Vouched: Protecting Your Business Series, Episode 1

Transcript

David (LegitScript): Welcome everyone to our Protecting Your Business series, which features experts from LegitScript and our Compliance Collective partners to help health care, telehealth, addiction treatment operators, and more navigate a successful business beyond certification from increasing conversions and onboarding to filling in compliance gaps that aren't always obvious. Each episode tackles a real operational issue and shows what it takes to manage it. Today, we are talking about patient drop off at onboarding, why it happens, when it's expected, and how you can improve conversions.

I'm David Khalaf. And for this episode, we are happy to welcome Nick Mortek, Strategic Accounts at Vouched. Vouched verifies patient identities during registration and prescription fulfillment, catching scams and stolen identities in seconds so providers can stay HIPAA compliant while cutting wait times and reducing fraud tied to prescription abuse.

Steve Sood, CEO of Wizlo. Wizlo is a white label telehealth platform that gives digital clinics everything they need under one roof, including EMR, intakes, pharmacy fulfillment, payments, and a nationwide provider network so they can launch branded care programs in days instead of months.

And Naomi Moono, Director of Strategy for LegitScript Certification, which gives businesses in highly regulated industries a way to prove legitimacy to major online platforms and payment processors, opening doors to advertising and payment access so that they can grow their business more confidently.

So let's get into today's talk. Some telehealth providers assume patient drop off at onboarding is maybe a marketing or a UX problem, but we wanna look deeper to see if this is indeed the case or if there's something else at play. And we wanna talk about what's avoidable and what's necessary.

So, Nick, let's kick this off with you.

You know, I'm curious. Like, is it true that folks you know, drop off is common? That seems to be the case. And, you know, despite all efforts that telehealth operators make to get prospective patients in the door, if they are losing a large proportion of them during onboarding, why is that, and is it inevitable?

Nick (Vouched): Sure. I think with any telehealth brand, they're constantly concerned about the customer experience or the patient experience, and there can be all types of different reasons that an owner is gonna be concerned around drop off and abandonment, and there's a lot of traditional marketing reasons behind that. But then, you know, what we're constantly thinking about at Vouched and helping our customers with is how do we help with offering the best level of friction that's appropriate for patient identity verification? So assuring that you're verifying that the patient is who they say they are, but at the same time, delivering a good customer experience.

Because even if you do all of the right things from a marketing perspective, from a workflow side of the house, making sure that everything flows well for the customer, if they get to a point where they feel uncomfortable when they need to prove who they are, whether that is an ID upload process or any type of verification process, if you don't aren't providing a good experience, you can all of a sudden lose often a lot of patients at that point of of friction simply because they get uncomfortable, maybe because they don't wanna provide that form of identification, or maybe they don't wanna provide the information you're asking for. So it's really important that you're adaptive in your workflows to assure you're applying the right level of friction that's appropriate for the particular use case or controlled substance or non controlled substance or service you're offering.

David: Yeah. And you touched a little bit upon this, but let's see if we can break it down a little bit more. Can you point out specifically, you know, where companies are most likely to see drop off? Is it, you know, where you might expect? Are there maybe surprises that people aren't expecting?

Nick: I think the number one problem that we see when telehealth customers come to Vouched is that they are asking patients to upload a photo ID.

And they're not doing any form of actual verification on that date ID, and there's no type of automation involved. It's really just asking for an image and the patient's uploading it, and they're just collecting an image.

The problem with that, as you can imagine, is that it's not really verifying the identity.

Anybody can get a fake ID these days for a very low cost.

You could also just be stealing the image, providing any type of fake image. And then on top of it, if you're not actually doing any verification or triangulating information on that image, running it through systems for verification, obviously, can run into all types of different issues and end up prescribing somebody or the wrong patient or somebody that's underage or whatever it might be. But the problem is on top of that, when you introduce just an ID upload in the workflow, that poses friction for oftentimes for people because number one, a lot maybe somebody doesn't have their ID with them. Number two, maybe they're uncomfortable providing their ID.

There's a lot of different reasons that it can increase abandonment. And what we found is that you don't always have to be running a visual ID verification for every type of workflow. Now it is important for certain types of controlled substances, and we have automated ways to do that where we'll actually do a selfie with liveness to assure that the person actually matches the ID that they're providing. We'll do a front and the back scan of the ID.

But there are other lightweight, non friction server side under four hundred millisecond ways where a patient often doesn't realize that they're being verified, that we can go through that process through PII checks, date of birth checks, Social Security number checks. Again, being adaptive in the right workflow to assure your you need the right level of friction for whatever the type of service you're offering. But, again, it's just being precise in offering the best experience for that use case and the workflow and assuring that you're either aligned with your competition or doing better in that identity verification from that identity verification perspective to not be pushing the boundaries and asking for too much information.

