Empowering Patient Access with Self-Scheduling w/ Relatient CEO Jeff Gartland

Ever tried to schedule a doctor’s appointment, only to be stuck on hold for what feels like forever?

You’re not alone. A lot of Americans feel the same frustration.

Could there be a better way to take control of scheduling?

In this episode of HealthBiz Briefs, Relatient CEO Jeff Gartland explains why self-scheduling is still a novel concept in medicine and how its implementation can improve patient access while increasing appointment volumes for providers.

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/caretalk and get on your way to being your best self.

As a BetterHelp affiliate, we may receive compensation from BetterHelp if you purchase products or services through the links provided.

🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALK
CareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (President U.S. Healthcare and EVP, Walgreens Boots Alliance) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy.

🎙️⚕️ABOUT JEFF GARTLAND
Jeff Gartland, a pioneer in healthcare information technology systems, brings decades of expertise in growth strategies, innovation, and go-to-market initiatives. As the new CEO of Relatient, he is poised to advance the company’s industry-leading patient engagement and access platform. Previously, Gartland served as President of Anthem’s Advanced Analytics & Services division, where he built scalable technology solutions for the healthcare ecosystem, and held senior leadership roles at Ciox Health and McKesson’s RelayHealth, driving innovation in revenue cycle and clinical interoperability. Relatient, which recently merged with Radix Health, offers an all-in-one platform for patient engagement and scheduling that improves patient experiences and provider utilization.

🎙️⚕️ABOUT RELATIENT
Relatient, Inc., the 2020 KLAS Category Leader in Patient Outreach, is a SaaS-based patient engagement company focused on improving communication between patients and providers through a mobile-first approach. In 2020, Relatient’s digital platform facilitated over 200 million patient messages for U.S. medical practices and health systems, integrating seamlessly with more than 85 practice management systems and electronic health databases. Its suite of solutions—including patient messaging, self-scheduling, digital registration, and billing—enhances operational efficiency, reduces no-shows, accelerates payments, drives new appointments and reviews, and boosts patient satisfaction, all while supporting health and care quality initiatives.

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Transcript

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Well the last time I tried to book a doctor's appointment I was on hold for 30 minutes and when I finally got through I was offered an inconvenient time but I took it. They said I could always call back if something better was available but that didn't, I didn't have that kind of time. I want to take a moment to thank my surgeon, Dr. Nora Fullington, for giving me the very best experience in my recent hernia surgery. I know that's a funny thing to talk about, but I am truly grateful for her. And this month is really all about gratitude. And along with Dr. Fullington, there's someone else we don't get to thank enough. That's ourselves. It's sometimes hard to remind ourselves that we're trying our best to make sense of everything. And in this crazy world, that really isn't easy. So here's a reminder to send some thanks to the people in your life, including yourself and your surgeon. BetterHelp offers entirely online therapy that's designed to be convenient, flexible, and tailored to fit your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. It's helpful for learning positive coping skills and how to set boundaries. It empowers you to be the very best version of yourself. So whether you're dealing with stress, anxiety, or simply seeking personal growth, BetterHelp connects you with licensed therapists who can support you on your mental health journey. Let the gratitude flow with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash care talk to get 10 % off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash care talk. Welcome to Health Biz Briefs. I'm David Williams, president of Health Business Group here with Jeff Gartland, CEO of Relatiant, a patient engagement platform with self-scheduling. Welcome, Jeff. Thank you, David. I appreciate being here. Jeff, why is self-scheduling such a novel concept in medicine? There's tools for self-scheduling and all sorts of other things like open table for dinner. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it is still novel. It's interesting. I think I mentioned this on a previous conversation at one point that It's amazing to me that 84 % of physicians still don't allow for self scheduling online. And so we all as consumers, know it, you mentioned it at the top here. We want it. We need it. We expect that level of consumerism. The reason it's novel right now is most provider groups are traditionally focused in on high precision of their calendar and they don't want to have mistakes happen. They don't want to have you know, an existing patient show up in a new patient slot. They don't want to have a, you know, a Medicaid patient show up when they're trying to maximize a Medicare advantage or a commercial appointment time slot. They don't want to have somebody that really ultimately has a back issue, but shows up to somebody that's a shoulder surgeon because they didn't understand the difference between those. And so all of those types of things make that self scheduling a little bit more complicated than OpenTable. A little bit more complicated than booking a hotel room or an airline flight. But ultimately is something that we've got to solve for to create this balance because consumers are demanding it and providers that are smart are figuring out ways to open up much more to patient access. so what's the value proposition to a practice for using a self scheduling tool? Why would they want to introduce something new if they've got something that they're already comfortable with? More appointments, it's more appointments, more appointments. There is demand out there. know, patients want to get in and get access to care. So it is out there. It's these preferences and these rules, no matter how well intended that create obstacles to that convenience and obstacles to the ability for patients to get access to care on a timely fashion. And so at the end of the day for providers, it's around maximizing your calendar, getting the utilization up and getting more appointments, which results in revenue. But oftentimes, some of those challenges exist where the preferences of a given provider are overweighting that ability to open up to patients. What is the experience like for a patient? What are the main friction points that the patient experiences now and how do you overcome some of those? Yeah, well, mean, Patients experience a lot of friction. So one of the easiest ones that we see is when you're trying to book an appointment, they're going to ask you 15 different things about your insurance card. And you know what? I don't have my insurance card on me right now. I know I'm with Aetna, but I don't have the group number and the member number and then this and that and the other. And so, you know, that's an easy one that usually pops up almost every time David is, you know, things around insurance, but it's deeper than that. When you really talk to consumers and patients, how they view convenience at the end of the day really is dictated by what's going on in the rest of their life. for some folks, it's really time of day, day of week, because they've got work or kids and family and other kinds of obligations going on. For others, it's really around a specific provider or type of provider or rating of a provider that becomes the dominant aspect of convenience, because I'll go anywhere if I've got this type of a diagnosis, but I need to get. to the highest rated person for that type of acute problem. And so it does vary by the consumer. And that is really ultimately one of the interesting challenges in scheduling is how do you balance the provider's needs with that consumer demand? Well, that's it for the latest Health Biz Brief. If you like what you hear, check out my Health Biz Podcast for a full length interview with Jeff about his life and career. Jeff Gartland, CEO of Relation. Thanks for joining me today on Health Viz Briefs.