Gateway Hancock Health

Gateway Hancock Health is a 30,000-square-foot outpatient facility offering convenient immediate care, low-cost labs and imaging services in Greenfield Indiana.

Back in May 2020, because of the reaction to the coronavirus, Gateway knew that patients would be reluctant to enter waiting rooms. As Gateway planned to re-open, Jennifer Cox, Gateway’s Business Services Director, also feared a huge increase in patient calls around safety protocols. She wanted to address both issues while upholding the patient experience central to Gateway’s reputation.

Cox knew that digital solutions around patient engagement could improve patient experiences. She’d learned this firsthand in 2018 while working with Millennia, a leader in patient digital engagement and payments, with the implementation of a patient-facing online scheduling tool.

“Patients loved it” says Cox of the online scheduling capability, adding that in today’s market, you have to consider the patients’ point of view. “Consumers expect great experiences, but they don’t always get them in healthcare. We’re out to change that,” she says.

Cox, who is also the Marketing Director of the larger Hancock Health system, appreciated how technology could reduce call volumes and unburden staff. So, instead of hiring a call center to help her re-open Gateway during Covid-19, she called on Millennia once again.

Cox began speaking with Millennia about their other digital engagement strategies. “I knew Millennia could help us keep patients out of the waiting room,” Cox says, “and instead provide them with a custom experience that could give them peace of mind.”

Because the digital registration, remote check-in, online scheduling, eligibility and estimations, engagement, and forms have been both effective and quick to configure, Hancock Health contracted with Millennia to configure its solution at 40 additional locations—many of which are open and running Millennia technology today.

In addition, Millennia’s solutions eliminated the need for Gateway to hire a call center. “Without Millennia’s solutions, we would have been inundated with phone calls,” says Cox. “To keep every patient out of the waiting room, to communicate
everything to every single patient by phone—we would have had to hire a call center, which would have cost 10 times more than Millennia.”

Most importantly is that the Millennia solutions are helping Gateway and their commitment to positive patient experiences. “Thanks to Millennia, we’re able to communicate effectively with our patients,” says Cox, “and this is helping to both ease their fears and set clear expectations for what their care experiences will look like now.”