HCG delivers patient focused personalized care with Salesforce

With a 360-degree patient view, HCG is connecting with patients on a more personal level, and delivering proactive support at every step.

Few challenges in life are as profound or daunting as a cancer diagnosis. But having the right healthcare provider by your side can make all the difference to treatment outcomes.

Healthcare Global Enterprises Ltd (HCG), a network of 25 hospitals, is renowned for its patient-centric, personalized approach to cancer care. With state-of-the-art technologies and 450+ specialists, HCG is committed to delivering the best oncology treatments at affordable prices. Over 200,000 patients choose HCG every year.

“Our vision is to make value-based, precision medicine available to our patients whenever and wherever they need care,” says Sudeep Dey, CIO, HCG. “That starts with building a unified patient view across touchpoints.”

Here’s how the company is achieving that view and boosting patient care with Salesforce.

1. Personalize patient care with a single source of truth

Previously, patient information was stuck in silos, hampering visibility. The existing CRM system was rudimentary and didn’t see good adoption.

“Without a single source of truth on patients, it was difficult for our medical, surgical, and support teams to collaborate and deliver the multidisciplinary care that HCG is known for,” says Vineesh Ghei, Chief Sales Officer, HCG.

To add to the challenge, patient expectations had changed. Their satisfaction was no longer determined solely by clinical outcomes, but by their overall healthcare experience.

“In a digital-first world, patients expect access to healthcare services at their fingertips,” explains Sapna Agarwal, Associate VP, Operational Excellence, HCG. “Whether they’re booking a bed or consulting a doctor, their entire journey across online and offline touchpoints needs to be seamless.” That called for a digital intervention at HCG.

“We wanted a new CRM platform to power better experiences for both our patients and partners,” says Ghei. “The platform had to be flexible, easy to integrate, and quick to adapt to our changing needs across sales, service, and marketing. Salesforce was the best fit.”

With Salesforce, HCG has a single view of all its patients. Every case history, treatment plan, and patient preference is captured on the platform — so teams can truly personalise patient care.

“Salesforce is the bedrock of patient care enablement at HCG,” says Dey. “With its 360-degree patient view, we’re able to meaningfully engage, empower, and support patients throughout their cancer care journey.”

2. Reduce enquiry response time by 49% with automation

When a patient first approaches HCG, the interaction is captured on Salesforce Sales Cloud. This helps HCG reach out to the patient faster, answer their enquiries more efficiently, and track conversations with them across the patient journey.

“Previously, we used spreadsheets to track all this information,” says Ghei. “Now, patient data is automatically consolidated from various systems, so we no longer waste time. In fact, our response time to patient enquiries has reduced from 45 minutes to 23 minutes.”

Sales productivity has also improved. At the click of a button, teams can view and prioritise their daily tasks, track activities, and more.

HCG also uses Sales Cloud to manage its partners. The whole cycle of partner outreach, onboarding, and engagement – which used to be manual – has been streamlined and automated.

“Staying connected with our partners is now easier,” notes Ghei.

3. Resolve service queries in under 5 minutes with a 360-degree patient view

Once a patient is onboarded, their entire journey is orchestrated on Salesforce Service Cloud — from out-patient consultations, to in-patient processes (cost estimates, bed booking, admissions) and discharge processes (planning and advice).

Since Salesforce is integrated with HCG’s appointment booking engine, patients can easily book an appointment online, and receive automated reminders.

Further integrations with HCG’s cloud telephony system ensure that whenever a patient contacts the call centre with a query, all their details show up on the agent’s screen.

“With Patient 360, we know everything about the patient, including what stage of treatment they’re at, whom they’ve previously interacted with at HCG, what was said, and what services they might need next,” says Agarwal. “This helps us resolve over 90% of queries in less than five minutes.”

Having a single source of patient truth also helps service agents deliver more proactive and personalised support. For example, they might suggest a dietician to a patient who has just completed radiotherapy. Or, recommend the right hospital suite for the patient based on their past preferences.

4. Enhance patient wellness with sensitive, contextual communications

Since cancer care is often a long-term journey, HCG is committed to engaging with patients throughout the process.

Teams use Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement to segment patients, map out their journeys, and deliver personalized communications at relevant touchpoints. These communications could range from healthcare tips, to follow-up appointment schedules, to nutrition-related information.

“Every patient’s journey is deeply personal – so, the messages we send them have to be meaningful, accurate, and relevant to the stage of treatment they’re at,” says Stuti Jain, Head of Brand, Digital, and Communications, HCG. “Our communications and ‘nudges’ are prioritized in such a way that they don’t overwhelm the patient, but add value to their journey.”

Every time a patient consults a doctor, treatment recommendations for them are captured on Salesforce. This helps HCG stay connected with over 75% of patients post their hospital visit.

“We keep sending patients relevant information and reminders,” says Agarwal. “Even after a treatment cycle is complete, we continue to hand-hold the patient for the rest of their recovery journey.”

HCG also uses Marketing Cloud to create powerful omni channel campaigns that educate audiences about the need for proactive cancer screening and treatment.

5. Make better-informed decisions with rich data

Customer data from Health Information Systems, Electronic Medical Record Systems, Laboratory Information Systems, smart patient apps, and feedback modules is now captured on a single, secure, and unified platform. Operational intelligence from powerful dashboards and reports help HCG improve decision-making across different functions.

“Through data integration, we have a better understanding of patient experiences which, in turn, helps us improve patient satisfaction,” says Agarwal.

Adds Jain, “We capture insights from open platforms like social media which help us determine which of our hospitals or departments are delivering better service, what customers are unhappy about, and how we can improve the quality of care.

“In addition, we can instantly view which marketing campaigns are delivering better outcomes, which engagement channels customers prefer, how many partner leads have been converted, how many patients have dropped out, and more. These insights, delivered through intuitive tools like Marketing Cloud Intelligence, help us optimise both patient engagement and our team’s performance.”

6. Take patient care to new heights by deepening digital transformation

With teams enthusiastically adopting Salesforce, HCG is now looking to unlock additional platform features. Using Einstein, for example, they intend to make the call centre more AI-driven.

Additional integrations with HCG’s lab and radiology information systems, feedback management tools, and patient care apps will help expand Patient 360.

“Our goal is to become an oncology knowledge company that’s up-to-date not only on treatment protocols, but also on patient needs and expectations across touchpoints,” says Dey.

Adds Jain, “When people think of cancer care, they should think of HCG. That’s the kind of brand recall we hope to achieve.”