Q&A with Jeff Gartland, CEO of Relatient

RamaOnHealthcare November 18, 2024

Self-service solutions empower patients.

Today, RamaOnHealthcare talks with Jeff Gartland, CEO of Relatient

Jeff Gartland, CEO of Relatient

RamaOnHealthcare (ROH): Can you give us some background on yourself and Relatient?

Jeff Gartland (JG): I’ve spent over 25 years focusing on driving digital health innovations and spearheading growth strategies and go-to-market initiatives for leading healthcare companies. I joined Relatient in September 2021, knowing just how critical the organization’s mission is to the healthcare ecosystem. Relatient strives to simplify access to care, whether that’s through solutions like electronic scheduling, payments, patient communication, registration, or intake processes. This mission resonates with providers and patients. In just two years, the number of appointments scheduled through our software has more than doubled. We’re proud that Inc. Magazine has recently recognized Relatient as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the Southeast.

ROH: We understand Relatient currently engages over 50 million patients nationwide to improve access to care and has seen an average of 20% of appointments now booked via self-scheduling. Why do you think self-service in healthcare has taken off so quickly?

JG: Healthcare leaders realize traditional workflows aren’t keeping pace with changing consumer expectations and are rising to meet that need. Reports show 89% of patients rank scheduling appointments online or with mobile tools as a top priority when evaluating healthcare access. Relatient’s data aligns with this trend: We’ve observed a significant increase in the use of our self-scheduling tool, Dash Self.

The shift to self-service tools has gained industry-wide momentum. For instance, 2024 was the first year that KLAS Research included a patient self-scheduling category in its rankings, underscoring the growing market demand for these tools. Both patients and providers have had enough of the complex procedures currently burdening our healthcare system. Self-service tools cut out a lot of red tape, so it’s no wonder they’re being so well-received. These tools not only empower patients with convenient options but also open up new revenue opportunities for providers. Organizations offering online scheduling typically see up to 20% of their appointments being self-scheduled, with 70% of those made by new patients. On average, about 32% of self-scheduled appointments are booked outside of regular business hours.

ROH: How are providers and healthcare leaders reacting to the growing self-scheduling trend?

JG: Providers can be reluctant to give up control of their calendars, as maintaining ownership of scheduling preferences is central to physician autonomy. But as practices grow, staff are challenged with managing an increasing number of scheduling preferences. Legacy workflows can’t keep up, impeding the patient experience and straining staff.

As difficult as change can be, healthcare organizations are increasingly investing in digital tools to simplify patient access and administrative workloads. Practice leaders quickly realize patients are happier and more engaged. When approximately 20% of appointments shift to self-scheduling, it eases 20% of the workload for call center and front desk staff—freeing them to focus on more valuable tasks. They also don’t have to worry about memorizing multiple provider scheduling preferences, which reduces scheduling errors and optimizes provider utilization.

ROH: Why are both patients and providers struggling with today’s outdated scheduling processes?

JG: Legacy scheduling processes in healthcare are inconvenient for everyone. Patients call in during office hours to schedule an appointment, only to be placed on hold while schedulers flip through binders and sticky notes, manually matching patient needs with provider preferences.

Another example, even some so-called “self” scheduling solutions are still heavily reliant on manual processes. While a patient can request an appointment online, the appointment can’t be scheduled until they receive a follow-up call from front desk staff. The process is clunky and frustrating for both patients and staff.

On the provider’s side, traditional workflows may seem to work just fine, because physicians usually see patients when they want. But providers might not realize how much legacy processes are holding back practice growth.

If organizations don’t track rules, appointments, and scheduling capacities over time, providers won’t really have a full picture of their overall utilization compared to their preferences. For instance, they might not realize how much they could improve their utilization and patient experiences accepting new patients on Mondays or scheduling knee surgeries three days a week instead of two.

ROH: What do healthcare organizations need to keep in mind when considering updating their patient access strategy?

JG: Patient access is made up of two main components: operational maturity and patient experience. Operational maturity considers the sophistication of an organization’s internal processes and technological capabilities, while patient experience looks at how empowered patients feel to manage their own care coordination. We often find that organizations struggling with patient access are lacking in one of these areas.

Healthcare practices with low operational maturity may have high-touch patient experiences but lack technologies to support staff. These organizations are overly reliant on historical knowledge, which becomes more difficult when facing staff turnover. A lack of scheduling options can also frustrate patients if a phone call is the only way to connect with the office.

Likewise, organizations can implement so many technologies to improve access that it can unintentionally result in negative patient experiences. When tools aren’t consolidated or fail to work together properly, workflows become duplicative and frustrating for both staff and patients.

To hit that sweet spot in the middle, healthcare leaders should focus on automating routine tasks and work with vendor partners that play well within the rest of the organization’s tech stack. The balance of convenient technology with hands-on support, when needed, will keep patients coming back again and again.

ROH: What industry shifts or trends do you have your eye on that you feel will impact patient access and scheduling in the coming years?

JG: Like many industry leaders, I’m closely watching healthcare’s ongoing evolution to value-based care. Scheduling tools play a major role in this shift because self-service solutions allow patients to take their healthcare into their own hands at their own convenience while also empowering practices to optimize utilization to deliver the highest-quality care.

We’re also seeing more private equity interest in the specialty practice space, which we expect to increase this year. There is a lot of consolidation happening under the MSO model right now, which has impacted several of Relatient’s specialty partners.

As these practices expand, adding as many as five to 10 new locations every quarter, consolidating and standardizing technologies is imperative to scaling operations. Our partnerships with MSOs have shown that investing early in standardization initiatives leads to more streamlined operations and higher satisfaction levels for both providers and patients. Ultimately, this approach generates stronger ROI from patient access tools.

More About Jeff Gartland

Jeff Gartland is CEO of Relatient, the leading patient scheduling platform. Under Gartland’s direction, Relatient’s intelligent patient access solutions have accelerated MSO growth across locations and regions. Before joining Relatient, Gartland served as President of Anthem’s Advanced Analytics & Services division where he built a high-performing team leveraging technology to deliver scaled solutions to the healthcare ecosystem. Gartland had previously served as President at Ciox Health and held senior leadership roles at McKesson’s RelayHealth business building innovative solutions in the revenue cycle and clinical interoperability markets.