, all from the comfort of their home.

Additionally, these tools not only reduce the stress of navigating complex medical information but also empower women to make informed decisions and stay actively engaged in their care. Digital communications can offer a sense of community and support, helping women to feel less isolated and fostering an improved relationship with their provider.

Ultimately, digital patient communications can help foster a more seamless, efficient, and supportive experience, contributing to better outcomes and improved emotional well-being for women throughout the breast cancer journey.