Memorial Hermann, Reimagine Care extend partnership on cancer care

In 2023, Memorial Hermann began working with Reimagine Care to offer cancer patients more services beyond its hospitals.

Memorial Hermann has partnered with Reimagine Care to offer extended services to patients with cancer. The company enables patients to talk with clinicians 24/7.

Reimagine Care, a healthcare technology company based in Nashville, Tenn., offers digital services to patients battling cancer, enabling some patients to get help without going to the emergency room or a clinic. Patients can text or talk via phone or video to clinical oncology specialists around the clock.

After some encouraging results, the organizations announced that they are extending their partnership in a multi-year agreement.

Dan Nardi, CEO of Reimagine Care, tells Chief Healthcare Executive® that the company’s platform helps patients get assistance and also has helped Memorial Hermann by reducing burdens on its staff.

“If it's two in the morning and they're having a reaction to the chemotherapy, the latest dosage that they got the day before, they've got someone right there,” he says. “They don't have to call into a triage line, wait on hold, or wait for the oncologist to get paged and woken up in bed. They've got someone right there responding to them in the moment.”

Memorial Hermann and Reimagine Care say they’ve seen good results in patient engagement and satisfaction. The company managed 87% of patient symptoms without having to direct patients to Memorial Hermann’s facilities.

In addition, Memorial Hermann saw fewer patients needing to go to the emergency department. The system says less than 5% of patients in the Reimagined Care program ended up in the emergency department for symptoms that could have been prevented.

Sandra Miller, vice president of Memorial Hermann’s oncology service line, said the expansion of the program will offer better service to more cancer patients.

"We have seen firsthand the transformative impact of this partnership on our patients and staff," Miller said in a statement. "By leveraging Reimagine Care's innovative technology and experienced care team, we have been able to provide enhanced patient care, reduce unnecessary ER visits, and ensure our physicians can work more efficiently."

• Read more: More cancers found in those under 50, with women seeing higher increases

Patients stayed engaged in the program, which saw 98% engagement among those after 30 days, and more than 80% after 90 days. Because patients are being contacted regularly, clinicians are able to track patients who may be experiencing problems and can intervene.

“We're able to catch those symptoms faster when they're more mild and moderate, before they've escalated,” Nardi says. “So that's really a big part of how this program drives those avoidable ED visits, because we're catching patients faster and able to course correct before it escalates to the point of needing to go back into the ER, urgent care, etc.”

The organizations said the program received a Net Promoter Score, a tool to measure the consumer experience, of +86, well above the healthcare industry average (+58).

Patients are able to talk with nurses when they need it, but Nardi says the company’s AI-powered tools are also able to resolve some issues for patients without needing to speak to a clinician. The company’s tech-enabled services support up to 48% of interactions with patients every month, he says.

Registered nurses, advanced practice providers, and medical assistants also monitor dashboards 24/7 and answer patient concerns as needed.

• Read more: Nearly half of all cancer deaths are preventable, study finds: 7 key takeaways

In its partnership with Memorial Hermann, Reimagine Care has taken a “white label” approach, Nardi says. Patients are connecting with Memorial Hermann’s service, and aren’t confused by another brand they may not recognize.

“From a patient perspective, there's enough that patients are having to go through already, and you know, as a broader healthcare system, we've introduced enough hurdles for patients,” Nardi says. “So we chose not to introduce a new name because we don't have Super Bowl ads. We're not a name brand. People don't know us.”

“From the patient experience, it is seamless, and it allows for much better confidence in their regard as they're going through the treatment,” he says.

Memorial Hermann has been a strong partner and brought resources to support the program, Nardi says. He said the health system assembled “a very progressive and thoughtful team.”

“They've been really setting this up for success,” Nardi says.

Nardi says his company’s program can hopefully reduce the demands on doctors and clinicians, who have to respond to a high volume of patient inquiries and face the risk of burnout.

“Programs like ours help fill those gaps, and because of the technology, combined with our oncology-trained clinical team members, that allows us to support more patients at scale,” Nardi says.

In addition to working with Memorial Hermann, Reimagine Care has partnered with City of Hope, the University of Colorado, and other providers. Nardi projects a growing need for supplementary services to aid health systems in supporting cancer patients.

“Especially in cancer care, there's just a growing divide in the supply and demand,” he says. “So patients are getting diagnosed at younger ages. Treatments have gotten so much better, so patients are living longer. So we see this huge demand on that side of the equation for cancer care.”

• Read more: How the American Cancer Society hopes to improve outcomes for Black women