Customer Case Study: Regional Healthcare Provider Transforms Patient Experience with the Informat Platform
Healthcare organizations face a uniquely challenging digital transformation environment: stringent privacy regulations (HIPAA), complex legacy systems (EHR, billing, scheduling), diverse stakeholder communities (patients, clinicians, administrators, insurers), and the highest possible stakes — patient health and safety. This case study examines how a regional healthcare provider — referred to here as "Community Care Health System" (CCHS) — successfully navigated these challenges using the Informat low-code platform to transform patient access, clinical workflows, and operational efficiency while maintaining the rigorous privacy and compliance standards that healthcare demands.
CCHS operates three hospitals, 24 outpatient clinics, and a network of affiliated physician practices serving approximately 500,000 patients annually across a three-county region. With 3,200 employees and a lean IT department of 22, the organization faced the classic healthcare dilemma: growing demand for digital services from patients accustomed to digital convenience in every other aspect of their lives, increasing operational complexity, persistent workforce shortages (particularly in nursing and administrative roles), and financial pressure from payers to reduce costs while improving outcomes. The IT team was consumed by maintaining existing systems — EHR, billing, HR, supply chain — leaving minimal capacity for the digital innovation that patients and clinicians increasingly expected.
The Challenge: Fragmented Patient Experience and Manual Workflows
Before engaging with Informat, CCHS's patient experience was characterized by friction at every touchpoint. Patient access — scheduling appointments, registering as a new patient, checking in for visits — involved multiple phone calls, paper forms, and manual data entry by staff. The average time to schedule a new patient appointment was 3-5 business days (phone tag with scheduling staff), new patient registration involved filling out 8 paper forms, and check-in required patients to arrive 30 minutes early to complete paperwork that staff then manually entered into the EHR. Referral management — processing incoming referrals from primary care physicians to specialists — was entirely manual, with faxed referral forms, phone calls for clinical information, and no visibility for patients or referring physicians into referral status. The referral process averaged 7-10 days from PCP referral to specialist appointment scheduled.
Clinical workflows were similarly burdened. Nurses spent an estimated 25% of their time on documentation and administrative tasks rather than patient care. Care coordination between inpatient and outpatient settings relied on phone calls and faxes, with critical information frequently delayed or lost. Patient follow-up — ensuring patients completed recommended tests, filled prescriptions, and attended follow-up appointments — was managed through spreadsheets and manual calls, resulting in approximately 30% of post-discharge patients missing at least one recommended follow-up action within 30 days. The operational impact was measured in poor patient satisfaction scores (consistently in the bottom quartile of peer organizations), staff burnout (nursing turnover of 22% annually), and suboptimal clinical outcomes that affected quality metrics and reimbursement under value-based care contracts.
The Solution: Phased Digital Transformation on Informat
CCHS partnered with Informat to implement a phased digital transformation focused initially on patient access and experience, with the goal of demonstrating measurable improvement that would build organizational support for broader transformation. The Informat platform was selected after evaluating several alternatives, with key selection criteria including HIPAA compliance capability, integration with the existing Epic EHR system, rapid development velocity with a small IT team, and the ability for clinical and operational staff to participate directly in application configuration.
Phase 1 — Digital Patient Access (12 weeks): The first phase digitized the entire patient access journey. A patient portal, built on Informat and integrated with the Epic EHR via APIs, provided: online appointment search and self-scheduling with real-time provider availability; digital pre-registration with forms that pre-populated known information and used conditional logic to show only relevant questions; mobile check-in with the ability to complete remaining steps (insurance verification, copay payment, symptom screening) before arriving; automated appointment reminders and directions; and a unified patient profile that followed the patient across all CCHS locations. On the staff side, the new applications automated scheduling workflows, digitalized registration data entry, and provided real-time visibility into clinic schedules and patient flow. The results exceeded expectations: average time to schedule a new patient appointment dropped from 3-5 days to under 10 minutes (self-service online); patient check-in time decreased from 30 minutes to 5 minutes; registration data errors decreased by 70%; and patient satisfaction with the access experience improved from the 18th percentile to the 65th percentile nationally within six months.
