Notable Health Expands Multi-Language Capabilities; Partners with MA-based Lowell Community Health Center to Increase Equitable Access to COVID-19 Vaccines
SAN MATEO, Calif., March 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Notable Health, a digital health company that provides intelligent automation for healthcare, announced today a partnership with Massachusetts-based Lowell Community Health Center (Lowell CHC) to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for the health center's diverse patient population. Lowell CHC is the first independent, federally qualified community health center deploying Notable's intelligent automation platform to mobilize a COVID-19 vaccination effort.
Notable enables community health centers like Lowell CHC to improve patient access to health services and remove barriers to care by automating and digitizing identification, outreach, scheduling and pre-visit intake workflows.
"At Lowell CHC, one of our top commitments is to improve patient access," said Brenda Rodriguez, the health center's chief strategy and finance officer. "By leveraging technology like Notable, we can improve the patient experience to be more proactive and culturally proficient, and set up simple processes that allow our providers and staff to better serve our community."
Lack of language access can adversely impact the health of those with limited English proficiency by creating gaps in access and quality of care received. Lowell CHC's mission is to eliminate health disparities by providing access to high quality, culturally competent healthcare services for patients of all ages, cultures and backgrounds — regardless of their ability to pay. 40% of the people and patients that receive care from Lowell CHC are best served in a language other than English, including Spanish, Portuguese, Khmer, Swahili, Arabic, Vietnamese and more.
Consistent with its commitment to health equity, Lowell CHC has made significant investments in language access to close health disparities, and will harness Notable's intelligent automation platform to advance these efforts to communicate with patients in their preferred language. Using Notable, Lowell CHC can automate patient intake and customize communications based on social determinants of health (SDoH), such as language and literacy.
"With Notable, we can reach patients in their own language, in the safety of their home, allowing them to feel heard, comforted and secure in their interactions," said Susan West Levine, CEO at Lowell CHC. After rolling out automation for COVID-19 vaccine distribution, Lowell CHC plans to extend their use of Notable to automate workflows for a variety of other health services. This includes automated patient outreach, appointment scheduling and reminders, and check in and registration.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of thousands of automated COVID-19 pre-visit screenings have been performed using Notable's COVID Triage solution at care facilities across the country. More than 5,100 high-risk ambulatory patients were identified through Notable's platform and rerouted to the appropriate care option, such as telehealth or urgent care.
"As healthcare providers, we have an incredible opportunity to leverage technology to combat healthcare inequities. Configurable solutions such as Notable will help Lowell CHC design equitable patient access strategies with an eye toward addressing social determinants of health," said Muthu Alagappan, MD, medical director at Notable Health. "Notable's bots perform tasks in accordance with predetermined guidelines of care, agnostic to a patient's appearance, native language, or socioeconomic status." The U.S. Centers for Disease Control defines SDoH as 'conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health and quality-of life risks and outcomes.'
Using a technology called Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Notable trains bots or "digital assistants" to scan the EHR for unvaccinated patients that meet federal/CDC and state eligibility recommendations based on configurable criteria such as a patient's age or health conditions. For eligible patients, Notable initiates a digital pre-visit screening, collects informed consent, and schedules appointments in the patient's preferred language.
"We've designed our platform to be highly-configurable, which means we can enable capabilities and tailor them as the needs of a health system or its patient population evolve," said Adam Ting, chief product officer at Notable. "Our ultimate goal is to use automation to simplify healthcare; eliminate manual burdens for staff and providers, like having to call a translator for non-English speaking patients. By expanding our localization support to a wider variety of languages like Portuguese and Khmer, we are bridging the language barrier gap that stands in the way of delivering high-quality care in every patient interaction."
Patients do not need to download an app or create a log-in to complete registration through Notable, and information shared from previous visits is automatically populated for patients to review and confirm. As a result, Notable averages a 96% patient satisfaction rating across demographic groups. Patients age 65+ and patients who are visually impaired or have other disabilities report similar levels of satisfaction and ease of use.
"We recognize that at their core, patients are consumers -- they expect ease and efficiency in our practices," added Rodriguez. "Notable enables us to both meet this expectation as well as redirect our most precious resources to provide supportive, high-touch care."
To learn more about Lowell CHC and its wide range of outpatient services and programs, visit www.lchealth.org.
To learn more about how Notable is helping health systems improve health outcomes, go to www.notablehealth.com.
About Notable Health
Notable Health is the leading intelligent automation company for healthcare. Three of the top 15 US health systems, including Intermountain Healthcare and CommonSpirit Health, use Notable to identify and engage more patients in need of care by automating hundreds of repetitive workflows like patient intake, care outreach, registration, documentation, and billing. With Notable, staff and clinicians report saving 700+ hours of administrative work per provider per year; increased patient visit volume; a provider NPS score of 74; and an industry-leading patient satisfaction rating. Based in San Mateo, Calif., Notable is backed by leading investors, including Greylock Partners, F-Prime, Oak HC/FT, Maverick Ventures, and 8VC. Learn more at notablehealth.com and follow @notablehealth.
About Lowell Community Health Center
Founded in 1970, Lowell Community Health Center (Lowell CHC) serves 50,000 people from Greater Lowell, Massachusetts. With a focus on culturally appropriate care, Lowell CHC is committed to meeting the evolving health care needs of the local community, always looking to provide services which empower patients to maximize their overall well-being. The Health Center offers many specialty services and unique programs, in addition to comprehensive primary health care, dental services, and eye care. Lowell CHC is committed to delivering exceptional care that improves the health of the patients it serves through prevention, treatment and education. Learn more at lchealth.org or on social @lowell_chc.
Media Contact
Gianna Fornesi
Notable Health
[email protected]
Clare Gunther
Lowell Community Health Center
[email protected]
SOURCE Notable Health
Share this article