Appt Health is an innovative patient engagement service used by the NHS commissioners to transform public uptake of preventive healthcare. We help commissioners increase patient engagement and deliver exceptional preventive healthcare, whilst hitting their targets.
Poor performance on targets means that the whole system suffers
In 2014 the NHS Five Year Forward View said that “If the nation fails to get serious about prevention then recent progress in healthy life expectancies will stall, health inequalities will widen, and our ability to fund beneficial new treatments will be crowded-out by the need to spend billions of pounds on wholly avoidable illness.” Unfortunately, not much has changed since 2014 and prevention is still under-prioritised and under-performing.
Whether it is NHS health checks, cancer screenings or seasonal flu immunisations, recent under-performance on public and preventive healthcare programmes has contributed to over stretched health and social care services. Investing in improving the performance of these programmes must be a priority for health and care commissioners.
Commissioners must support the care providers in their region to perform
Many public and preventive healthcare programmes are delivered in primary care, but many care providers don’t have the tools they need to deliver these programmes effectively. This is evident in high rates of variation in performance of locally commissioned services.
The real problem is the call and recall process
It is unsurprising that many care providers struggle with these programmes, due to the time consuming and ineffective processes currently in use. Administrative staff are required to create lists of eligible patients, reach out to patients individually and manage this same process across 15 or more targets. This equates to an expensive process, often crowded out by other urgent tasks.
Nor is the process ideal for patients, who sometimes fall through the cracks and are not invited. Those that are invited usually face difficulty in understanding what is being offered and how they can access a suitable appointment.
Together these problems compound to create a situation that fails to serve the commissioners of these programmes, the care providers providing them or the patients that are intended to benefit from them. It is unsurprising then, that most national targets are missed with performance worsening in recent years.
Appt Health means better performance
Appt Health’s service automates the time-consuming aspects of call and recall, reaching eligible patients and inviting them to choose and book their own appointment slot using accessible digital technology. This means improved performance and reduced variation, with resources unlocked for care providers to focus on patient care and on those members of the public who need human assistance.
Outcomes based pricing means care providers only pay for the value they receive
Our outcome-based pricing model means that care providers only pay when Appt Health provides them with something they value: a booking. We charge a totally transparent, flat fee of £0.40 per booking, which includes all set up and support costs, meaning that care providers know exactly what they are paying for and the value they'll get in return.