Linq drives 70% more Ohio veterans back to healthcare visits
By J.R. Williams at Linq
Mathew Donathan, a health system specialist for the Northeast Ohio Veterans Affairs office, was touring a satellite care facility when the director made a plea.
Rent a billboard, she said, and put contact information in huge type. Appointment confirmation calls from the office looked like spam, and many vets just didn’t answer.
Donathan knew the scale and the stakes. The regional VA network is one of the largest in the country. Northeast Ohio sees 140,000 veterans every year. Services range from routine visits to high-risk outreach, primary care to open heart surgery, spinal cord injuries to substance abuse, care for post-traumatic stress, the blind, the mentally ill, and the homeless.
There are 8,000 appointments every day. Donathan turned the issue over in his mind. One night after hours, he said, “I made the connection.”
Donathan had seen Linq on YouTube. The video showed that with one tap, the VA’s full contact card — complete with phone tree extensions and a map to the office — would instantly appear on the veteran’s phone, ready to save. The official VA seal appears as the contact’s avatar, leaving no doubt the call is from a United States healthcare provider working for vets.
“I’m a veteran myself, and any simplicity I can put into my healthcare is ideal because it can be complicated,” Donavan said. “I knew it was going to work.”
Linq cards rolled out to multiple VA services around Cleveland, Ohio, including spinal care, physical therapy, electromyography, and rehab services for the blind. Initial results were better than Donathan imagined: With just a handful of Linq Cards, canceled physical therapy appointments dropped 41 percent.
“This one hits home,” said Elliott Potter, CEO of Linq. “We’ve issued thousands of Linq cards over the years, but I’m especially proud of these. It goes without saying that veterans deserve the highest quality care, and I’m honored that we can help them get there.”
One idea led to another. If VA social workers had Linq cards, homeless veterans could tap to register for support services. VA psychiatrists and psychologists need the cards. There’s a whitepaper in the works for the American Journal of Medical Quality.
Donathan is honing his Linq pitch for the 11th Veterans Health Administration Shark Tank in October, which rewards VA employees for “innovations that promote positive outcomes.”
“This has implications across the healthcare industry,” Donathan said. “If you make their life simpler, they will be forever grateful.”
About Linq
Linq is the world's first mobile-first CRM. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, Linq transforms how salespeople interact with legacy CRMs to capture leads, nurture relationships, and turn more contacts into closed deals.
With seamless integrations with top CRM platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot, Linq offers an easy-to-use mobile interface that enables sales teams to work effectively from anywhere.
About Linq Digital Business Cards
Linq offers a range of NFC- and AI-enabled hardware products designed to instantly transfer contact details and customizable pages for a memorable first impression. Products include customizable digital business cards, freestanding hubs, and wearable accessories. Paired with LinqOne, our mobile-first CRM, and Linq Blue, our CRM iMessage service, digital business cards are the first step toward modern networking.