David: Steve, I'm curious to hear from your perspective. Do Nick's insights seem consistent with the type of things that you observe, or or where do you see patients most likely to drop off and why?

Steve (Wizlo): Yeah. 100%. So before we were using Vouched as a company, we did deal with a lot of that where, you you have two sides. Right?

You have the marketers where they're gonna you know, they want conversion as high as possible, and then you have the other side, which is, you know, the payment companies and also the doctors network where they wanna protect themselves. So, yeah, we've actually had it where, you know, there's a massive drop off if you had someone go and grab their ID or or try to do that. And now post what Nick's talking about, it's been a huge, huge lift, protects everybody involved and makes sure that, you know, we can verify them. And a lot of, like I think, what is it?

Like, 99 8% of time, you can actually verify them without the ID with just their address and just their date of birth. So it's huge for all parties involved.

I don't know if that's the correct statistic.

Nick can probably…

Nick: Oh, you're right on.

David: Yeah. Nice. You know, one way to combat drop off, of course, is, making sure you're getting a sufficient amount of folks through the door. Naomi, why should companies consider LegitScript certification as part of a larger strategy in gaining patience?

Naomi (LegitScript): Yeah. That's a great question, David. And I think probably something that a lot of companies underestimate when they think about certification. When a business kind of initially invests in certification, they're sending a signal.

They're sending a signal to their patients, to platforms, to the industry that they've taken the time to demonstrate compliance against the laws and regulations that really apply to their specific business model. And for patients, I think that that kind of matters now more than ever because there are bad actors out there. There are entities actively trying to defraud and take advantage of people seeking care.

So a LegitScript certification seal has become this real tangible signal of legitimacy. It tells a patient this is a business that has been vetted. It's operating within the rules, and it's a business that I can trust with something as personal as my health information.

But I also think it's important to note, like, here's a part that I think separates the companies that treat certification kind of as a checkbox in, like, this broader strategy versus truly treating it as a strategy itself. The standard can't just live in the compliance documentation as kind of like a check, you know, on a box. You really need to be investing in that strategy all the way through to the patient experience. And so when companies, they utilize compliance as a baseline when, really, in my opinion, it's more than that.

It's not sufficient in a lot of ways to just check the box. You need to go above and beyond in that patient experience. And I think that the organizations that I really see grow and succeed the most are often the ones that carry the same rigor into every single patient touch point that they do into checking those compliance checkpoints.

That's everything from how clear and honest they are when they're talking to patients about what to expect within the process to transparency about pricing and so forth. It's not just enough to say, hey. We're technically compliant. It's actually building trust, you know, at every step that patients take when they're interacting with their business.

And so I think when companies are thinking about the long game and the longevity of their business, that's exactly where the real payoff can come. A certification seal, it opens the door. It opens a lot of doors, and it earns initial trust, but it's really a flawless, consistent patient experience, in my opinion, behind that seal that can really keep patients coming back. And so certification, it's not just a compliance milestone.

It's really a critical foundation that a company needs to operate in these regulated industries.

But I think that the companies that succeed long term are the ones that really build and prioritize the patient experience on top of that foundation.

David: Good. Let's talk about some of the ways that we can combat patient drop off at onboarding. Steve, what are some of the keys to increasing conversion at patient onboarding? Are there easy fixes that folks can start with and then sort of the more nuanced or advanced improvements that people can make? And, you know, how much can these changes actually increase conversion?

Steve: Yeah. I mean, the biggest one that we've seen is actually vouched, funny enough. You know, that was a massive drop off, especially when you have someone that's what we call in the of, know, they wanna buy something. It's like, oh, my ID's upstairs.

Well, you know what? I'll complete this later. And it's been huge. You know, I would say that is by far the biggest that we've seen.

Nick: Just to add to that, David, I think about how aggressively I'm marketed to by some of the telehealth brands.

And if I forget if I don't have my ID and I leave the workflow or I leave the website of somebody that I'm currently looking at, it only takes me going to Instagram or Facebook.

Phone calls or text, emails or anything. Yeah. Where I can be distracted by another brand or the competition so very quickly. You know, that's number one. Number two, I will say to Steve's point, when we see actually looking at real statistics, this this is actually real benchmarks from two customers that we recently onboarded in the last three months before using our form of verification with Vouched, they were seeing about an eight percent drop off at the verification step. So eight percent of patients were abandoning.

When they started to use Vouched within the first thirty days, that reduced down to three percent, which for large telehealth businesses can be, or medium sized. I mean, that that sliver can be a huge amount of top line revenue. And from a lifetime value perspective, you know, keeping that customer and patient with you for a period of time, that can, you know, mean even more dollars. The other thing I'll say is that not only, you know, we will walk you through how we're running verifications and how we're doing this.

