Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health, identifies emergency communications lessons hospitals have learned from the pandemic that can improve their emergency communication plan and preparedness in a new Becker's Hospital Review column . As he writes, "The experiences thus far of hospitals working to manage the health crisis have taught us a great deal about what must happen if hospitals and health systems want to put themselves in the best position to respond effectively to the challenges of the fall, winter, and beyond." The column discusses the following lessons: Address vulnerabilities due to reduction of in-person communication Attend to emergency communication weaknesses Never assume an emergency message is received Prepare for before, during, and after the emergency Don't overlook the value of staff support As Daniell notes, "Communication is one of the most important aspects of emergency preparedness and business continuity. When a hospital or health system can communicate effectively and in a timely manner about what staff, patients, and vendors must do in response to rapidly changing developments, execution of an emergency plan becomes easier and more successful." Access the Becker's Hospital Review column here .

The recordings of all sessions from the 7th Annual ASC and Healthcare Management Virtual Symposium are now available on YouTube, including the panel discussion on crisis communications featuring Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health. Daniell was joined by Chris Kralik, administrator for AMSURG, and Serena Pettes, vice president of marketing and business development for Lovelace Health System. Their session was titled "Emergency Communication Lessons Learned From Covid-19 and Best Practices for Improvement." Watch it here: Other sessions covered topics including revenue cycle management, OSHA enforcement, private equity, and information technology. To access all of the Symposium's recordings, click here . They are available through the YouTube channel of Garfunkel Wild, P.C., host of the meeting.

More than 200 million Americans are currently under winter weather alerts as this historic storm inflicts substantial damage to large parts of the country. Another storm is on its way. Many of our clients have been affected by this severe weather. We are grateful that they have been able to use text messaging to help execute their emergency response plan and better ensure the safety of patients, staff, and visitors. Here are a few examples of texts our clients have sent over the past 24-48 hours: I regret to inform you that the center will be closed now through Thursday February 18 with plans to reopen Friday February 19 due to inclement weather. Safety for our patients, drivers and employees are a top priority. Please contact your Physician at your earliest convince to reschedule. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have cost you. All employees, unit 4 will be set up with cots, blankets and pillows for your use in case of inclement weather and you wish to stay instead of driving home. Please notify your on duty supervisor if you are wanting to stay and they will help get you set up in a room. Thank you all for everything you do! The Center will be closed tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday due to the power outages and inclement weather. If you have PTO, you are welcome to use it. If you do not, please talk to your supervisor directly. Stay tuned for updates. Stay WARM! Thank you. Due to inclement weather and unsafe road conditions your appointment for tomorrow has been CANCELLED. Please contact your doctor directly to reschedule. Thank you. About a year ago, I wrote a blog titled "Your emergency preparedness plan: Why it needs to include text messaging." The events of 2020 and now the early part of 2021 have further cemented this belief. To everyone affected by these storms, please stay safe! To our clients: If you need any assistance with sending emergency texts, call or text me at (615) 429-4252.

Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health, identifies some of the most common ways that hospitals have incorporated text messaging into their pandemic response efforts in a new Becker's Hospital Review column. In " 8 ways hospitals are using text messaging to navigate the pandemic ," Daniell discusses the following: Case volume Vaccine distribution Protocol education Pre-screening Telehealth Contact tracing Communication with caretakers Staff support As he concludes, "There's every reason to believe that hospitals will continue to leverage text messaging in the coming months to help them further overcome the many challenges brought on by the public health emergency." Access Daniell's column in Becker's Hospital Review .

