Why we redesigned and reinvested in the Froedtert & MCW mobile app
Last month, we released a new version of the Froedtert & MCW app for on-the-go access to services, tools, and records.
While it had only been a year since our initial app launch, it was time to rewrite and rebuild our mobile experience. While most of the changes are under the hood, the new app brings several improvements our users will notice:
- More connected experiences (for example, after using our virtual triage tool/symptom checker, patients can have one-tap access to their next level of care such as a telemedicine visit or an e-visit
- Makes use of our new digital patient identity solution… our users will notice an automatic connection to their health record with a single patient identity.
- A new modern look and feel that now works well on tablets/iPads
- Over time, more personalized experiences. We have all become accustomed to companies that seem to know us well and provide us with meaningful personalized experiences.
We look at investing in our digital tools just as important as investing in new buildings, operating rooms, and clinics. More and more “health” will be delivered through digital channels and tools and we need to create an integrated digital connection with the people we serve
Our digital toolset complements and extends our investments in electronic health records. Our EHR and electronic data provide an important foundation, but we will continue to design and partner with the best tools and experiences for our patients. These include things like: digital care tools, simple ways to share and retrieve data with us, and accessibility to experiences that are unique to their individual situation.
While we remain committed to finding the best partners, we are also increasingly invested in creating our own future. This includes building out our own digital engineering team.
We are building our own digital engagement platform (DEP), taking the best tools has to offer including machine learning, communications, and data management. And we have leveraged AWS well-architected framework to build security first, ensuring privacy and reliability as well as compliance with all HIPAA provisions.
Privacy is built-in from the beginning. Our services live in a virtual private cloud — medical information remains protected and is not shared with Amazon.
The Froedtert&MCW app is how our patients will experience the DEP. But we will be meeting people where they are, and that will leverage patient preferences to use other channels including web, voice, and text.
We know that change can be very disruptive — especially to clinical practices. While this past month represented a monumental change with several new components going live at once, further changes will be more incremental, with features and functions more steadily rolling out as they are tested and ready.
We are excited to bring a better, easier, and more intuitive experience to our patients and those we serve!
