Building Better Digital Experiences to Improve Patient Access and Engagement at Allina Health
// By Melanie Graham //
Each month, NRC Health surveys American consumers about their healthcare experiences and preferences. And every month, the data seems to point to the same conclusion: Consumers want healthcare organizations to stop acting like healthcare organizations.
The NRC survey polls more than 500,000 Americans and 100-plus healthcare CEOs. It also includes more than 300 face-to-face interviews across 50 states.
Ryan Donohue, strategic advisor at NRC Health
“Consumers expect so much from us and the vast majority of them don’t feel we’ve delivered on our promises,” says Ryan Donohue, strategic advisor at NRC Health, a company specializing in healthcare research and enterprise platforms for patient strategy, marketing, and communications. “There’s a disparity between us and the consumers who experience healthcare.”
The survey results show consumers need healthcare to be more affordable, convenient, and transparent. And as many other industries have found, digital tools and experiences can help organizations meet those expectations.
That’s one reason why Allina Health has made a huge digital push in the past 18-24 months, focusing efforts on improving access and the overall patient experience.
Chris DuFresne, director of digital experience, Allina Health
“We heard from our patients and consumers and they were looking for easier ways to interact with healthcare, similar to what they experience with other industries,” says Chris DuFresne, director of digital experience at Allina Health, a 12-hospital system in Minnesota. “We need to evolve our care model based on the expectations of the consumer.”
Allina Health has leveraged some of Donohue’s knowledge and shared the NRC research with staff and stakeholders. Allina Health is also piloting some of the NRC Health platforms.
DuFresne teamed up with Donohue at the 2019 Healthcare Marketing and Physician Strategies Summit (HMPS), where they discussed the growing need for connecting a physical brand with digital patient experiences. We followed up to hear more about how Allina Health is moving the needle with digital tools and platforms.
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