Medical care can often feel disconnected, and gaps in patient care only compound the issue. For many patients, these gaps in scheduling routine exams can even affect their health. 

Ascension understands that patients are searching for empathetic, connected healthcare. The company also knows individuals could better manage conditions or catch them early. 

”Patients are expecting their healthcare providers to know their information so that they can navigate their health in an authentic, personalized way,” says Tara Raeber, MBA, vice president of marketing and engagement at Ascension. “And we can proactively help connect to the care that’s right for them at the right time.” 

Led by Dr. Mitesh Patel, MD, MBA, and chief clinical transformation officer at Ascension, the company wanted to utilize behavioral insights to drive better decision-making and automated technology to facilitate personalized experiences. The traditional outreach methods and manual processes Ascension was using were not able to provide the same impact without using high levels of resources.  

The company wanted to address care gaps like interventions such as cancer screenings that patients should complete regularly.  

Ascension reached out to Slalom to empower its teams to utilize Salesforce. Leveraging Data Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Health Cloud, Slalom created a program that aligned with Ascension’s initiatives. 

Slalom quickly demonstrated Salesforce’s capability to ingest substantial amounts of data and create sophisticated logic. The team then created a pilot to prove out the technical capabilities to do evergreen email sequences, which are triggered by a user’s actions, as well as the sophisticated logic for health-based criteria. 

Based on that immediate success, Slalom assembled a team of developers focused on quickly responding to Ascension’s healthcare and market-specific needs.  

“This work has scaled across the organization in a short period of time and has had measurable impact on key performance indicators,” says Dr. Patel. 

Pilot campaigns in three selected markets had phenomenal results, seeing a 26.2% average annual wellness visit scheduling rate, up from 5.1% through traditional phone outreach. This success led to expansion to all markets, with SMS and email outreach to over 42,000 patients resulting in more than 11,200 new appointments.   

As for closure of key gaps, Ascension has realized a significant improvement.

Nudge campaigns are a true differentiator for Ascension. “We’re evaluating whether this concept of the personalized nudge will help individuals choose us because we can offer personalized care,” says Raeber. “Preliminarily, it’s true.” 

Nudges via text message prior to scheduled primary care visits have led to increases in care gap closure by 20% for vaccination, cancer screening, and diabetes management.

Slalom and Ascension continue to address clinical patient experiences and automate processes to minimize internal spending while maximizing customer impact. Together, we are helping to improve patient outcomes through compassionate, personalized engagement that aligns with Ascension’s mission to care for all.

In fact, the team is currently working on a sophisticated medication adherence campaign, and Ascension plans to expand the use of nudge campaigns to other visit types, markets, and hospitals in the future.