Customer Experience and Healthcare Consumerism: Are Providers Meeting Customer Expectations?

How well are providers meeting the expectations of healthcare consumers? Two recent surveys shed some light on the issue.

Doctor.com surveyed 1,718 patients in 2018 to assess their needs and preferences regarding the customer experience of healthcare.

The latest survey from Kaufman Hall, on the other hand, focuses on consumerism from the provider side, and offers an analysis of where 425 respondents from 200 healthcare organizations rate.

Health Literacy: How To Provide the Customer-Focused Online Experience Your Visitors Expect

“As many as 50 to 90 percent of adults struggle with health literacy,” states Stacy Robison, MPH, MCHES, president and co-founder of CommunicateHealth, Inc. “This is because medical information is very complex and full of jargon.” In addition, she points out that the stress of a patient’s healthcare journey further hinders that person’s ability to wade Read More

Ochsner Innovation Lab’s AI Tool Helps Predict — and Prevent — Patient Health Crises

The drama of a “code team” racing to a patient’s bedside is a frequent scene in the myriad of hospital-based television shows that are popular today, but the innovationOchsner team has plans to replace the emphasis on teams that respond after a cardiac arrest. What if you could predict a potential event in the next Read More

Research Update: Looking at Consumer Expectations from Both Sides

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // How is healthcare doing in terms of meeting customer expectations? Doctor.com surveyed 1,718 patients in 2018 to assess their needs and preferences regarding the customer experience of healthcare. Kaufman Hall’s latest survey focuses on consumerism from the provider side, and offers an analysis of where 425 respondents from 200 healthcare organizations rate themselves on everything from improving customer experience to providing price transparency. In this article, we’ll share highlights from both surveys, one confirming that consumers have high expectations of providers, the other showing positive movement but slow progress in meeting those expectations.

AI and Digital Medicine Provide Real-Time Data to Improve Patient Care

In the Lab // By Sheryl S. Jackson // The drama of a “code team” racing to a patient’s bedside is a frequent scene in the myriad of hospital-based television shows that are popular today, but the innovationOchsner team has plans to replace the emphasis on teams that respond after a cardiac arrest. What if Read More

Innovation Shaping the Future at Jefferson Health

It’s appropriate that a health system named after the author of the famous document that begins with “When in the course of human events…” should demonstrate a strong commitment to human-centered design. Under the leadership of chief executive officer Steve Klasko, MD, MBA, recently named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People for 2018, Jefferson Read More

Inventive Minds Chart the Future at Jefferson Health

[In the Lab] // By Jane Weber Brubaker // It’s appropriate that a health system named after the author of the famous document that begins with “When in the course of human events…” should demonstrate a strong commitment to human-centered design. Under the leadership of chief executive officer Steve Klasko, MD, MBA, recently named one Read More

New Asthma App Facilitates At-Home Care

In 2018, the patient digital toolkit is ever expanding. Between electronic health records, smartphones, texting, and telehealth, patients have access to a wide range of digital resources. The problem is that multiple resources come with multiple logins, passwords, and in-app experiences. Digital health can be a little overwhelming and disjointed. Recently, innovators at Nemours Children’s Read More

Creating a Seamless Digital Experience for Pediatric Patient Families

Nemours Launches Powerful App for Asthma Patients // By Melanie Graham // In 2018, the patient digital toolkit is ever expanding. Between electronic health records, smartphones, texting, and telehealth, patients have access to a wide range of digital resources. The problem is that multiple resources come with multiple logins, passwords, and in-app experiences. Digital health Read More

On-Demand Care Kiosks In the City That Never Sleeps

It’s Monday afternoon and you’re feeling under the weather. You have the entire week ahead and a packed schedule, but a doctor’s visit is in order. Should you take time off and try to make an appointment with your physician? Or would it be better to find a few hours and head to the urgent care Read More

