Salesforce has a seemingly unlimited number of products and applications for those products. Under each cloud product there are multiple editions, and often customized versions of those editions for specific industries.

Obviously few industries require as much customization as healthcare, so it’s no wonder Salesforce has a “cloud” specifically dedicated to healthcare.

As with many of Salesforce’s products, however, there’s a lot that IT and healthcare professionals need to understand about Salesforce Health Cloud, including:

• What does it actually do (is it a CRM? An EHR? What are the features)?
• How much does it cost? And particularly: where are the pricing inflection points around features and usage?
• How does it stack up to competitors (particularly when it comes to privacy, security, and healthcare-specific features, requirements, and integrations)?

In this post we’ll help you understand what Salesforce Health Cloud really is, how it works, how much it costs, and how to think about the platform as a healthcare and/or IT professional.

What is Salesforce Health Cloud?

Salesforce Health Cloud is a health-focused CRM and record management software product. 

The primary focus of the platform, according to Salesforce, is to offer a “360 degree view” of the patient experience for healthcare and life science companies. Specifically the platform offers integration of patient data across multiple teams (sales, marketing, and care teams) as well as patient access to providers and their own records.

Features & Benefits

The relevant feature set and list of benefits within Health Cloud will vary somewhat depending on who the user is (provider, payer, pharma, med tech, etc.) but across each of these the feature set is relatively consistent. 

That said there’s a large list of features that are available for the Enterprise, Unlimited, and Life Sciences editions of the Salesforce Health Cloud product on the pricing page (different editions at different price points give access to different features of course) but at a high level key features include:

• Virtual care tools
• A central database for client information like appointment details, medical history, social determinants, etc.
• Survey and assessment collection tools
• Patient-facing and internal chat and mobile apps 

Most of the messaging from Salesforce centers around the “360 degree view” of care as a core selling point, meaning that providers, payers, and patients have a centralized access point that pipes in data from multiple sources and allows for communication between all parties involved in care. 

Data Model

The Salesforce Health Cloud Data Model refers to the set of objects accessible via API for Health Cloud users. Per Salesforce’s own documentation, there are a number of specific tools and data points you can access via the Health Cloud Data Model:

• Advanced Therapy Management
• Benefits Verification
• Care Management
• Care Program Management
• Claims
• Clinical Data Model
• Code Sets for Diagnosis and Procedure
• Electronic Health Records
• Engagement Interaction
• Health Insurance
• Intelligent Appointment Management
• Intelligent Document Automation
• Intelligent Sales
• Medication Management
• Provider Network Management
• Remote Monitoring and Device Registration
• Social Determinants
• Unified Health Scoring
• Utilization Management

This is an important piece of the puzzle if you’re either evaluating Salesforce Health Cloud as a potential option, or if you’re looking to get started with implementation. You (and/or your IT team, if you’re not an IT professional, and/or a vendor like Argano if you’re looking for third party help with implementation and/or management) need to understand what data can be accessed, how, and in what ways it can be used.

Pricing

Health Cloud pricing is pretty simple:

• Enterprise – $300 USD per user per month
• Unlimited – $450 USD per user per month
• Life Sciences Enterprise – $225 USD per user per month
• Life Sciences Unlimited – $375 USD per user per month

On the pricing page linked above you can see the full breakdown of features available and not available for each of the different product editions. 

Training & Certifications

If you’re looking for training or certification in Health Cloud, the Health Cloud Trailhead does offer certification for a Health Cloud Specialist, Salesforce offers official documentation on the product, and of course you always have the option of hiring a vendor like Argano to help with either handling implementation or training your team.

Integration Challenges

Many of the integration challenges for implementing Salesforce Health cloud will be unique to your organization and will depend on factors such as:

• The specific compliance requirements for the data you’re integrating into Health Cloud
• The data you’re connecting to Salesforce Health Cloud and the functionality you’re using (for instance you may have point solutions in areas like scheduling you’d prefer to use over the Health Cloud solutions)
• What apps and software you’re connecting with Health Cloud

Again this is where a partner experienced with multiple technologies and with Health Cloud implementations can be valuable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Salesforce Health Cloud an EHR?

Salesforce Health Cloud is considered a patient relationship management (PRM) platform and is not commonly regarded as an electronic health record (EHR) system. While PRM solutions, such as Health Cloud, concentrate on managing connections and interactions between patients, healthcare providers, and other stakeholders, EHRs are made to store and handle clinical patient data.

Is Salesforce Health Cloud HIPAA compliant?

Salesforce Health Cloud is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant. Salesforce also provides extra tools and services for compliance to assist firms in meeting their unique legal obligations.

What companies use Salesforce Health Cloud?

A number of companies and hospitals use Salesforce Health Cloud. Some well-known examples include Walmart, Providence St. Joseph Health, Mount Sinai Health System, and Blue Shield of California.

How long has Salesforce Health Cloud been around?

Salesforce Health Cloud has been around since 2015 (7 years).