Improve patient access and care routing with Virtual Triage

Leading healthcare institutions trust Clearstep

Enhance patient engagement. Overcome staff shortages.
Implement self-service symptom checking, triage, and care routing.

A mother checking her sick son's temperature and using Clearstep's symptom checker to determine the best next steps for her son's care.

Our Symptom Checker is Fast

Eliminate long wait times. Provide personalized care options. Enhance healthcare experiences for current and prospective patients.

Allow patients to self-triage and schedule the appropriate care appointments online. Our clinical AI healthcare chatbot asks 10 fewer questions than the competition with National Language Processing (NLP) technology that understands free text.

A man checking his flu-like symptoms online to determine if he should seek medical attention.

Our Online Triage is Accurate

Avoid booking incorrect care appointments. Ensure your patients are being triaged to the most appropriate, clinical best next steps for care. Equip patients and providers with the information they need for a seamless visit.

Clearstep algorithms are built from Schmitt clinical content. In a double-blind study, our triage accuracy exceeded 95% compared to the judgment of ER doctors. Our online triage, integrated with online scheduling, complements call centers, care access, and care management teams.

Health care options that a user sees when they complete Clearstep's online, virtual triage.

Booking healthcare services online should be easy and transparent

  • Check Symptoms

  • View Options

  • Compare Prices

  • Book Care Online

Route patients to the right
in-network resources
  • Ambulance / 911
  • Retail Clinic
  • Emergency Department
  • Labor & Delivery
  • Self-Care
  • Poison Center
  • Urgent Care
  • Lab Work
  • Behavioral Health
  • Dentist
  • COVID Care
  • Primary Care
  • Specialists
  • Telemedicine

Frequently Asked Questions about Virtual Triage

What is Virtual Triage?

Virtual Triage is Clearstep’s core solution which provides a digital AI chat experience that allows patients to type their symptoms in free-text, asks 10-15 of the most clinically relevant follow-up questions (similar to what a doctor or triage nurse would ask), analyzes the patient's symptoms, and then provides health care navigation services as well as educational information on how they can take care of themselves at home (OTC meds, when to seek care immediately, etc). Clearstep is a white-labeled software, so the care options presented to users are configured for each of our client’s care resources, from urgent care and telemedicine visits all the way to different specialty care types. 

How is the triage for each patient determined?

Clearstep’s Virtual Triage algorithms are built on top of Schmitt clinical content and are unique to each patient’s symptoms, acuity, and situation. Dr. Barton Schmitt is the co-author of the telephone triage protocols used in ~95% of call centers around the country and has been validated in over 200 million telephone triage encounters. They are the gold standard for telephone triage, and Clearstep is the only provider of Schmitt Clinical Content for chat-based digital self-triage. In a double-blinded study, Clearstep’s triage routing exceeded 95% accuracy when compared to the judgment of a panel of ER doctors in a live, community-hospital setting.

What is included with a Virtual Triage implementation?

Clearstep’s core Virtual Triage solution includes an AI chat experience, which is configurable to your organization’s routing needs and inventory of providers and care resources. We’ll work with stakeholders across your organization to map triage endpoints, integrate provider/facility data and scheduling, define performance indicators, and tailor content, particularly for specialty care routing. Clearstep is a white-labeled experience so our solution will match your organization’s brand guidelines and specific care resources. In addition to the solution, Clearstep also provides a wide array of analytics that detail solution KPIs, capture patient demographics, and present patient behavior.

As part of a virtual triage implementation, Clearstep can also integrate with EMRs (for provider/facility data and scheduling and triage summary note storage) and CRMs (for triage summary note storage and escalation to live agents).

How long does it take to implement the Virtual Triage solution?

Implementing an initial Virtual Triage experience requires minimal engineering lift from our clients and we have completed these in as little as two weeks. Standard implementations usually follow three main steps:

  1. Determine the Triage Endpoints you’d like to present to patients
  2. Place a button on your homepage which directs patients into your White-Labeled Clearstep Experience
  3. Launch initial marketing for the solution

While working through these initial steps, we can build deeper integrations, partner with your marketing team to create thorough marketing plans, and continue to iterate on the solution based on patient behavior. Scheduling integrations typically take an additional 4-8 weeks.

What types of organizations typically engage with a Virtual Triage solution?

Clearstep is the market leader in Virtual Triage with the largest deployments in health systems/hospitals, population health management organizations, pharmacy retail organizations, and multi-specialty medical groups. Clearstep aligns its solution to help meet your organization’s goals.

What differentiates Clearstep’s Virtual Triage tool from other options on the market?

1.  Our triage is evidence-based and built off of gold-standard content. Clearstep is the only chat-based triage solution on the market built off of Schmitt clinical content. Dr. Barton Schmitt is the co-author of the telephone triage protocols used in nearly all nurse call centers across the country.

2.  Our AI chat is fast: Clearstep asks 10 fewer questions than the competition with NLP technology that understands free text.

3.  Our Virtual Triage focuses on directing patients to the correct level of care (triage) and not differential diagnosis. We aren’t trying to play that part of a doctor, rather we strive to enable better access, transparency, and optionality for patient-consumers. Providers often prefer Clearstep over alternative triage solutions because patients who book care aren’t tied to a potential condition.

4.  We’re white-label and fully configurable: The Clearstep platform is the most configurable triage symptom checker and care routing solution. We white-label to maintain the look and feel of your organization’s digital properties and offer plug-and-play features to meet the needs of your organization, while also allowing configurability for how you’d like to handle care routing, particularly for specialty care resources.

5.  Healthcare consumers/patients love us: Clearstep’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) is 4x the industry average.

What value does the Virtual Triage Solution provide?

Patient Acquisition

  • Use Clearstep as a lead-generator, finding consumers online with care-seeking intent, bringing them through triage, and helping them book care at your organization. We’ve shown 10x ROI with current clients via booking appointments with Clearstep for new patients to the system.

Patient Retention

  • Make it easy for existing patients to always know what to do next for their care. Promoting Clearstep as part of SMS follow-ups post-visits or embedding Clearstep in existing patient portals can help achieve this value lever.

Patient Satisfaction

  • Clearstep’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) is 4x healthcare’s average. We consistently see users leaving positive, promotional comments about our clients – we’re white-labeled, so users see Clearstep as an extension of their provider, and leave great feedback about Clearstep in the context of our client’s brand (like the examples on our homepage).

Call/Command Center Efficiencies

  • Avoid patients calling your nurse triage line by deflecting them to Clearstep's self-service triage symptom checker.

Care Routing Efficiencies

  • At the end of the day, Clearstep is all about delivering the right care, at the right time, in the right care setting. Your providers are better enabled to practice at the top of their license with Clearstep ensuring the right patients are reaching them. Your system also benefits from the efficiencies of appropriate health care navigation services (i.e. avoiding unnecessary ER visits, promoting telehealth when appropriate, routing directly to a specialist when it makes sense, etc.)

Schedule a Demo

Send us a message to schedule a demo or learn more about Smart Care Routing™ from Clearstep.