Updating the patient experience

In this digital age, technology plays a significant role in improving the patient experience at MD Anderson. Consider the task of helping patients navigate the institution’s more than 14 million square feet in the Texas Medical Center. Thanks in part to $60,000 in donations from the Hall Family Foundation, there’s an app for that.

MD Anderson’s mobile technology efforts are supported in part through the Gary E. Hall Fund for Cancer Initiatives, which the Hall family established in 2013 to honor Gary’s life and his courageous fight against cancer. His wife, Debbie, and daughters Amy and Jessie hope the fund will help improve the lives of all MD Anderson patients. 

Collaborating with Jeff Frey, director of the institution’s Digital Experience team, the family contributed ideas to help create MD Anderson’s first self-sustaining mobile app, designed to help simplify access to campus information.

“We were with Dad at MD Anderson while he was undergoing treatment for medullary thyroid cancer, and, while we can’t say enough about the patient care and treatment, we saw opportunities to enhance the technological infrastructure,” says Amy Hall. “After he died, we worked with MD Anderson to figure out ways to make the systems easier for staff and patients, everything from scheduling appointments and messaging doctors to retrieving medical records and test results, all through a mobile app.”

Hall, who lives in Dallas, has become actively involved at MD Anderson and now serves on the institution’s Patient and Family Council. Through her family’s experience, she’s become even more engaged in supporting efforts that help patients and family members feel more connected. 

“Most people don’t think about donating money toward technology, but it’s helped move things forward and touch everyone, in a very important way, through MD Anderson’s impressive information technology efforts and resources,” Hall says.

The family’s dedication to the project has been remarkable, says Frey.

“I have a great amount of respect for them in that they continue to invest in the lives of all patients,” he says. “They’ve taken on this fight to help make patients’ lives better and easier.”