Within just minutes after the governors of Texas and Mississippi announced they were lifting their states' mask mandates, several of our healthcare provider clients reached out to us asking for urgent assistance. Their request: add a text message to preop campaigns to remind patients of the requirements for entering their facilities and how these requirements contrast with the newly issued mandates. The text message now going out from the Dialog Health texting platform to patients in these states essentially reads as follows: "The health and wellbeing of our patients and staff remain our top priority. While the statewide mask mandate has been lifted, our commitment to your safety remains steadfast and we will continue to require patients and family members to wear masks at our facilities per CDC recommendations and guidelines." Sending such a message helps these facilities in at least three ways: It communicates clearly to patients the rules for the facility, irrespective of state rules. It acknowledges the mandate and explains why the facility is not following it. This can help reduce the need for discussions with patients who arrive at the facility unmasked and those who question why the mandate is not being followed. It saves staff from making additional phone calls to explain how rules differ and why. As mandates are lifted and revised nationwide, communicating how facility rules differ from state rules will be imperative to patient and staff safety and satisfaction. Reach out to Dialog Health and we'll help ensure your facility is prepared to leverage texting to communicate efficiently and effective about masking rule changes and other timely developments with its patients.

FRANKLIN, Tenn., March 30, 2021 – Dialog Health, a two-way texting platform that enables information to be pushed to and pulled from patients, staff, and caregivers, announces it is expanding support for healthcare organizations adding and leveraging text messaging to recover patient volume that has declined during the pandemic. In recent months, Dialog Health has seen significant increases in clients using texting grow their patient volume, schedule services, and generate much-needed revenue. Texting is being used to support the following: Helping patients reschedule cases that needed to be postponed over the past year, largely due to COVID-19. Streamlining the scheduling of routine services, such as lab tests, imaging, rehabilitation, and physical therapy. Driving recall programs for services such as immunizations, mammograms, colonoscopies, and prostate cancer screenings. Healthcare providers are also using text messaging to help "unfreeze" patients who are hesitant to come to a facility for in-person services because of fear about contracting COVID-19. These texts explain what the organization is doing to best ensure patient safety and provide guidance and reminders leading up to appointments to reassure patients about safety and the importance of keeping their appointments. By adding the Dialog Health platform, providers can communicate quickly and efficiently with patients about making and following through on appointments via texting — the preferred communication method for a growing number of Americans. The increased attention being paid to replacing lost patient volume and revenue is not surprising considering recent reports that have highlighted the significant financial losses suffered by hospitals, health systems, and other providers due to COVID-19. Such losses have been attributable to factors including forced shutdowns and slowdown of regular operations, costs associated with investments in safety and infection prevention efforts, and added expenses due to supply chain and labor market disruptions. Hospitals and health systems have also incurred considerable costs associated with preparing for the surge of coronavirus patients, the slowing of regular operations for non-emergent care, and treating COVID-19 cases. For healthcare organizations whose bottom lines have been affected by the public health emergency, text messaging is a valuable communication mechanism that will help accelerate their financial recovery, says Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health. "Prior to the pandemic, providers were increasingly implementing texting solutions and depending on texting to drive more of their communications," Daniell says. "COVID-19 has further spurred usage of texting, and for good reasons: It's fast and affordable. More importantly, it's very effective, with a majority of text messages being read within just minutes of their delivery and almost all text messages being read on the day they are received. There's every reason to believe that providers will continue to leverage text messaging in the coming months to help them further overcome the many challenges brought on by the pandemic." Healthcare organizations interested in adding text messaging to support patient volume growth should visit Dialog Health , email info@dialoghealth.com , or call (877) 666-1132. "By embracing the speed, convenience, and ubiquity of texting, healthcare providers can increase patient participation and engagement in their care, which benefits patients, staff, organizations, and the healthcare system as a whole," Daniell says. About Dialog Health Dialog Health is a U.S.-based company that provides a two-way texting platform to organizations which they can leverage as a communication and engagement channel. Two-way texting is a convenient, fast, effective, and affordable communication resource for stakeholder engagement. For more information, visit www.dialoghealth.com, call (877) 666-1132, and follow Dialog Health on LinkedIn .

Dialog Health's Director of Sales Spencer Kelpe will be presenting at AMSURG's " 2021 Annual Business Office Conference ," scheduled for April 21–23. Kelpe will be speaking on "Improving the Patient & Staff Engagement Experience." The presentation will discuss how Dialog Health's two-way text messaging platform has helped AMSURG facilities improve patient and staff communication. The theme of this year's conference is "focus." AMSURG is the Envision Healthcare solution for ASCs. The company collaborates with physicians and health systems across the country to provide and promote quality patient care. AMSURG is currently partnered with nearly 2,000 specialty physicians providing outpatient surgical services in more than 250 facilities in 35 states.