But our PII checks that are silent and low friction are actually gonna return a lot of important information on the decision that we make on that patient to help you understand why we made that decision. But, also, it's identifiable information that you can actually attach to the patient's record. So we'll talk a little bit more about compliance and what that might you know, what certain audits or investigations might lead to where you need that information. But the fun part is that we get to talk about uplift and increasing revenue and more patients.

We also get to talk about having a three three hundred and sixty degree view of your patient, right, and understanding more about them, understanding where they are when they're making a given purchase with you. Same thing more just getting more data and more information on the profile of your patient can just be, you know, more that you can put into your portfolio to be able to market to them again and be able to to leverage that lifetime value of that given patient.

Also, you know, conversion rates are one thing, but compliance is even bigger. We actually had a client come to us recently from a different company where they don't do any sort of ID verification at all, and they actually got in trouble because a 16 year old somehow got GLPs from the company. So that was a pretty big thing for them. But, yeah, even from, you know, the payment standpoint, it's huge because, you know, it really protects against chargebacks. And there's a lot of rules out there, especially with Visa, where these companies have to keep their chargebacks under 1%. So it's a massive, massive thing when it comes to compliance.

David: Yeah. Well, that leads me to another question I have around the issue of friction because companies may want to, you know, be afraid that too many checks create too much friction, and they're going to, you know, lose those potential patients as you just talked about. They get up from their chair, then you've lost them.

You know, companies may approach friction as a universally bad thing. And I guess my question is, is that the case, or is there good friction as well? Nick, you wanna start us off with that?

Nick: I definitely think there's good friction, especially when it comes to, you know, the more control of a substance you're working with. Right?

People want to feel as if they're buying from a legitimate site. You know, that comes in the experience that Wizlo delivers in their platform, but also the legit script certifications, seeing that badge and that certificate.

But then also, like, getting questions or having some things that you need to provide to get that substance makes you feel as if you're getting a legitimate product. Right? And you're buying from somebody that you can trust. So if you're getting a prescription for a TRT, you know, a more controlled substance, and you actually have to go through an automated visual ID verification where you're not just uploading an ID.

It's actually scanning the front and the back of it. It's taking a selfie. It's making sure you are who you say you are and comparing that feels like that feels like a good thing. I feel like I wanna buy from a brand that is making me go through those steps, and I can trust them.

Without that, you start to get concerned about whether you're actually buying from a legitimate company, if you're going to actually get your product, if the site's legitimate. So, absolutely, I think, you know, obviously, with the more controlled substances that you're working with or dealing with or whatever it might be in terms of the use case, the appropriate level of friction needs to be applied. But it needs to be applied in the right way in a professional manner where you're actually doing valid checks to make sure they are the patient is who they say they are.

Steve: Agreed. And I would love to add a point to that too. You know, compliance friction, I see it as the same thing. You can either fear it, or you can actually use it as a tool to get ahead.

For example, LegitScript. I'm a huge, huge fan of your guys' company. And, you know, it's one of those things where you guys give companies guardrails. And as long as they stay within those guardrails, those are the companies that are you know, our clients are scaling to 8
and 10-figure companies where they don't have to look over their shoulder. You know, their patients know everything has been vetted. The pharmacies are LegitScript certified. The doctor's network.

Every single piece that's touched within the patient experience has gone, you know, through that compliance check. So they know they're getting products from verified pharmacies. It makes a massive, massive difference.

Naomi: Yeah. I agree, Steve. And, honestly, just to speak transparently, I think that there is friction that is critical that protects your business, and I think there's just friction that annoys your patients. And I think that there's a really big distinction to your point and to Nick's point in kind of, like, how you present the friction.

Right? Like, you might be presenting the same exact requirement in two specific scenarios. So verifying identity or requiring documentation before prescription medication is dispensed. And it can feel like the business is really going above and beyond to protect you when it's explained well, or it can feel like it's just this random arbitrary hoop that you have to jump through, and it can be the same scenario.

The only difference is how you're explaining and presenting that friction to the client. So I think you both brought up really great points. I think friction certainly is not universally bad, and there is a lot of friction that is directly tied to applicable laws and regulations that are critical, not just for compliance, but for safety because a lot of compliance is built around safety. But I think the way that you communicate that friction and doing it in a way that's clearly demonstrating that you're doing it for transparency, safety, and compliance reasons, is ultimately gonna support your business.

David: Awesome. Thanks so much, everyone. That is going to do it for today's talk. Speaking of friction and compliance, check out our next episode where we'll be talking about compliance and the patient experience. Steve, Nick, and Naomi, thanks so much, and we hope to see you at our next episode. Thanks.