5 Questions With…Rob Portwood, UCHealth

In the new feature, 5 Questions With…, Rob Portwood, vice president of support services at UCHealth, talks with us about UCHealth’s vision, “From health care to health,” and how implementing a mobile ordering program has enhanced the customer experience and increased mobile orders by 70% in two months.

Tell us a little bit about the UCHealth system and your vision.

UCHealth is a nationally recognized, non-profit health care system in Colorado, comprised of over 26,000 employees, 12 full-service, acute-care hospitals with just under 2,000 beds, and more than 150 clinic locations and about 700 individual clinics across Colorado, southern Wyoming and western Nebraska. Annually, UCHealth sees over 4 million outpatient visits and over 137,000 inpatient admissions.

As an organization, our vision is, “From health care to health.” What this means for me is an intense focus on improving the health and well-being of Coloradans, both inside and outside of our brick-and-mortar facilities. When a potential patient considers accessing services, we want them to first think of UCHealth. We are passionate about making all their interactions with us – check-in, clinical care, foodservice, mobile wayfinding, etc. something they will share with others.

What is a strategic initiative you’re currently working on and what impact has it had across the health system? 

We are working on mobile ordering with a focus on an incredible experience regardless of where a consumer is located. 

The mobile ordering program has shown our customers (patients, staff, affiliates) that we truly care about their valuable time and experience with food. We strongly believe (and are naturally biased) that food and drink can be one of the most significant positive highlights in a customer’s day. By making this experience incredible both in person as well as through mobile, we are spreading the happiness that comes with wonderful food and drink to more consumers. We’re thrilled to say mobile orders have increased across our health system by more than 70% over the past two months. 

How do key performance indicators help support your vision?

KPIs are our foundation when it comes to driving success. We are very deliberate when building KPIs and closely track to ensure we are providing the very best experience in alignment with our organizational pillars (Access, Experience, Efficiency, and Innovation). Our goal is for every food team member to know our KPIs so they can directly speak to the importance of their role and how it directly correlates to delivering on our mission and vision. Our current food KPIs are patient experience, retail revenue, net cost per patient day, meal delivery times, and staff turnover. 

What’s next for UCHealth in relation to expanding the customer experience for both employees and patients?

We are pivoting from the traditional thinking about what is best for us and moving to what is best for our consumers. We’ve started to ask our customers questions and follow through on their feedback. As we have begun to do this, our focus is moving in the direction of enhanced technology to improve the food experience (cashier-less registers, ordering kiosks, enhanced mobile offerings) and expanded healthy options. Success is every staff member thinking twice about packing their meals before coming to work because the food experience is top-notch. 

You’re a community-based health system, what is something cool and unique you’re doing in the community?

UCHealth is exceptional in this vertical. As Denver hosted Major League Baseball’s All-Star Week for the first time in over 20 years, UCHealth partnered with MLB to engage our local communities and raise money for Feeding Colorado to help provide food for Coloradans in need. UCHealth pledged to donate $10,000 per every home run scored in the Celebrity Softball Game. Although just four home runs were hit during the game totaling $40,000, UCHealth decided to go beyond the amount – and presented a check to Feeding Colorado for $100,000 to raise awareness for food insecurity and support the organization’s incredible work in our communities.  

Are you interested in learning more about mobile ordering for your organization? Contact us today to learn how we can help support your goals.