A recent ruling by the Supreme Court should help alleviate any lingering concerns for healthcare providers about adopting text messaging for patient communications and engagement. On April 1, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid , which concerned how "automatic telephone dialing system" (ATDS) was to be defined under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA). The ruling reversed a previous decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that held the following : "To qualify as an 'ATDS' under TCPA, a device must have the capacity either to store, or to produce, a telephone number using a random or sequential number generator." A JD Supra article summarizes the key takeaway of noteworthy ruling as follows: "This is big news. This precedent will likely be relied on by other defendants in TCPA class action litigation to argue that the technology used to send text messages does not constitute an autodialer and, therefore, the TCPA does not apply." What does this mean to healthcare providers that have been on the fence about whether to add texting? The ruling essentially removes TCPA from the picture. Since providers are not likely to use an ATDS for patient communications, they will avoid running afoul of the court's interpretation of TCPA's regulations. Without the risk of potential litigation from using healthcare text messaging, providers should feel even more comfortable adding the technology for communication and engagement. If you're with a healthcare organization ready to explore how you can leverage texting, reach out . We'd love to tell you about our two-way text messaging platform and the many ways our clients use texting every day to improve their operational, clinical, and financial performance.

FRANKLIN, Tenn., March 11, 2021 – A new data analysis shows that more than four out of every five patients will participate in satisfaction surveys administered by healthcare providers via text message. The data comes from Digestive Health Center (DHC) of Dallas, an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) owned and operated by AMSURG. DHC of Dallas sent about 7,400 Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey text messages to patients in 2020. Texts were delivered via Dialog Health, a two-way texting platform that enables information to be pushed to and pulled from patients, staff, and caregivers. The survey text stated the following: "Would you mind rating your experience with us between a 1 and a 5, with 1 being low and 5 being high? Simply reply with the number." The engagement results were as follows: About 82% of patients replied with a 4 or 5 About 1% replied with a 1, 2, or 3 The total percentage of patients who participated in the survey exceeded 83%. In addition, more than 200 patients provided commentary when they replied with their number. Improving Net Promoter Score With Text Messaging The 82% of patients who responded with a 4 or 5 were subsequently texted a link to a web page where they could leave online reviews of DHC of Dallas. This has helped the ASC strengthen its online reputation. "We are proud of the excellent patient-centered care provided at our centers each and every day," says David Shackelford, MHA, regional vice president of operations for AMSURG. "One important way we measure our effectiveness is through our NPS survey to patients. Our strong partnership with Dialog Health allows us to leverage a texting-outreach platform, which has demonstrated an incredible rate of response." "Based upon the experience of clients who use text messaging for patient surveys and achieve great outcomes, we were confident that texting would deliver DHC of Dallas the results it was looking for," says Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health. Adding Texting for Patient Surveys The decision by DHC of Dallas to employ two-way texting for its NPS surveys was easy. The ASC was already finding success using Dialog Health to perform a post-appointment patient communication campaign via text messages. The center's leadership expected that texting would provide a fast, efficient, and cost-effective way to gather real-time feedback from patients the day after surgery. "This feedback loop is so important as is provides visibility into our successes and also areas for improvement," Shackelford says. "Ultimately, this patient communication solution allows us to celebrate the dedication of our entire care team to achieving high-quality care with a great patient experience." Organizations like DHC of Dallas are growing increasingly reliant on text messaging for patient and staff communications. Email communications have become less dependable due to the proliferation of spam and sheer number of emails most people receive daily. Phone calls take up significant staff time and resources while also delivering poor results because of the increasing tendency for consumers to ignore calls from unfamiliar numbers. "We are pleased that this analysis further validates the effectiveness of text messaging for communicating and engaging with patients," Daniell says. "By embracing the speed, convenience, and ubiquity of texting, surgery centers and other healthcare providers can increase patient participation and engagement in their care, which benefits patients, staff, organizations, and the healthcare system as a whole." To learn more about how DHC of Dallas and other healthcare providers are benefitting from two-way text messaging, access Dialog Health case studies here . About Dialog Health Dialog Health is a U.S.-based company that provides a two-way texting platform to organizations which they can leverage as a communication and engagement channel. Two-way texting is a convenient, fast, effective, and affordable communication resource for stakeholder engagement. For more information, visit www.dialoghealth.com, call (877) 666-1132, and follow Dialog Health on LinkedIn .

