Ochsner Health, the largest non-profit academic healthcare system in the state of Louisiana, has grown into a national hospital system of more than 25,000 employees serving 40+ hospitals. Driven by its mission to serve, heal, lead, educate, and innovate, Ochsner provides coordinated clinical and hospital patient care with a focus on connected, convenient patient experiences.

As a forward-thinking healthcare provider, Ochsner Health was looking for ways to leverage innovative technology and optimize the way it interacted with patients. From awareness and intake to follow-up and retention, the goal was to improve care by providing the relevant, timely, targeted messaging patients deserve and expect, based on their experiences with consumer brands.

Ochsner implemented a variety of third-party data and digital solutions to improve its patient experience, but encountered roadblocks trying to integrate the disconnected applications. Ochsner’s teams recognized that siloed data was making it difficult to leverage the information they needed to improve communications. The organization wanted a CRM platform capable of unifying a single, comprehensive patient journey.

To achieve its goals quickly and smoothly, Ochsner began looking for a consulting partner with experience in optimizing customer journeys using CRM platforms. We were thrilled when the health system decided to combine Slalom’s expertise with its compelling vision: leveraging technology to elevate care for all patients.

Our consultants spent hands-on time with Ochsner’s IT, marketing, contact center, and analytics teams to understand their needs and craft a comprehensive solution. We quickly recognized that integrating existing systems and tools would be crucial to a successful rollout. For example, incorporating Ochsner’s existing data software (and the millions of documents within it) would enable team members to spend less time switching between third-party platforms and more time optimizing patient communications. Keeping Ochsner’s patients in mind was crucial to prioritizing new features.

After gathering perspectives from various stakeholders within the hospital system, our experts began building the basics of Ochsner’s solution on Salesforce Health Cloud and Marketing Cloud. We conducted extensive pilot tests, sharing and discussing results with Ochsner to ensure effective, repeatable outcomes at scale. Then our consultants built out the rest of the CRM functionality, incorporating existing patient information to ensure a smooth transition.

The results?

• 50,000 incoming calls per week optimized with streamlined patient detail visibility
• 7+ million patient records organized, including integrated clinical data
• 35.15% email open rates and 3.29% click rates
• Improved targeting and tracking for marketing campaigns with consolidated data
• More personalized communications for patients at every stage of their journey with Ochsner
• Reduced dependence on third-party vendors
• Faster strategizing and beta-testing through increased visibility of results

With relevant information available on a single, accessible platform, Ochsner can now map a 360-degree view of its patient experience. Consolidated data enables the marketing team to deliver targeted messaging to segmented patient categories and the call center to provide faster, more personalized recommendations for medical care.

Prior to working with us, much of Ochsner’s marketing execution and reporting was managed by a third-party vendor. But with a comprehensive, optimized patient engagement solution, it was able to bring those processes in-house. Increased visibility of metrics and results has led to more internal buy-in on the strategies and their effectiveness.

Ochsner’s call center associates now have the helpful tools they need to better serve patients—like patient detail summaries that automatically pop-up on their desktop, based on incoming phone numbers that match existing records. A recommended services tab, powered by the CRM’s customized integrations, also enables associates to give more precise guidance to each unique patient. These personalized communications help Ochsner patients feel understood and valued.

After such a successful CRM overhaul, Ochsner is now in the process of working with us to implement Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Salesforce Order Management. These tools will enable Ochsner to incorporate transactional data from its retail businesses—bolstering the teams’ 360-degree view of their patients and further streamlining the patient experience. The future is bright.