New Mobile App Increases Engagement and Access

Shane Davis, director of information technology at Hardtner Medical Center

In early 2018, the team at Hardtner Medical Center was searching for an innovative way to engage patients and increase usage of its patient portal. It had tried emails, advertisements, flyers — even billboards.

But one tactic it hadn’t tried yet was a mobile app.

“We needed to figure out a better way to promote patient interactions and we wanted to try something new,” says Shane Davis, director of information technology at Hardtner Medical Center.

Based in Olla, Louisiana, Hardtner serves the areas of Olla, Tullos, and Urania. The area is mainly rural, which was a primary factor in why Hardtner decided to pursue a mobile app.

With 35 beds and a 54-acre campus, Hardtner Medical Center includes a rehab center, imaging, family medicine, surgery center, mental health, and behavioral health services. It has a lot to offer its community, but it needed an effective way to communicate those services and improve access for patients who may not have a computer or internet.

“We know that internet isn’t always available in rural settings, but most people have smartphones,” Davis says. “We’re trying to use this technology to reach our patients wherever they may be and allow them quick access to health information and their providers.”

After kicking off the project in early 2018, the Hardtner team launched its Hardtner Medical Center app in spring 2018. Within the first few months, it had more than 300 downloads across Android and iOS platforms. As of this writing, the app has had 518 sessions from 132 unique users over the past 30 days (September-October 2019), with each user spending an average of 1.44 minutes per session.

Read the full article now and learn the secrets of the app’s success: Hardtner Medical Center Opens New Digital Front Door in Rural Louisiana

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