While most of our healthcare clients use the Dialog Health text messaging system for patient/member-facing two-way texting, you might be surprised to learn that more than half also use it to communicate with their staff. And the general sentiment from these clients is that they cannot imagine giving up the ability to text with employees. Many tell us that they find communicating with staff as challenging as communicating with patients and family members. But with texting, communication is simplified, streamlined, and, more importantly, successful. Wondering how you could use two-way text messaging to communicate and better engage with your team? Here are 10 of the ways our clients are currently texting to support employee communications. 1. Emergency alerts. There is no faster or more effective mechanism to quickly inform staff about an emergency than text messaging. Texting is playing a pivotal role in many organizations' crisis communication plans. 2. COVID-19 developments. We're approaching a year into the pandemic and clients continue to leverage text messaging to communicate with staff about COVID-19-related matters. More recently, texts have often shared information about vaccine availability, distribution, and scheduling appointments. We've also been pleased see texting help organizations avoid wasting doses. In instances where clients have found themselves with extra doses following completion of scheduled vaccinations, text messaging has helped them quickly find and schedule additional eligible people recipients. 3. Mass/group alerts. In a similar vein as emergency alerts, clients are using text messaging when they need to provide a timely update or make a time-sensitive request of their staff. Recent examples include informing staff of business closure due to weather , a positive COVID-19 result that necessitated staff undergo tests, and arrival of surveyors. 4. Support services. The pandemic has had significant, measurable effects on mental health and wellness of healthcare workers. Clients are using text messaging to inform and remind their staff about available support services and resources — those available within and outside of their organizations. 5. Emotional support. We have been encouraging our clients to use texting as a way of more personally supporting staff during these difficult times. In August, we drew attention to how one client — Lovelace Health System — was sharing periodic uplifting messages and inspirational quotes with staff. As Serena Pettes, Lovelace's vice president of marketing and business development, told us: "Sending texts to our employees via the Dialog Health platform during COVID-19 has been an easy, quick, and effective way to provide support, encouragement, and guidance during a challenging time." 6. Health and wellness initiatives. Many regularly scheduled health and wellness initiatives were postponed due to the pandemic and efforts around maintaining social distancing and reducing grouping of staff. Organizations are starting to resume these initiatives and doing so with more safety precautions now in place. Texting is being used to inform staff about the resumption of initiatives and coordinate and stagger staff participation to support enhanced safety efforts. 7. Positive news. We can all use more positive news these days. Our clients are using text messaging to share positive news with staff. Examples include the arrival of vaccines, organization milestones and recognitions (e.g., "named a best place to work"), employee milestones and recognitions (e.g., "celebrating 25 years with us"), new leadership hires, and noteworthy patient discharges (e.g., successful battles with COVID-19). 8. Surveys. Two-way texting allows the recipient of the text to respond with their own text message. Clients are putting that functionality to good use by periodically surveying staff. Recent survey topics have covered availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), comfort with new policies and procedures, and feedback on new initiatives. 9. New employee processes. A practical year-round usage, human resources departments are using text messaging to support new hires. This includes sending links to an onboarding checklist and educational materials, reminders about training sessions, information about required paperwork, and surveys about comfort with and questions concerning onboarding progress and training materials. Some clients are surveying new staff at regular intervals (e.g., 30, 60, 90 days) to improve retention and the onboarding experience. 10. Health benefits. While the benefits enrollment period has passed for most organizations, we're seeing clients using text messaging to periodically remind staff about the benefits available to them (including the aforementioned mental health support services and availability of telehealth services) and share links staff can access with information about benefits and frequently asked questions. These texts encourage staff to use available benefits, which contributes to staff wellness and satisfaction. Adding Text Messaging for Healthcare Employee Communications These are just 10 of the ways Dialog Health clients are using text messaging to communicate and engage with their staff more effectively. If you think your organization could benefit from using two-way texting at an enterprise level, reach out and schedule a demo of the Dialog Health platform . Adding text messaging is easy and fast. And it may be the staff communication and engagement tool you didn't realize you've been missing.

