How to work like a network: for the health industry professional
1. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
How to Work Like a Network: For
the Health Industry Professional
Your Guide to Driving Impact for Better Health with Enterprise Social
ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
Estimated reading time: 20 minutes
2. Introduction
Part One:
Establish Task Force Headquarters
Part Two:
Fortify and Mobilize the Task Force
Part Three:
Initiate Operation Transformation
Table of
Contents
2
4
7
20
Enterprise Social describes a new way of working that taps into the power of human networks. It’s an approach that brings the essence of consumer social
networks—connecting with others, rapid information sharing, and easy discovery—to the enterprise. By connecting individuals to a dynamic network of
people and information, Enterprise Social enables employees to respond faster, accomplish more, and keep your business moving forward together.
The Microsoft vision for Enterprise Social is to empower organizations to work like a network by delivering seamless social experiences across familiar
applications people already use, including Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Yammer, SharePoint Online, Lync, and virtually any other
application or service that matters to your company.
3. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
The epoch of healthcare transformation is well underway, and you’ve got your
game face on. You’re doing everything you can to keep up with the changing
tides of healthcare reform, but you can’t go it alone. Making healthcare affordable,
sustainable, and accessible is no small feat. You need an entire team of change
champions on your side—a transformation task force—to collaborate, innovate,
and ultimately accelerate the new age of healthcare.
It’s not just about healthcare anymore—it’s about health. Better health for everyone. And this big idea will work only if
everyone gets involved—patients, providers, administrators—the whole healthcare ecosystem. This is your task force of
trailblazers and groundbreakers. Each member plays a vital role in healthcare reform, and each member shares equal
responsibility in moving the mission forward.
Of course, every task force needs a headquarters. A bat cave. A central lab for idea incubation. And every task force HQ
needs agile technology to power it all. A robust set of tools that keeps everyone engaged, connected, and empowered—
anytime, anywhere.
2
4. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR BUSINESS LEADERS
This is your guide to connecting providers, patients, administrators, and
administrators using Microsoft Enterprise Social technologies. We start with the
basics—the pros, benefits, and perks of using Enterprise Social for healthcare.
Next, we show you three powerful ways to connect your task force.
Finally, we show you how to start working like a network to transform healthcare.
3
6. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
5
The Value of Enterprise Social
for Healthcare
Consider this: People check their mobile devices about
150 times a day, usually to connect with some of the 1.8
billion other people also using mobile devices. That’s a
lot of connecting.
What if you could harness that same networking
power and apply it to healthcare innovation? How
many problems could you solve? How much could you
improve patient care?
Enterprise Social helps you do exactly that:
• Unite health professionals and patients with
effective communication channels.
• Facilitate innovation and collaboration across
departments, hospitals, clinics, and other locations.
• Listen, learn, and adapt to rapid industry changes.
7. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
6
With Enterprise Social technologies, your
task force can:
• Streamline team conversations by creating a Group in Yammer.
• Detect health issues in surrounding communities with Microsoft
Social Listening.
• Coauthor and share documents with Office 365.
• Access patient information and documentation using SharePoint
or OneDrive.
• Send instant messages and set up video conferences instantly
with Lync.
“Our employees
can now collaborate
and communicate
independent of time or
place and can access the
documents that they need
in order to do their jobs
from anywhere and at
any time.”
—Miranda de Gouw, Information and
Automation Manager, Florence Zorg
9. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
Every member of your task force has a unique role
to play in healthcare transformation, and it’s time to
arm them with the tools they need to jump into the
mission and fight for reform.
Listen Up and Bring Healthcare
to the People
Healthcare consumers are hungry for change. They know that the United
States has the highest per-capita health costs in the world, and they’re ready
for a little less talk and a little more action. They’re not going to settle for
the status quo in today’s information age—they want to know how much it’s
going to cost, why it costs so much, and what they can do to mitigate those
costs. In other words, they want a seat at the table.
8
Nine out of ten people
want a say in important
decisions regarding their
healthcare.
—Altarum Institute’s Survey of
Consumer Healthcare Opinions
10. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
9
Take the Social Pulse
Over 70 percent of all Internet users are active social
media users, and 90 percent of 18–24-year-olds say
they trust medical information shared by others on
social media networks. What does that mean for
you? It means healthcare consumers are out there in
droves, and they’re looking for ways to improve
their health.
