Article by Market Innovation Center
Published – June 2020 • 20 min read
CASE STUDY
How Virtua Health expanded their
navigation services to improve
patient retention
Providing diverse communication channels to keep patients within their system
pg. 2© 2020 Advisory Board • All rights reserved
CASE STUDY
Table of contents
Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 03
Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 04
Element #1: In-person navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 05
Element #2: Digital navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 06
Element #3: Telephonic navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 08
Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 09
Related content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 11
How Virtua Health expanded their navigation services to improve patient retention
pg. 3© 2020 Advisory Board • All rights reserved
CASE STUDY
Overview
Source: George, J, “Merger mania shakes up Philadelphia-area
health system rankings” (Philadelphia Business Journal Nov 2019);
Market Innovation Center Interviews and Analysis.
How Virtua Health expanded their navigation services to improve patient retention
The challenge
Health system services aren’t intuitive to navigate. Patients are often unaware of
their next care steps or how to complete them because they lack appropriate
guidance. By not providing consumer-friendly navigation services, health
systems fail to meet the health needs of their community and risk losing patients
to competitors whose services are easier and more convenient to use.
The organization
Virtua Health, the largest non-profit health care provider in Southern New Jersey,
consists of more than 200 locations, including five hospitals with 1,481 beds, 8
urgent care centers, and 20 surgery centers.
The approach
To provide a more coordinated care experience for patients, Virtua expanded
their navigation services to include in-person and digital communication channels
in addition to telephonic support. These navigators can schedule appointments,
clarify next care steps, and answer clinical and billing questions—making it easy
for patients to access information and stay connected to Virtua through their
preferred communication channel.
The result
By supplementing their traditional telephonic navigation
program, Virtua Health was able to improve the patient
experience, drive utilization of specialists, and keep patients
within their system. In just 18 months, Virtua’s two onsite
navigators drove $1.4 million in contribution margin and
converted 88% of interactions into specialist visits.
$1.4MContribution margin generated by 2 onsite
navigators in 18 months
pg. 4© 2020 Advisory Board • All rights reserved
CASE STUDY
Approach
Source: Market Innovation Center interviews and analysis.
How Virtua Health expanded their navigation services to improve patient retention
How Virtua Health developed a multi-modal patient
navigation program
Virtua Health expanded their traditional call center services to include onsite
navigators and a live digital chat to better support patients as they transition from
one care step to the next. Expanding their navigation channels also enabled
them to better meet patients’ diverse communication preferences.
The remainder of this publication details the expanded portfolio of navigation
services Virtua implemented to better meet their patients’ needs and improve
retention.
The three elements
Leaders at Virtua Health implemented an omni-channel navigation strategy by:
01 Creating a new in-person navigator function
02 Staffing a digital team to manage their live chat function
03 Bridging care gaps with telephonic navigators
pg. 5© 2020 Advisory Board • All rights reserved
CASE STUDYCASE STUDYHow Virtua Health expanded their navigation services to improve patient retention
Creating a new in-person navigator function01
ELEMENT #1: IN-PERSON NAVIGATION
Source: Market Innovation Center interviews and analysis.
Onsite care navigator
As part of a pilot program, Virtua staffed two onsite navigators at one of their high-
volume primary care clinics to connect patients to downstream services and
resolve any outstanding issues before the patient leaves.
In-person navigators are responsible for connecting with every Virtua patient that
enters their clinic. During patient’s in-room check-out, the doctor or patient
monitoring system notifies the navigators to enter the room. The navigator then
assists patients with a range of clinical, administrative, and financial tasks, such as
scheduling specialist appointments, coordinating insurance approvals, triaging
follow-up care needs, answering questions, and resolving payment issues.
The pilot program was so successful that Virtua Health plans to offer onsite
navigation in 75% of their clinics within a year, including in their emergency
rooms, primary care practices, and specialty care clinics.
• Schedule appointments
• Answer and triage questions
• Resolve payment and billing issues
• Flag helpful services, such as
screenings & educational classes
Functions
• Decreases burden on front office staff
• Makes use of idle time between
appointments
• Maintains connection to patients
between appointments
• Enhances patient care experience
Benefits
pg. 6© 2020 Advisory Board • All rights reserved
CASE STUDYCASE STUDYHow Virtua Health expanded their navigation services to improve patient retention
Staffing a digital team to manage their live chat function02
ELEMENT #2: DIGITAL NAVIGATION
To supplement their telephonic navigation services, Virtua built out a digital team
to better serve the needs of existing and prospective patients who prefer to
engage online. Patients can chat with any of Virtua’s five digital team members
in real time, any day of the week.