Thank you ASCA...what a great show! And huge thanks for the opportunity to present on improving patient engagement solutions with two-way texting. We appreciate all the work you do for your members. Looking forward to the next one. Some of the Dialog Health gang at Ambulatory Surgery Center Association conference. Spencer, Sean and Brandon at ASCA in Nashville and presenting on Two-way Texting.

FRANKLIN, Tenn., May 18, 2021 — A data analysis by Dialog Health shows that hospitals using two-way text messaging can eliminate most follow-up phone calls to patients discharged from emergency departments while freeing up hundreds of staff hours. The data comes from Hackensack Meridian Mountainside Medical Center (MMC) in Montclair, N.J., a 365-bed joint venture between Ardent Health Services and Hackensack Meridian Health . In 2020, MMC discharged 22,863 patients. Of these, about 70% (16,045 patients) received a text message delivered via Dialog Health, a two-way texting platform that enables information to be pushed to and pulled from patients, staff, and caregivers. The discharge text presented patients with follow-up options, including whether they wanted to receive a call from a nurse. The other options concerned billing, scheduling a primary care appointment, and accessing MMC's patient portal. Of the patients who received the text message: 15,310 (95.4%) did not require a follow-up call 735 (4.6%) replied to the text and requested follow-up assistance Of these, 336 patients requested a call from the nurse. The remaining 399 requested assistance with another matter. Only 74 patients (less than 0.01%) opted out of future texts from MMC Thanks to texting, MMC emergency department staff only needed to call 7,154 discharged patients (31%): 6,818 patients who could not be reached via text and 336 who requested a call in a reply to the text. That left 15,709 patients who did not require a follow-up call. Assuming an average call takes 2 minutes, emergency department discharge text messaging saved MMC more than 500 staff hours in 2020. Solving Problems with Texting MMC determined that its staff was spending significant time making follow-up phone calls to emergency department-discharged patients, with many calls leading to voicemails. The hospital partnered with Dialog Health to deploy two-way texting to more reliably and efficiently reach discharged patients. Texting has allowed MMC to identify which patients need further engagement post-discharge and the type of engagement they seek. MMC is also using text messaging to remind patients to follow discharge and medication instructions and guide them to log into the hospital's patient portal for additional information. "Texting has proven to be a highly efficient, fast, and cost-effective way to streamline much of our emergency department discharge communications and reduce staff workload without sacrificing care quality," says Bryan Yarbrough, director of integrated services, marketing, for Ardent Health Services. "By adding text messaging, we can communicate with patients in a manner many of them prefer, which also helps improve satisfaction and engagement. Texting also allows us to achieve other improvements, such as increasing adherence with primary care follow-up appointments and collections." Organizations like MMC are increasingly relying on texting for patient and staff communications. Phone calls require substantial staff time and resources but deliver poor results because of the tendency for consumers to ignore calls from unfamiliar numbers. Email communications have become less dependable due to the proliferation of spam and sheer volume of emails. "We are pleased that this analysis further demonstrates the value and effectiveness of two-way text messaging for communicating and coordinating with patients," says Brandon Daniell, president and co-founder of Dialog Health. "The speed, convenience, and ubiquity of texting is helping healthcare providers increase patient participation and engagement in their care, which is contributing to better outcomes." To learn about ways your organization can benefit from texting with Dialog Health, schedule a demo . About Dialog Health Dialog Health provides a two-way texting platform to organizations which they can leverage as a communication and engagement channel. Two-way texting is a convenient, fast, effective, and affordable communication resource for stakeholder engagement. For more information, visit www.dialoghealth.com, call (877) 666-1132, and follow Dialog Health on LinkedIn .