How healthcare providers can use digital patient interactions to heal the fractured patient experience

Today’s consumers demand simplicity and ease when interacting with any provider of goods or services, and healthcare is no exception. The consumerization of healthcare and increased adoption of patient-centric and value-based care continues to push healthcare providers to consider new technologies to improve the patient experience.

The patient who uses a search engine to research providers is the same person who schedules an appointment, calls the provider to ask for directions, completes an intake form, schedules diagnostic testing, and completes a provider survey. However, more often than not, each interaction with the healthcare consumer or patient remains siloed, fracturing the patient experience—from difficulty scheduling (and keeping) appointments to having to provide the same information repeatedly or getting lost in the transfer between departments.

Engaged patients are three times less likely to have unmet medical needs and twice as likely to seek prompt care than unengaged patients.^[1] Patients become less engaged (or entirely disengaged) when their experience with a provider is difficult or frustrating, leading to delayed care and unmet medical needs. Providers waste time and resources responding to queries from multiple directions and are forced to guide patients through disparate systems and processes, resulting in frustration and lost productivity. For physicians, three unfilled cancellations can cause a productivity decline of 12.5%, not to mention potential compromises to patient health.^[2]

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), substantial evidence points to a positive association between patient experience and healthcare outcomes. Studies show that patients who are more activated have better health outcomes and care experiences. Communication with the provider organization correlates with patient adherence to medical advice and treatment plans.^[3] Better patient engagement leads to better health outcomes.

As many providers undergo digital transformation, revisiting the many point solutions that power patient experience may be in order. Looking to the latest in CX technology may provide some solutions.

Here are four practical ways customer experience technology and digital patient interactions can improve the patient experience:

Today’s CX technology holds the key to connect patient interaction data in a way that increases provider understanding of the entire care journey. Such data-driven insights hold promise to improve empathy, connection, and communication with consumers, patients, and staff. With the ability to gauge patient experience at every touchpoint, healthcare providers can make incremental improvements that impact patient access, patient engagement, and, ultimately, patient outcomes.

[1] Health Affairs: What The Evidence Shows About Patient Activation: Better Health Outcomes And Care Experiences; Fewer Data On Costs | Health Affairs (2013)
[2] Medical Economics: Turning patient cancellations into revenue (medicaleconomics.com) (2020)
[3] Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Section 2: Why Improve Patient Experience? | Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (ahrq.gov) (2020)