DES MOINES, Iowa — MercyOne estimates roughly 30% of Iowans don't have a primary care provider. Th health system launched a new website it's hoping will change that.
"We started thinking about what does the future look like, with endemic and hopefully someday post-pandemic, we realized that healthcare was going to be different than it was before," said MercyOne Chief Marketing and Digital Strategy Officer, Janell Pittman.
The health system says as people have grown comfortable with telehealth care and finding resources online, MercyOne decided to create a website to link patients with a doctor that best meets their needs.
"People go to the website, they take a short quiz; 11 questions," said Pittman. "And then at the end, they are provided with three providers in the area who are accepting appointments."
'So it's been called kind of a 'Match.com' of medicine," said MercyOne Family Medicine Chair Dr. Tim McCoy.
The health system hopes the website serves as a tool that not only helps patients find a provider who matches the needs and wants of the patient, but improves their overall health outcomes.
"It's just good to have someone to go to for medical questions in general," said Dr. McCoy. "It's been much more evident during COVID. Over the last two years of, who do you respect to get your medical information from? The intent is that it will help a match the patients and the providers better than we have in the past. And and then will it lead to better health outcomes."
The website for the Des Moines region has already launched. You can find that here.