Keep your finger on the pulse of what your patients
want to know with Microsoft Social Listening:
• Tap into emerging health and wellness
trends to better frame provider/patient
conversations.
• Monitor social sentiment about your
health organization across all of your
social networks.
• Collect invaluable customer data to improve
care delivery.
11. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
Empower Action
Engaged patients enjoy better outcomes and incur lower costs; however, patients often have trouble following treatment
plans and would appreciate a little peer pressure from their doctor between visits.
Patient engagement systems are a large chunk of health reform initiatives. In fact, Meaningful Use Stage 2 practices
involve using secure electronic messaging to communicate with patients.
Enterprise Social helps providers and patients stay in touch before, after, and between office visits with secure, cloud-
based email. Advanced encryption keeps every exchange secure, helping patients safely ask questions, view care plans,
prepare for visits, and make informed decisions.
Research shows…
Eighty-three percent
of patients don’t follow
treatment plans.
Forty-two percent would
be more likely to follow
treatment plans with coaching
from their doctors
between visits.
Fifty-five percent of providers
don’t communicate with patients
outside of the office.
10
12. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
Encourage Prevention
A patient’s role in your transformation task force is taking charge of their own health. You can improve healthcare, but
patients have to meet you halfway by staying proactive.
Encourage your community to commit to healthy living through thriving social communities via Yammer external
networks. Patients can use their desktop or mobile devices to interact in a secure, moderated environment run by
healthcare professionals they trust. Using this network, you can easily disseminate prevention information and create
healthy dialogues around simple things patients can do to stay healthy. After all, knowledge is the best medicine.
11
Chronic diseases are the most preventable, yet they account for:
Seventy-five percent of
healthcare spending.
Eighty-one percent of
hospital admissions.
Sixty percent of deaths
worldwide.
13. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
“The function of protecting and developing health must
rank even above that of restoring it when it is impaired.”
—Hippocrates
Ways Enterprise Social Can Help You Join Forces
with Patients3
Tell Me About
Your Symptoms
Use Microsoft Social Listening to tap
into social media channels and identify
broader health and wellness trends
facing your community.
Take One and Call
Me in the Morning
Stay in touch before, after, and
between office visits with Office 365,
Lync, and Skype, and establish stronger
provider/patient relationships, even on
the go.
An Apple a Day
Create health and wellness
communities using Yammer external
networks, and provide a forum for
addressing general questions about
healthy lifestyle habits.
1 2 3
14. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
Organize the Ranks to Adapt
Healthcare institutions are moving from standalone hospitals to robust health systems that include physician practices,
ambulatory centers, diagnostic centers, home care services, wellness centers, and more. This means that healthcare
professionals must perform as a tightly knit multidisciplinary team with impeccable communication to mitigate adverse
medical events. Why? Because poor communication breeds inefficient workflows, redundancy, and patient safety issues.
Part of the Affordable Care Act is improving overall quality by making healthcare more patient-centered, reliable,
accessible, and safe. As you accomplish these goals, you’ll increase referrals and achieve excellent HCAHPS scores,
resulting in continued growth and profitability for your healthcare system.
13
“At the clinic, we need the free flow of one-to-many communications among doctors, allied
health professionals, clinic staff, and patients to coordinate efficient patient care. Our EMR
[electronic medical record] system did not facilitate communication among providers. We
wasted time trying to reach people by phone and waiting for emails, time we could be
spending on providing care. With our Yammer-based network, we have the tools to truly
transform healthcare in a sustainable manner.”
—Dr. Sanjeev Goel, Physician, Wise Elephant Family Health Team, Brampton, Ontario
15. So how do you improve quality? You
improve communication. The Joint
Commission Sentinel Event database
shows that 70 percent of reported sentinel
events were a direct result of insufficient
care-team communication. In other words,
when providers miscommunicate,
patients suffer.
You can improve patient safety by
connecting your care teams with
real-time communication to share
expertise, ask questions, and further
evidence-based care.
The result of more efficient
communication? Increased accountability,
fewer gaps in care, better use of resources,
and fewer adverse events.
Collaborative Work Spaces
Create designated collaboration spaces for teams or projects using Yammer.
Healthcare professionals can subscribe to groups specific to their specialty, getting
quick access to the information and people most relevant to them.
