The world’s #1 CRM has a clear track record helping businesses crush their sales goals. After all, “sales” is half its name. But the ways in which Salesforce supercharges selling — by creating personalized experiences, enhancing collaboration, and removing data silos — are applicable to more than just sales.
Since the release of Salesforce Health Cloud in 2016, the healthcare industry has been realizing just how powerful a healthcare CRM can be. Salesforce helps care teams work more collaboratively and efficiently, enhances patient-provider relationships, and ultimately achieves better health outcomes. The Vaccine Cloud announcement also proves Salesforce’s ability to adapt fast and address different healthcare use cases.
At S-Docs, our experience working with global healthcare companies has helped us pinpoint some of the main benefits of leveraging Salesforce in the healthcare sector. Let’s dive into the five reasons healthcare providers should use Salesforce as a healthcare CRM.
1. Connect Siloed Systems
If you know Salesforce, you know that removing data silos is the name of the game. Healthcare is no exception — in fact, this industry could stand to benefit from ample integrations more than most. According to a study by HIMSS Analytics, the average hospital uses 16 disparate Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems.
EHR systems are only the beginning. There’s also insurance claims systems, lab reports, billing and marketing information, and more to consider. This wealth of data isn’t very useful scattered across multiple systems.
Salesforce connects it all together. Using Health Level 7 (HL7) APIs, EHR information and other types of data can be securely integrated with Salesforce, and tools like Mulesoft Accelerator for Healthcare significantly lighten the burden on healthcare IT teams. With all of a patient’s normally-disconnected data collected in one succinct place, healthcare providers can work more efficiently, make better decisions, and spend more time on patient care.
2. Use Data Intelligently
Speaking of data: when it’s integrated into one system, Salesforce can work its analytical magic to improve health outcomes. Tools like Tableau CRM (formerly Einstein Analytics) give healthcare providers actionable insights so that patient needs can be anticipated and met proactively. Risk stratification helps identify high-risk patients and enroll them in the correct care management program. Data from wearable devices like fitness trackers can be passed to Salesforce and assist with post-discharge care for chronic conditions that require monitoring.
All in all, Salesforce makes it easier for healthcare providers to make data-driven decisions that lead to better health results and higher patient-provider satisfaction.
3. Enhance Care Team Collaboration
Salesforce Health Cloud builds upon the capabilities of Service Cloud and allows healthcare providers to create Care Teams made up of members of a patient’s care community. These could be composed of primary care physicians, specialists, household caregivers, or anyone else involved in a patient’s healthcare journey. Depending on their position in the team, individuals can view a unified care management plan, assign tasks, and send messages back and forth from any device (much like Salesforce Case Teams). They can also make use of other Service Cloud features like Knowledge and Live Agent.
Care Teams promote collaboration and productivity for those working to keep their patients happy and healthy. They’re a win-win for providers and patients…a trend when it comes to Salesforce and healthcare!
4. Personalized Experiences
There’s no doubt about it: consumers expect personalized experiences across the board, and this doesn’t end with healthcare. Luckily, with a wealth of data at their fingertips, healthcare providers can use Salesforce to personalize every step of the healthcare journey.
Contact center agents can provide more accurate, customized answers to patient inquiries, since patient data cards and visual care timelines make relevant information easy to access.
Personalized care plans can be created with the consolidation of clinical data, like medical history, and nonclinical data, like social determinants, all in one place. And if a patient has any special requirements, like a need for transportation, they can be addressed by the healthcare provider before the patient even needs to bring them up.
Additionally, patient communication can always be handled based on the patient’s preference, whether through calls, texts, or an online Salesforce Communities portal. The countless personalization opportunities offered by Salesforce can build trust, deepen patient-provider relationships, and (as always) result in better health outcomes.
5. Keep Data Secure While Continuing To Innovate
Data security is of the utmost concern for healthcare organizations. Breaches can jeopardize patient safety and cost millions. Fortunately, Salesforce makes it easy for healthcare companies to maintain control of their data and stay in compliance with HIPAA and HITRUST. Using Salesforce Shield in conjunction with Health Cloud, healthcare organizations can ensure that electronic protected health information (ePHI) is encrypted and only accessible by authorized users, as well as monitor user interactions and retain an audit trail of field data.
Though regulatory guidelines are restrictive by nature, Salesforce enables innovation in spite of this. The diverse ecosystem of AppExchange solutions allows security-conscious healthcare companies to add functionality without compromising data security — and the vast array of native apps built on the platform can make security vetting even easier. Provider-matching, telehealth solutions, document management, and insurance verification apps are just a few of the solutions that healthcare companies can leverage from the AppExchange to improve their processes securely.
Summing it Up: A 360 Degree View of The Patient
As we move into 2021 and continue weathering the storm of the pandemic, healthcare providers need to be operating as efficiently as possible while providing first-rate care. Salesforce Health Cloud enables this in multiple ways, but it all comes down to one main benefit: providing a comprehensive, 360 degree view of the patient.
This allows for intelligent data usage at every step of the care journey, enabling healthcare organizations to provide the level of service that modern patients expect.
Comments: