Increase Patient Satisfaction and Uncover Key Drivers with Research with Liz Diedrich, CEO at Diedrich RPM was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the latest audio-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors. Sonix is the best audio automated transcription service in 2020. Our automated transcription algorithms works with many of the popular audio file formats.
Saul Marquez:
Welcome back to the podcast. Saul Marquez here. And today, I have the privilege of hosting Liz Diedrich. She is the president and CEO at Diedrich RPM standing for Research Propelled Marketing. Her work is to continue to innovate on behalf of her agency’s clients and provide services that quantitatively determine the viability of patient care services, including financial demand by demographic, manage patient satisfaction, retention and mitigate risk, provide measurable marketing outcomes and incorporate decision science. Many marketing campaigns tend to go by feel and touch and gut. But in today’s environment, where everything’s changing, it’s important that we do things more from a research based and data driven perspective. And for that, Liz is gonna dive into what they do as a company and how they’ve added value to the health care ecosystem. I’m so excited to have you here. Liz, thanks so much for joining us.
Liz Diedrich:
Saul, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate being included.
Saul Marquez:
Absolutely. Yes. And so what would you say inspires your work? And I know you guys work across a lot of different sectors, but mainly health care. What would you say inspires your work in the healthcare space?
Liz Diedrich:
Great question. So for us, I think it’s our desire to uncover what’s driving patient behavior. And for physicians, when they’re referring patients to different care providers or specialty care centers, we want to understand what their drivers are, too, because sometimes they’re not they’re not tied to a specific set of data. It’s sometimes lack of knowledge, but sometimes a misconception. We did a study for a large IDM, for example, and they were realizing that they weren’t getting as many referrals for the emergency and air care to the system. Obviously, that is a funnel to the rest of the care. And we did a study for them and we learned that there were misconceptions because they had they didn’t have a level one Trauma three center and one of their competitors was kind of upstanding patients. So they put the level they they change to have the level one trauma capability as part of that. The result which obviously had an impact to the business.
Saul Marquez:
Wow. That’s pretty neat, you know. And you think about something like that. It’s those things that you don’t know that really kind of end up affecting your funnels and your throughput, your sales. And overall, I mean, as as a as a provider that affect how you attract patients. And so tell us a little bit about how you and your company uncover these things and how you helped customers then market their services and solutions to patients and and also buyers.
Liz Diedrich:
Sure. So in that case, you know, we just kind of keep it on the same line of thinking. We did a quantitative study to all the referring physicians, and then we also included nine referring physicians. We didn’t lose a blind study. So the respondents didn’t know who we were calling on behalf of. We asked who they primarily referred to and what caused them to choose that provider. And then we did advanced analytics to look at the key drivers and all of the factors that caused them to be loyal to a certain provider. And there were a lot of things that we uncovered. You know, most most companies evolve and grow and they developed separate, separate brands for different areas within the system. So they had a different name for the trauma area than they did for the cancer area. And so it caused confusion and the doctors didn’t understand that they’re all part of the same system. So what we did is we provided a doctor’s kit and hosted an event to present the scope of capabilities and the things that they could do different and better out of the chute. You know, learning that they while they were one of the best ya’s, they didn’t learn over the years, including one of the big human, Soledad, who I won’t name, didn’t do a good job of providing follow up information on the patient’s condition once they were admitted. And so in that in that instance, we came up with a recommendation that they establish a protocol that would provide turnaround information on the patient to the referring physician within 24 hours. So they were left wondering. And so after we did that, that was the best attended event that they had had. We hosted it at the Mall of America. And they had a increase in referrals by 20 percent over the next three months. After that after that education program and after that presentation, that’s that’s pretty neat.
And, you know, fascinating how you.
Both integrated yourself on the business front, but also on clinical workflow front. And so what were the challenges there? I know. You know, oftentimes, you know, we look at workflow as something, you know, that that is really kind of sacred, you know, not disrupted on this, too.
How did you get by in and tell me how that stuff worked out?
Well, we had the good fortune to have support through those feel the C Suite and all the business units. We recommended that we put together a task force and the task force in the emergency care department put together their own protocols. We didn’t dictate that. Obviously, they came back with what that was and then we delivered that out. You know what they were doing about it with the doctor’s kid? I couldn’t say that in quotes. It was kind of a fun rebranding that we did as a part of it.
That’s pretty cool. That’s pretty cool. And a very creative approach. What would you say makes what you do different or better and what’s available today?
Well, thank you for asking that. We’re doing something now very new.
We have a lot of data not only on patient satisfaction and on, you know, what is driving growth in certain specialty care areas. But I wanted to figure out a way we could leverage that using decision science or an A.I.. So last year I heard a neural network engineer do this work and he conducted analysis of different clients that we have. And one case in particular, we looked at predictive models on patient attributes to look at what drives the decision for a patient to elect to do a procedure with a specific provider or insurance carrier. And if the that my thinking was it’s the providing provider knew what obstacles were there, how could he or she train his patient consultant from providing a diagnosis and potential treatment? And the reason this is different is really no one’s using A.I. in this fashion, to my knowledge. And in fact, you know, according to statistics, only 10 percent of marketers are using A.I. in this business today. So from my perspective, it’s going to add value because it will improve outcomes. So for patient satisfaction, as you know, we can see retention’s go up from 76 percent to 90 percent. But with a I will be able to maximize patient outcomes because the consultants will be equipped with how to better communicate with patients for the right information. So the patients are taking the right action, but will also prevent leakage as a result of the patient electing to have corrective procedure within the same health system. So, you know, right now, according to what I’ve seen with referral, MDA, referral leakage for a health system can be anywhere from 55 to 65 percent. So if we can mitigate that risk and then the last benefit is that it’s going to help save staff time because clinics typically have, you know, an average ratio of staff people handling paperwork, you know, about four to five FTE. So if they could be more focused on who is a better, you know, how to follow up and who is a better person to follow up with. I think that’s going to be really helpful in the future.
That’s neat. And so what are you exactly doing with the FBI? You know, like I mean, what are you what are you doing with it?
So we take information from both patients are regular patients from specialty care entity. We look at what their diagnosis was and whether they elected to follow through within that care providers. In our system, we’re looking at all the different variables associated with that decision. You know, it could be age. It could be a risk. It could be how it was the diagnosis and the treatment it was communicated. So there’s very detail attributes tied to what the neural network is looking at. And what it does is it looks force testicle statistically significant relationships to provide a predictive model. So it can tell us with an 82 percent accuracy whether a patient is going to fall through with a treatment based on everything that it’s been said is, if you will. The thing to bear in mind is we like to have equal representation of numbers of people who have not gone through as a treatment and then those who have. And then we like we have to have a pretty big number in terms of the population has to be at a minimum of fifteen hundred records that we’re looking at.
Interesting. So so you’re really looking really kind of beyond just marketing. Right. I mean, at this. Point your you’re going hand in hand and teaming up with the system to try to have some, you know, clinical decision support and how they retain patients.
Exactly. Very cool. Very cool.
It’s interesting, and so as you guys explore ideas like this, how has what you guys do improved outcomes or made business better?
Well, I think goes back to my two other two points is that, you know, helping prevent leakage, increasing retention, maximizing staff time, particularly right now in a lot of people are unable to be at the office. So they cannot work remotely with this. It’s there’s a password protected dashboard that they can go into. We’ve actually branded it propelled projections and it’s it’s secure. And it’s a way that their team can in real time look at those patients that they really need to focus on. I’m one of our clients specializes in more of an area where they won’t pay out of pocket for treatments. And we’re able to help them with this corona virus, focus on the ones that we’re more likely to convert. And there’s actually a real time code that you’re given when when you’re entering the prospective patient’s information. So you know that they’re going to Tubac or not.
So they were. That was very helpful for them from a financial perspective at this time.
Mm hmm. Now, that’s fascinating. So really looking at this from, like walking into the door to once you’re in the door, helping helping customers in this case, really mostly providers. Right? I mean, you guys are were you working with anybody outside of the provider’s space?
We have for research and the marketing. We’ve done clinical trials for pharma all over the country. We’ve done launches of ambulatory care centers here, a lot of ideals. We have a lot of medical clients on our survey platform. So we have a wide array of of medical clients, and that’s kind of holy. I started my company actually was on the health care side.
Very cool. Very cool. So. So tell us about like how this evening came about. Is I mean, what how did you land on this approach and how you helped your clients tackle their problems?
That’s a great question, I think, because we have have a full I have a full to have, you know, marking people and digital people, web developers, and then we have our research area and our call center. And I noticed that we are working with silos in that the information that we were getting on the digital side in terms of our wine conversions was not being leveraged with what we had already uncovered with the research. So that was the genesis of of the thinking in my CEO group. I was like, what can I do with all this information? And one of the guys in my field group said, get him real network engineer.
And that’s that was really the start. We realized we could do our own air.
A nice, nice and as a great idea. Well, I hope so. Right. part. And you executed on that idea. Yeah.
Yeah, it was it’s it’s fun. Fun. Fun.
Very cool.
Now, you know, we all have, you know, setbacks in our businesses in life, but business wise. Can you share a setback that you’ve experienced then and what a key learning was from that setback?
