Military and Veteran Digital Health Solutions

Peter Walker:

I'm Peter Walker, CIO for OptumServe. Digital health solutions can be a great way to address the socioeconomic needs of a population. For instance, scheduling transportation to and from a healthcare appointment or addressing the demographic needs of a rural population using telehealth.

Peter Walker:

In a complex world of healthcare, we are always looking for ways to simplify and improve the process for our service members and veterans. And one of the digital health solutions we've seen be effective and successful with those groups is our self service appointment scheduling. It's a fully automated solution that handles the requesting, assigning, scheduling, and completion of appointments. Essentially, it puts the individual in control of their appointments and eliminates the need for them to contact a call center. The system sends confirmations and reminders that help make it easy for the service members and veterans to make their appointments, which ultimately makes it easier for us to keep them happier and healthier.

Peter Walker:

It really evolved out of a desire to make sure we were finding the best way to take care of the service men and women that were needing to come and get health services from us. We interviewed a number of service members and asked them, as part of the programs that we run for them, they need to make appointments and see healthcare professionals during the year, what they least wanted to do was call into a call center and spend 15 minutes on the phone with someone trying to arrange that appointment. And so what we did was create this self service appointment process, the service members got what they needed, they didn't have to call a call center, and the feedback we got as a result of implementing that was, "Best thing you've ever done." So it's a great example of how a simple technology solution helps meet a very specific need.

Peter Walker:

Having the right workforce in place to help create and deliver a digital health solution is critical. That's why OptumServe and the larger UnitedHealth Group invest in the development of a broad range of professionals, trained to leverage the latest technologies to deliver improved health care, access, quality, and outcomes. In the federal healthcare industry, you always have to be on your toes looking for new ways to innovate. And innovative ideas don't start with technology, they start with people. This is the kind of work that I have always wanted to do leading great team of IT professionals, but particularly the mission that we fulfill at LHI and the rest of OptumServe is what pulls at my heart. So the idea of taking care of those men and women who are serving, or have served, is what gets me up in the morning and makes me want to deliver for them every day.