Source: Irizarry, A, “United States Call Center Benchmark
for In-house/Insourced Call Centers”, MetricNet (July
2017); Market Innovation Center interviews and analysis.
Benchmark call center Virtua call center Virtua digital chat
Hours of operation Mon – Fri: 7:30 am to 5:00 pmMon – Fri: 8:00 am to 8:00 pm;
Sat: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Mon – Fri: 7:00 am to 11:00pm;
Sat: 9:00 am to 7:00 pm;
Sun 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Average time for
completion of
interaction
4 minutes, 35 seconds 4 minutes 1 minute, 50 seconds
Average cost per
interaction$7.85 $3.28 $1.00
How Virtua’s live chat function compares to a traditional call center
A digital team member typically responds within seconds and completes a request
in less than two minutes. Most often, these requests are related to billing, physician
referrals and scheduling, or general questions. Although the call center and digital
teams can troubleshoot similar requests, live chat costs less per interaction and
takes roughly half the time.
pg. 7© 2020 Advisory Board • All rights reserved
CASE STUDY
ELEMENT #2: DIGITAL NAVIGATION
Source: Market Innovation Center interviews and analysis.
How Virtua Health expanded their navigation services to improve patient retention
How patients use Virtua’s live chat feature
Patients are prompted to categorize
the nature of their question using
one of three categories:
• General inquiries
• Virtua for Women
• Appointments and schedulingWhat the digital team can
help with: answering common
questions, scheduling classes
and appointments, and
resolving payment issues.
Any patient can live chat
with their digital team 7
days a week and get
responses within
seconds.
Patients can access the chat function on Virtua’s homepage, depicted below. They are
immediately prompted to categorize their request into one of three question types
before starting a chat. Once a request is categorized, it is triaged to the proper queue
and specialist team member. In addition to responding to inbound requests, the digital
team can proactively recommend appointments or educational classes that the patient
might benefit from, such as weight management and nutrition, CPR, or maternity
classes.
pg. 8© 2020 Advisory Board • All rights reserved
CASE STUDYCASE STUDYHow Virtua Health expanded their navigation services to improve patient retention
Bridging care gaps with telephonic navigators03
ELEMENT #3: TELEPHONIC NAVIGATION
In addition to their digital and in-person navigation programs, Virtua has offered
patients the option of telephonic navigation services for more than 15 years.
They found patients were 3 times more likely to enroll in their navigation program
when an physician introduced the program during their regular office visit.
Source: Market Innovation Center interviews and analysis.
Physician-facilitated patient navigation
At the end of every patient’s visit, the physician introduces their patient to Virtua’s
telephonic navigation program. At check-out, patients schedule an appointment for
their first navigation call. A navigator calls at the appointed time to plan any subsequent
specialist visits, answer questions, and discuss follow-up care for the patient.
Patient Prepped
for Future
Connections
Boosts profitability
Navigated patients are
more likely to come back
for subsequent care needs
Virtua found navigated
patients have a 2x higher
contribution margin
Produces loyal patients
Navigator Calls at
Set Time
Navigator’s call
itinerary solidifies the
patient’s next steps
Physician Introduces
Navigation Program
to Patient
3x more patients
enroll in navigation at
Virtua when:
• Overview upcoming
appointments
• Discuss follow-up
care
• Their physician
introduces the service
• Navigator appointment
is scheduled at
checkout
pg. 9© 2020 Advisory Board • All rights reserved
CASE STUDY
Results
CASE STUDY
Source: Market Innovation Center interviews and analysis.
How Virtua Health expanded their navigation services to improve patient retention
Multi-modal communication channels improve patient retention
Implementing in-person, digital, and telephonic navigation services helped Virtua
improve patient usage of downstream services, enhance the patient experience, and
optimize staff contribution margin. All of these navigation channels ensure patients are
never truly discharged, but rather are seamlessly transitioned from one care episode to
the next.
95% Service level across the live online chat
2.2M Inbound call center requests per year
$1.4MContribution margin generated by two onsite navigators at
one primary care practice over 18 months
88%Conversion of in-person navigation interactions into
specialist visits
pg. 10© 2020 Advisory Board • All rights reserved
CASE STUDY
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pg. 11© 2020 Advisory Board • All rights reserved
CASE STUDY
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Project DirectorRebecca Tyrrell, MS
202-568-7861
Research TeamAvery Morrison
Program LeadershipAlicia Daugherty
How Virtua Health expanded their navigation services to improve patient retention
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