Phase 2 — Referral Management Transformation (8 weeks): The second phase addressed the referral management process. The new referral management application, built on Informat, digitized the entire referral lifecycle: electronic referral submission from referring physicians (replacing faxes); automated clinical information requests and retrieval from the EHR; AI-assisted referral triage that matched referrals to the appropriate specialist based on clinical need, urgency, and availability; real-time referral status tracking for patients and referring physicians; and automated appointment scheduling upon referral acceptance. Referral processing time dropped from 7-10 days to an average of 1.5 days. Referring physician satisfaction — a critical driver of specialist referral volume — improved dramatically, with referral volume increasing 18% as more community physicians directed referrals to CCHS. Patient no-show rates for specialist appointments decreased by 25% as the improved communication and faster scheduling kept patients engaged.
Phase 3 — Care Coordination and Follow-Up Automation (10 weeks): The third phase addressed care coordination. New applications on Informat automated: post-discharge follow-up scheduling, automated patient outreach (text, email, phone) for recommended follow-up actions, care gap identification and closure tracking, and secure messaging between care coordinators and patients. Post-discharge follow-up compliance improved from 70% to 91% within six months. The 30-day readmission rate — a critical quality metric with financial implications under value-based contracts — decreased from 14.2% to 11.1%. And care coordinators, freed from manual phone calls and spreadsheet tracking, were able to manage 40% more patients while reporting higher job satisfaction.
| Metric | Before Informat | After Informat | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Patient Scheduling Time | 3-5 business days | Under 10 minutes (self-service) | 99%+ reduction |
| Patient Check-In Time | 30 minutes | 5 minutes | 83% reduction |
| Referral Processing Time | 7-10 days | 1.5 days | 80% reduction |
| Post-Discharge Follow-Up Compliance | 70% | 91% | 30% improvement |
| 30-Day Readmission Rate | 14.2% | 11.1% | 22% reduction |
| Patient Access Satisfaction | 18th percentile | 65th percentile | 261% improvement |
Key Success Factors
Several deliberate choices drove CCHS's success. Clinical involvement from day one — every application was designed with active participation from the nurses, physicians, and administrative staff who would use it. This ensured the applications fit real clinical workflows and addressed actual pain points, driving adoption. A physician champion — a respected internist who volunteered 20% of her time to the transformation — was instrumental in building clinical credibility and addressing the "this is just another IT project that will make my life harder" skepticism that dooms many healthcare IT initiatives. HIPAA-by-design — privacy and security were built into every application from the start, with the compliance team participating in design reviews rather than being brought in for approval after the fact. This not only ensured compliance but built the trust with clinicians and administrators that is essential for healthcare technology adoption.
Integration with EHR, not replacement of EHR — CCHS recognized that replacing or significantly modifying the Epic EHR was neither feasible nor desirable. Instead, Informat applications surrounded the EHR with modern, user-friendly digital experiences while the EHR continued as the system of record for clinical data. This approach avoided the multi-year, multi-million-dollar EHR optimization projects that often deliver disappointing results. Phased delivery with measurable outcomes — each phase delivered measurable improvements in specific metrics, building organizational confidence and momentum. The IT team tracked and communicated these metrics relentlessly, ensuring that every stakeholder group understood the value the transformation was delivering. And investment in change management — CCHS dedicated a full-time change management resource to the transformation, developing communication plans, training programs, and support structures for each phase. This investment was as important as the technology investment in achieving adoption and realizing value.
"The Informat platform allowed us to build the digital experiences our patients expected without the cost and complexity of custom development or EHR customization. Our clinicians finally have tools that work the way they work — and our patients finally have the digital convenience in healthcare that they experience everywhere else." — Chief Medical Information Officer, Community Care Health System
Conclusion
Community Care Health System's transformation with the Informat platform demonstrates that meaningful digital transformation is achievable for regional healthcare providers with limited IT resources, stringent regulatory requirements, and complex legacy system environments. By taking a phased, clinician-engaged approach; prioritizing integration with the EHR over replacement; building privacy and security in from the start; and investing in change management alongside technology, CCHS achieved dramatic improvements in patient experience, operational efficiency, and clinical outcomes. The transformation has positioned CCHS to compete effectively in an increasingly digital healthcare landscape — and, most importantly, to provide the accessible, efficient, high-quality care that its community deserves.