Written by: Angela Liu

As part of the current cycle of the Technology Hub program, we interviewed our twelve Hub organizations to understand their current priority areas for procuring technology solutions.

Texting for patient engagement is one area our Hubs identified as a current priority. We designed and conducted a landscape analysis to find texting solutions suited to the unique needs of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and underserved patients.

Table of Contents:  Context and Scope | Featured Solutions | Explore Solutions Gallery | Survey | Approach

Context and Scope

Texting continues to be an important and effective tool for patient-provider communications, especially as cell phone ownership reaches near ubiquity in the US. This landscape highlights solutions that serve provider-centered use cases in primary care settings. Examples of these use cases range from the operational (e.g. patient appointment management) to clinical (e.g. chronic condition management, patient education). Additionally, we further narrowed down the field of solutions based on understanding of and previous experience with the safety net.

Landscape Guiding Questions

We focused our solutions research on the following questions:

  • How well do the features (offered or planned) align with needs expressed by our Technology Hub cohort?
  • How well does this solution fit in a safety net world? Has the solution been tested with safety net clients? Does the vendor understand the FQHC patient population and payment structures?
  • Successful patient care delivery in the safety net depends on collaboration and open communication. How open was the vendor in sharing details or providing a timeline for when certain details can be discussed?

Additionally, we’d like to stress CCI’s purpose and position in publishing this landscape:

What this Comparative Landscape is: a starting reference for our Technology Hubs to begin their vetting and evaluation of patient engagement & communication solutions, scoped to the user needs/circumstances of providers operating in safety net primary care settings

What this Comparative Landscape is not: a selection tool, an endorsement/purchasing recommendation.