Imagine reaching patients right when they’re thinking about their health with messages specific to their needs—that’s the power of today’s point-of-care communications. These tailored interactions can do so much to activate millions of patients and can significantly improve patient health outcomes throughout their entire care journey.
Here are three exciting and innovative ways to leverage the channel to build deeper relationships with patients and better meet their needs:
Supporting vaccine uptake
Building vaccine confidence and boosting adoption are urgent priorities due to recent declines in immunization rates in certain communities. Take the national measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, for instance.
While it’s a proven and safe way to protect children from disease, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the MMR vaccination rate for kindergartners was just 93% for the 2022-2023 school year. This means approximately 250,000 kindergartners are left unprotected, falling short of the 95% threshold needed to ensure community immunity.¹
Showing relevant vaccination information at the point of care can be instrumental in supporting vaccine education and uptake. Between March 2020 and May 2024, Phreesia delivered more than 20 million vaccine messages to eligible individuals focused on reducing hesitance, receiving boosters, or starting/completing a vaccine series. Providing patients and caregivers with educational content on vaccines helped them take a more informed, active role in their care. 66% of individuals who viewed the vaccine content said they found it helpful, and 65% said they were likely to discuss vaccines with their doctor.
Delivering tailored immunization information to clinicallyrelevant patients right before they meet with their provider motivates patients to discuss these important topics with their doctors, helping to reduce vaccine hesitancy as well as increase initiation and completion of vaccine series. Across the
Phreesia network, we’ve even found in some cases that exposure to immunization messaging drove vaccine administration rates more than 10x higher than control groups.
Driving early disease detection
It’s commonly known that early detection of cancer and other serious diseases is critical to improve health outcomes. While cancer is the secondmost common cause of death in the U.S.,² 65% of Americans ages 21 and older aren’t up to date with one or more of their routine screenings, according to survey data from Prevent Cancer Foundation.³ Because different organizations offer various recommendations, patients can feel confused about when to start screenings or how often they need to get them done. With breast cancer, for example, the United States Preventive Services Task Force recently changed their recommendations for women to start getting screened from age 50 to age 40.4 This goes against years of common messaging around screening. The guidelines are also different for women who have certain risk factors, such as family history and genetic mutations, leaving them with the responsibility to understand their personal risk level and initiate discussions with their doctors about it.
To educate and activate female patients over 35 on the importance of routine mammograms to screen for breast cancer, Phreesia delivered a campaign to more than 975,000 relevant individuals.
The analysis found that when shown the cancer prevention information while checking in for their doctor’s appointment, 84% of patients said they found the content helpful, and 78% planned to talk to their doctor about breast cancer screening.
By providing patients with the relevant information they need to make proactive decisions about their health, we can support them in getting the care they need much sooner and when it matters most.
Increasing medication adherence and retention
Studies show that between one-third and one-half of all patients do not take their medications as prescribed, leading to worse health outcomes.5 Any number of barriers can keep patients from filling and staying on their prescriptions as directed—from medication costs to logistical issues like lack of transportation to the pharmacy, or even concerns around the diagnosis or treatment itself.
To overcome adherence obstacles, it’s important to understand the specific barriers patients face and then tailor support to address those unique circumstances. Providing relevant content that meets patients’ specific needs at highintent moments, such as deeper condition information, copay cards, or information on patient support programs, is vital to helping them progress with treatment. By doing so, you can immediately address any of the patient’s lingering questions or doubts to get them ready to take that next step of filling their prescription and taking their medication as prescribed. Results across multiple adherence campaigns on Phreesia’s platform found that 90% of patients who consented to view educational content specific to their prescription after it was prescribed found it helpful in preparing to fill it. Additionally, after viewing the content, 92% of patients said they understood the next steps needed to get their prescription filled.
Engaging patients with relevant adherence resources helps increase their likelihood of starting—and staying on—the treatments they need to improve their health outcomes.
In conclusion
Tailored point-of-care communications are a powerful tool for engaging patients, improving health outcomes, and building stronger relationships between patients and providers. While the channel is ever evolving, patients’ need for relevant content delivered during this key moment is a constant.
By providing timely, personalized information, we can help patients make informed decisions about their health—whether it’s encouraging vaccine uptake, promoting early disease detection or supporting medication adherence. These tailored interactions not only address specific patient needs, but also empower them to take proactive steps in their care journey.