NewYork-Presbyterian Expands Access to Care Through On-Demand Services

// By Melanie Graham // It’s Monday afternoon and you’re feeling under the weather. You have the entire week ahead and a packed schedule, but a doctor’s visit is in order. Should you take time off and try to make an appointment with your physician? Or would it be better to find a few hours and Read More

Consumer Understanding Drives Consumer Experience

“Gaining an understanding of what drives the choice-making and loyalty of healthcare consumers is complex,” says Kyra Hagan, senior vice president and general manager, marketing & communications at Influence Health. “What we do know is that consumers’ expectations for healthcare interactions are being shaped by the personalized and convenient experiences they have grown accustomed to in other Read More

Empathy: The Key to Creating Meaningful Digital Experiences for Consumers

// By Kyra Hagan // Gaining an understanding of what drives the choice-making and loyalty of healthcare consumers is complex. What we do know is that consumers’ expectations for healthcare interactions are being shaped by the personalized and convenient experiences they have grown accustomed to in other industries, like retail, hospitality, and banking. As a Read More

iPad Check-In Solution Provides Myriad Marketing Benefits

Sometimes a technology solution adopted by healthcare administrators and clinicians produces unexpected benefits for marketers. CHRISTUS Physician Group, with operations in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and New Mexico, wanted to streamline patient check-in during office visits and improve collection of outstanding balances. To achieve these goals, the organization piloted, then implemented, a digital patient check-in solution Read More

Patient Check-In Tool Drives Benefits for Marketers

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Sometimes a technology solution adopted by healthcare administrators and clinicians produces unexpected benefits for marketers. CHRISTUS Physician Group, with operations in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and New Mexico, wanted to streamline patient check-in during office visits and improve collection of outstanding balances. To achieve these goals, the organization piloted, then Read More

The Intersection of AI and Healthcare

The media, including social media, are buzzing about AI, or artificial intelligence. As of this writing in late November, the top trending article on Facebook is “Facebook Is Using Artificial Intelligence to Spot Suicidal Tendencies in Its Users.” On LinkedIn, it is “Where Will AI Increase and Decrease Costs in Healthcare?” Is AI just the Read More

Artificial Intelligence: A Consumer’s Guide to Your Healthcare Organization’s Website

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // The media, including social media, are buzzing about AI, or artificial intelligence. As of this writing in late November, the top trending article on Facebook is “Facebook Is Using Artificial Intelligence to Spot Suicidal Tendencies in Its Users.” On LinkedIn, it is “Where Will AI Increase and Decrease Costs Read More

The Front Door Is NOT Your Hospital’s Website: Why Reputation Management Matters

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Hospitals and health systems think of their websites as the digital “front door” to their organizations, but before consumers get there, search engine results could steer them away to competitors with higher star ratings and more positive reviews. Reputation is everything. The sheer number of places consumers post information Read More

Replace Your Expensive Brochures With Mobile Apps

Printing patient education pamphlets, brochures, and information kits isn’t cheap. It’s one thing if patients actually use them. But do they? Two hospitals thought mobile apps might be a better solution. Luke Poppish is executive director of the OB/GYN service line at South Shore Hospital near Boston, Massachusetts. “Anecdotally, we were hearing that moms would get their Read More

Goodbye, Bulky Patient Handbooks; Hello, Service Line Apps

eHealthcare Pulse // By Jane Weber Brubaker // Printing patient education pamphlets, brochures, and information kits isn’t cheap. It’s one thing if patients actually use them. But do they? Two hospitals thought mobile apps might be a better solution. Luke Poppish is executive director of the OB/GYN service line at South Shore Hospital near Boston, Read More

Lean Healthcare: Valuing What Patients Value

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Lean business practices have been around ever since Toyota devised the “Toyota Production System” to transform its manufacturing processes. The idea was further refined in the book Lean Thinking, and distilled down to five core ideas¹: Value—specify the value desired by the customer Value Stream—identify the value stream for Read More