Mobile apps seem to be all the rage in healthcare these days, and Renown Health in Reno, NV, is offering patients access to a host of information on the go. One of the most popular features allows patients to check the wait time at different urgent care centers before deciding which one to use. The app also allows patients to run errands or wait elsewhere until being notified that they are about to be called.
The mobile site offers the convenience of making an appointment for lab services, X-ray and imaging, and doctor appointments, as well as providing a call line to Renown’s Nurse Navigators, a cancer patient support network. Additionally, the Renown mobile site offers patients quick facts for everything from major medical issues such as neurological and stroke to information about healthcare reform.
A significant number of visitors are accessing Renown.org using a mobile device, notes Stacy Kendall, director of communications and new media at Renown Health. The analytics also show a high rate of returning users and a time on-site of more than three minutes.
The mobile site was launched in 2011, Kendall says. “We wanted to be early adopters of the mobile trend and engage with our patients viewing our site on their mobile devices. The mobile site saves patients time and improves their overall healthcare experience.”
The Renown mobile site was designed for portable devices, with a clean, user-friendly site and mobile features based on items users continue to navigate to the full website to find. The app providing urgent care wait times was inspired by a Renown team member’s visit to the local department of motor vehicles, which offers a similar function to let customers know how long the lines are at that office, notes Mark Behl, vice president of Renown Health and CEO of Renown Medical Group.
“Typically, you go to an urgent care center and you sign in, then you wait there for an hour or more in a room full of sick people,” Behl says. “It’s very frustrating, something we always hear about from patients. The number one complaint is the wait time.”
The waiting time estimates were first offered in March 2014 and patient response has been enthusiastic, Behl says.
“From day one, patients have loved it,” Behl says. “We target the app in some of our surveys on wait times, and our satisfaction scores show that it works. For satisfaction with wait times, we used to be in the 30th percentile on Press Ganey surveys, but after introducing the app we are around the 80th percentile consistently for all our clinics.”
