Insights
Geisinger Health: From Legacy to Leading Edge in Patient Communication
Ali Nasser
Insights
Ali Nasser
In an era of rising consumer expectations, health systems face the need to modernize how they engage with patients. Patient communication has to be timely, seamless, and personalized. The convenience of experiences in retail, travel, and finance shapes these expectations. Health systems that fail to deliver on these expectations risk frustrating patients, increasing costly utilization, and losing loyalty to more digitally savvy competitors.
Geisinger Health, a nonprofit health system that generates more than $8 billion in annual revenues and serves 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across central and northeastern Pennsylvania, has long been known for its commitment to innovation. But like many health systems, Geisinger’s patient communication approach relied on legacy tools that couldn’t keep up with the demand for real-time, omnichannel engagement. Recognizing the need for transformation, Geisinger engaged AVIA to move from fragmented, outdated communication models to a unified, patient-centered strategy built for the future.
Geisinger’s cross-functional team, comprised of leaders from marketing, IT, digital strategy, patient access, and customer communications, collaborated with AVIA for a series of strategic workshops and vendor evaluations to launch the engagement. We brought deep market intelligence and proprietary frameworks to help the Geisinger team identify and prioritize high-value use cases, define vendor selection criteria, and envision a modern communications ecosystem.
Throughout the engagement, we served as a strategic advisor, offering guidance grounded in best practices from other leading health systems across the AVIA Network. This included insights on omnichannel communication, vendor benchmarking, and alignment with enterprise-wide goals for Geisinger’s clinical enterprise and Geisinger Health Plan.
During the vendor evaluation, a pivotal moment occurred when the team reviewed capabilities side by side. The evaluation process included live demos, stakeholder surveys, and rigorous scoring. By the end, there were two clear finalists. While both offered strong text-based communication solutions, only one demonstrated a roadmap toward authentic omnichannel engagement, personalized communication, and robust analytics. The sessions challenged internal assumptions, clarified what was possible, and helped stakeholders rally around a shared North Star vision.
“This process gave us the clarity and alignment we needed to move forward with confidence,” said Amanda Jones, Senior Director of Digital Engagement at Geisinger. “It helped us see beyond just replacing a legacy tool. We’re now building a platform that will evolve with our patients’ needs and our organizational goals.”
The impact of the engagement was immediate. Geisinger gained alignment across departments, developed a governance structure for centralized communications, and launched new initiatives aligned with its future-state vision. The selection of a modern, scalable platform enables more timely and tailored outreach, better reporting, and improved accessibility for diverse patient populations.
Early momentum includes:
With our support, Geisinger is scaling its efforts across clinical and health plan domains. To deliver a more intelligent and connected experience, Geisinger plans to expand omnichannel capabilities, multilingual support, and integration with CRM and EHR systems.
Geisinger’s journey is a powerful example for other health systems navigating similar challenges.
Modernizing patient communication isn’t just about technology; it’s about aligning strategy, stakeholders, and systems to meet the moment and shape the future.
Modernizing patient communication isn’t just about technology; it’s about aligning strategy, stakeholders, and systems to meet the moment and shape the future. For health systems ready to make the leap, AVIA is here to help turn legacy limitations into leading-edge opportunities.