Yeah, that’s a good question. I think, you know, the coronavirus certainly have had an impact. I have. We have clients that are in different industries. And I had to lay off a couple of people and I haven’t had to do that in 25 years. And I think that that’s a setback. But the key learning is to always be evolving and brainstorming and thinking outside of the box. And I think that, you know, I’m grateful that we had this thing going and we also created a new R y dashboard that’s custom for each client, which is helping mitigate the need to have a ton of people working on stuff. It’s all automated on the back end. So I think whatever you can do to be efficient and maximize your your team’s time is is good. And I think that’s the benefit to of this.
Yeah. Now, that’s for sure. And sounds like you’re also finding applications of the technology within your own firm to optimize the stuff you’re doing.
You’re exactly right. You’re exactly right.
And the thing is, we’re testing it with other industries as well. So they’ll be to be be to see, you know, events. There are entities that are using this for events. It’s it’s pretty cool.
So what would you say you’re most excited about today?
I’m sorry, but may I suggest probably in the future that it can bring? I think I’m excited about that and I think that we’ve got to be thinking. I want to say something. What I see is there’s some plants that are talking, talking up. And what I mean by that is they’re they’re afraid and they’re allowing themselves to be scared. They look in this type and how quaint that I’ve been working with since I started my company.
And he has a large medical specialty center and he was forced to close down. And he and I had the most fun meeting. And what we talked about was how we could do a telemedicine using three eyes with our survey platform. The custom next to nothing. So the idea here is and he said it himself. I finally have time to think, you know, and I think that’s what we’ve got to be doing during some of this low, if you will. Hmm.
You know, Les, I couldn’t agree with you more. And, you know, I just been doing a lot of thinking during this time and also have been recording some pine casts and making that same call to action.
You know, if you’re not thinking and and shaping the future of your own future and your own company’s future, now that you’re not as mired in the operations, you’re missing out big time. So, you know, take heed to what what?
There’s just sharing right now. And this is this is time to think. This is time to build. And. And that’s really encouraging. And, Liz, you know, you’ve you’ve had success in what you do. And I’m curious, what what book would you recommend to us as a as you know, as an inspiration that’s made an impact on your life?
Well, I think it’s made an impact on me, but also what I can do as a contributor. And it’s a book called The Second Mountain.
And the second. OK.
And it’s about what you know, as we it we started our careers. We want to be this big success. And we we are not always so thoughtful about how we get to this big success in the second. Martin acknowledges that. But it also talks about what what can you do to help other people in reaching their their best goals, but achieving their future? And the author’s name is David Brooks. And it really talks about building character and how, you know, there’s people you can see you have around you. They’re kind of the insecure overachiever. And it really talks about how to help those people to build their heart and soul into what they’re doing and how you can do that as a leader.
That sounds pretty powerful. It’s a good book.
It’s a great book. From what it sounds like, the second mountain.
And, you know, even like the the feel of it, right? You say you’ve already done it. So here’s your second one. And maybe it’s somebody else’s and you’ve got to help them up it. But why you do that, you’re doing it, too.
And any time I’ve had a, you know, an established leader on the podcast, which is often, you know, I get this feedback, especially people that have had success. Been there, done that. They’re passionate, like you is about helping lift others.
And and it’s it’s exciting to see that you’re passionate about that, too, as as you’ve you’ve had a successful business helping health care leaders help patients. Now you’re looking to help build others. And that’s a call to action for everybody listening. Now, what are you doing to build your team and what are you doing to help them be their best, have their best future as as Liz called it? So everything that we’ve discussed today is available online. So if you go to outcomes, rocket that health, you go to the search bar and you type in Liz, you’ll see the podcast pop up and you’ll be able to get a link to the book. She shared the second mountain, the link to her, her work page, Dietrick R.P.M.. And just to be able to learn about the things that she’s up to. And you’ll also find a full transcript there. But Liz loved the the opportunity to explore what you guys are doing over there. Before we conclude, can you just share a closing thought and then the best place for the listeners to get in touch with you for continuing the conversation.
Sure. Thank you. I think my closing thought would be, what are you doing to elevate your business and inspire others?
And a way to connect with me is my, you know, live at Dittrich R.P.M. dot com.
That’s awesome. That’s awesome. What are you doing it? Innovate your business and inspire others outcomes. Ragged Nation. And Les, I really thank you for leaving us with that question. We all need to be thinking about it, especially during this time. So Les, just want to say thanks again for spending time with us.
Paul, thank you very much for the opportunity, appreciate it. It was great talking with you. Thanks for what you’re doing.
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