Quick Information Access
Increase operational efficiency with Office Delve, an app that surfaces personalized
content from across Office 365. Administrators and clinicians alike can break down
silos and quickly find pertinent documents based on user activity, meaning less time
digging for documents and more time caring for patients.
Flexible Teamwork Hubs
Co-edit documents, including anything from budget proposals to patient care
protocols to department initiatives, using Office Online. Discuss real-time changes
and updates in side-by-side document conversations while files automatically sync via
Microsoft OneDrive.
Virtual Meeting Rooms
Dispersed teams across various hospitals, clinics, or rural locations can easily
communicate using Microsoft Outlook, Lync, or Skype for Business, eliminating travel,
bandwidth, and conferencing costs.
Instant Internal Updates
Keep every single employee—no matter their location—in the loop with the Yammer
mobile app. Employees can engage in crucial conversations and access important
documents on any device, any platform, any time.
Ways to Connect Care Teams with
Enterprise Social
1
2
3
4
5
5
16. Enterprise Social Task Forces in Action
Tag Teaming It
Primary care physician Doctor Hyer has a patient presenting with a mild rash. She thinks it’s atopic eczema but would like
a dermatological consult to be sure. Dr. Hyer uses Lync to send an instant message with a photo of the rash to a
dermatologist in a sister clinic who responds within minutes with confirmation and advice on a treatment plan.
Building a Unified Front
A large healthcare provider has 22 hospitals and 186 clinics housed across three different states and is working on a new
initiative to standardize care with enterprise-wide care process models. To get each location on board, they created a
knowledge base using SharePoint Online. Providers can quickly access these models and implement them immediately.
Additionally, each location has a designated subject matter expert whom employees can contact via Lync with any
questions, no matter their location.
Maintaining Mission Control
A critical care unit treats patients with complex neurological issues. Because each patient sees several specialists
throughout a visit, providers use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to create a complete and accurate profile on each patient at
each point of care. Every member of the care team can record notes, vitals, and diagnosis information without any critical
information falling through the cracks.
3
2
1
17. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
16
Transform Healthcare
More than 78 million baby boomers are reaching their golden years, and
health systems have to grow to meet the demand. At the same time, however,
they’re facing a fiscal pinch as reimbursements shift from fee-for-service
models to results-based models. The task at hand is a tough one, with several
moving parts all clamoring for equal attention. The good news? Your task
force is filled with capable innovators eager to contribute to the shared pool
of ideas for growth and transformation.
But so what? Your reps might recognize faces on their team overseas and
share cat videos, but how could that possibly matter for business?
“Because we do feel so connected, we’re really likely to jump in and help one
another out. It encourages openness and frank communication that enables
people to be themselves and help others the best that they can on Yammer.
We can be transparent with each other and with the rest of the organization,
and that trickles down to our customer.”
Foster Innovation
Growth requires innovation, and true innovation starts with an exchange of
ideas. Enterprise Social is your key to facilitating that exchange.
“The greatest danger in
times of turbulence is not
the turbulence; it is to act
with yesterday’s logic.”
—Peter Drucker, Management
Consultant, Educator, Author
18. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
Collect input from doctors, nurses, administrators, and researchers, and pool their creative insights into a single
searchable interface, such as Yammer. Conversations are organized in threads, and documents are housed in one place,
decluttering inboxes and helping everyone involved track progress on new ideas, programs, and initiatives.
Recruit Allies
Healthcare reform initiatives rely heavily on physician cooperation and involvement to succeed. Happiness is contagious,
and satisfied physicians breed satisfied patients. Additionally, the happier your physicians are, the more likely you’ll be to
recruit the best physicians out there, leading to better outcomes and increased growth opportunities.
“Poor communication is often cited as a root cause of
medical staff dissatisfaction and cultural discordance
between administrators and physicians. This has a bearing
not only on physician satisfaction but also on recruitment
and retention. Considering the high costs associated with
physician turnover, healthcare administrators would be
wise to pay more attention to how they
are communicating.”
—Bill Crounse, MD, Senior Director Worldwide Health, Microsoft
17
19. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
18
As you carefully consider the needs of the physicians on your task force, you’ll gain powerful allies with valuable firsthand
insight into the healthcare transformation game. Enterprise Social helps you open two-way conversation between
administrators and providers, offering ample opportunity for everyone to voice their opinions and suggest ideas
for improvement.
