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Digital Front Door Solutions 2023 Digital Front Door Solutions 2023
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Digital Front Door Solutions 2023
A Vendor Guide from The Health Management Academy & KLAS Research

author - Stephen Bitteker
Author
Stephen Bitteker
author - Dan Czech
Author
Dan Czech
author - Spencer Snyder
Author
Spencer Snyder
 
August 3, 2023 | Read Time: 5  minutes

The term “digital front door” has become popular in recent years across the healthcare industry. Increasingly, it is used to refer to patient interactions not only before visits but also during and after care. The Health Management Academy and KLAS Research have partnered to create this guide, aimed at helping healthcare organizations understand the market as a whole and their vendor options.

hma logo

klas logo

Methodology

Strategy Catalyst at The Health Management Academy conducted a double-blind survey of 30 executives from leading health systems regarding the digital front door and the maturity of 14 specific capabilities at their organizations. This report details which vendors they mentioned as top of mind for each capability. Where available, KLAS data and insights on customer satisfaction are also included, along with links to current KLAS research. (See About This Report for more information.)

What Is the Digital Front Door?

While there is wide variation in health system leaders’ perspectives on what constitutes the digital front door, KLAS and The Health Management Academy consider it to cover a core set of capabilities across four pillars: pre-visit marketing/acquisition, finding and arranging care, during-visit digital care, and post-care digital engagement. The following sections highlight each of these four pillars. (The first pillar was not a focus of The Health Management Academy’s survey, but relevant KLAS data is shared below.)

how do providers define digital front door

Additional insights on KLAS’ digital front door framework can be found here.

102 Vendors Identified, 21 across Multiple Capabilities; Salesforce, Phreesia, and Notable Seen as Positioned More Broadly in Digital Front Door

In The Health Management Academy’s survey, Salesforce was mentioned by respondents across six digital front door capabilities, the most of any vendor. With their Health Cloud solution, Salesforce is working to leverage their deep database and resulting knowledge about patients to tackle issues with patient access to care. Phreesia, mentioned across five capabilities, has grown their patient intake management solution well beyond replicating paper forms, including capabilities like patient self-scheduling and bill pay. Notable, mentioned across four capabilities, takes a very targeted approach to automating tasks related to the digital front door (e.g., scheduling, registration, referral management), driving administrative cost savings for healthcare organization customers. (Of note, provider organizations primarily turn to niche vendors for certain areas like patient education and RPM.)

vendors mentioned for 2+ digital front door capabilities

Pre-Visit Digital Marketing/Acquisition: Core to Organizations’ Efforts to Attract New Patients

Pre-visit digital marketing/acquisition is less often viewed as part of the digital front door, but it is an integral part of many organizations’ strategies to attract new patients and drive revenue. While The Health Management Academy did not ask specifically about this pillar, KLAS measures customer relationship management (CRM) solutions that tie closely with pre-visit capabilities. Insights on those solutions are shown to the right. Salesforce has very strong mindshare in this market and was mentioned under other pillars for several capabilities. The chart below details any relevant vendors KLAS is aware of and measures in related markets. Where available, data on customer satisfaction is also included. Additional insights on this pillar of the digital front door can be found on the KLAS website.

pre-visit digital marketing/acquisition--vendor guide

Finding & Arranging Care: Core Capabilities Used Widely to Help Patients Access Care

In KLAS’ 2021 Digital Front Door report, 95% of respondents said the core of their digital front door strategy is helping patients find and arrange needed care. This pillar covers the broadest spectrum of capabilities, and more vendors were mentioned for this pillar by respondents than any other. The chart below details what vendors came up for these capabilities, along with any other relevant vendors KLAS is aware of in the market. Where available, KLAS data on customer satisfaction is included.

finding & arranging care--vendor guide

During-Visit Digital Care Tools: Part of a Cross-Continuum Vision of Digital Front Door 

Many organizations are expanding their vision of digital front door to include technologies that support patients while they are in the hospital or clinic to receive care. Two capabilities make up the during-visit pillar: digital waiting room and digital wayfinding. The chart to the right details what vendors were mentioned for those capabilities, along with any other relevant vendors KLAS is aware of in the market. Where available, KLAS data on customer satisfaction is included.

during-visit digital care tools--vendor guide

Post-Care Digital Engagement: Continuing Engagement and Care Efforts after Patients Walk Out the Door

In KLAS’ past research, one-quarter of respondents said digital front door efforts should continue after patients have left the clinic or been discharged. In The Health Management Academy’s survey, healthcare leaders were asked about four capabilities that fall under post-care digital engagement. KLAS also considers patient communications solutions to be key to a comprehensive digital front door strategy. The chart below details what vendors came up for post-care digital front door capabilities, along with any other relevant vendors KLAS is aware of in the market. Where available, KLAS data on customer satisfaction is included.

post-care digital engagement--vendor guide

About This Report

This report draws on two sources of data: (1) results from a survey of healthcare leaders conducted by The Health Management Academy and (2) KLAS performance data.

The Health Management Academy Survey

The survey by The Health Management Academy includes responses from 30 healthcare executives across 30 unique healthcare organizations. Respondents were asked to share what vendors are top of mind for various capabilities across the spectrum of digital front door technology.

thma survey respondents--by job title
thma survey respondents--by organization annual net patient revenue

KLAS Performance Data

Each year, KLAS interviews thousands of healthcare professionals about the IT solutions and services their organizations use. For this report, interviews were conducted from May 2022–May 2023 using KLAS’ standard quantitative evaluation for healthcare software, which is composed of 16 numeric ratings questions and 4 yes/no questions, all weighted equally. Combined, the ratings for these questions make up the overall performance score, which is measured on a 100-point scale.

Sample Sizes

Unless otherwise noted, sample sizes displayed throughout this report (e.g., n=16) represent the total number of unique customer organizations interviewed for a given vendor or solution. However, it should be noted that to allow for the representation of differing perspectives within any one customer organization, samples may include surveys from different individuals at the same organization.

When the number of unique organization responses is less than 15, that vendor’s score is marked with an asterisk (*) or otherwise designated as “limited data.” If the sample size is less than 6, no score is shown. Note that when a vendor has a low number of reporting sites, the possibility exists for KLAS scores to change significantly as new surveys are collected.

author - Amanda Wind
Writer
Amanda Wind
author - Breanne Hunter
Designer
Breanne Hunter
author - Andrew Wright
Project Manager
Andrew Wright
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This material is copyrighted. Any organization gaining unauthorized access to this report will be liable to compensate KLAS for the full retail price. Please see the KLAS DATA USE POLICY for information regarding use of this report. © 2025 KLAS Research, LLC. All Rights Reserved. NOTE: Performance scores may change significantly when including newly interviewed provider organizations, especially when added to a smaller sample size like in emerging markets with a small number of live clients. The findings presented are not meant to be conclusive data for an entire client base.

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