Improve the Patient Experience
Patient satisfaction has always been top-of-mind for hospitals. Happy patients don’t file lawsuits, and rave reviews attract
new patients and top-notch physicians.
Perhaps more importantly, though, patient satisfaction affects reimbursement for care. In a hospital’s Total Performance
Score (TPS), 70 percent is based on clinical metrics, with patient satisfaction accounting for the remaining 30 percent. If
your patients aren’t happy, you may be looking at penalties and lost incentives.
“We envision putting Lync and Skype-enabled devices at patient bedsides so that
patients can have video calls with their families, find their doctors more easily, and
participate in conferences with remote specialists. If we can provide an opportunity
for a patient to see their loved one for one last time at the end of their life, we want
to be able to do that.”
—Chris Stone, Audio/Visual Lead Engineer, Adventist Health System
20. The clincher here is that patients often
don’t judge a stellar experience by the
clinical side of things. They’re more
influenced by the intangible—the quality
of interactions and how simple and easy
the whole process was.
Innovative technology that streamlines
care and process greatly impacts
patient satisfaction. If you can make
their lives easier at a time when they
may be feeling stressed or scared,
you’ll provide extraordinary care and
earn their admiration, keeping your
patient satisfaction scores up and your
reimbursements rolling in.
Crowd Source Ideas
Engage your entire task force to crowd source innovative ideas for new programs,
better processes, and cost-reduction efforts using Yammer.
Engage Change Champions
Collect physician communication preferences using Microsoft Dynamics CRM
and start engaging with them more effectively. Distribute important internal
messages quickly with Yammer push notifications and collect feedback on internal
documentation and proposals using Office Online.
Reduce Costs
Simplify IT administration and save money by keeping all services on one platform
with Office 365. The familiar tools eliminate training costs while still protecting patient
data with technology that adheres to privacy regulations such as HIPAA, ISO 27001,
and EU Model Clauses.
Improve the Patient Experience
Make patients’ lives easier by expanding your telehealth initiatives using Skype and
Lync. Patients can hold video conferences and exchange instant messages with their
providers between visits without having to leave home. Distribute patient education
videos to prepare patients for surgery or visits using OneDrive, and share intake
documents and forms using Office Online.
Ways to Transform Healthcare with
Enterprise Social
1
2
3
4
4
22. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
21
Enterprise Social delivers a
powerful set of tools that
connects your task force and
empowers them to drive lasting
impact for better health. By using
technology that is just as powerful
as it is familiar, they will start to
work like a network, and you’ll
see improvements in patient
engagement, clinical outcomes,
and healthcare as a whole.
“My department doesn’t have a large technology budget, and we couldn’t afford a solution that required
us to buy and maintain hardware and software. With Office 365, we don’t need to. We subscribe to just
what we need. It’s a highly affordable solution.”
—Professor Phillip Dean, Head of the Department of Pharmacy and Quality Control Laboratory Services,
North Tees and Hartlepool National Health Services Trust
23. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL FOR HEALTHCARE
22
As a longtime and trusted partner for IT, Microsoft is uniquely positioned to enable patient-centered care through end-
to-end software, devices, and services that are specifically designed to meet the unique needs of health organizations
and their patients. Microsoft Enterprise Social technologies enable companies to engage, inform, and connect their
employees, clients, and suppliers, and were awarded the top position in Gartner’s 2014 Magic Quadrant for Social
Software in the Workplace. There are three primary reasons that more than 400,000 organizations have chosen
Microsoft Enterprise Social technologies to improve their business:
• Enterprise-grade technology built for business – Microsoft offers companies the experience, global
footprint, security, and reliability they expect from enterprise cloud solutions.
• A comprehensive and connected platform – Microsoft offers a comprehensive and deeply connected
platform for delivering seamless social experiences across many familiar applications as well as customers’
data centers, service providers, and the Microsoft public cloud.
• Familiar and intuitive user experience and applications – Microsoft provides consistent, familiar, and
intuitive applications across its cloud solutions to drive faster, lower-cost implementation and high user
adoption, which lead to improved productivity and better business results.
Ready to work like a network and transform healthcare? Learn more about
Microsoft Enterprise Social at www.enterprisesocial.com.