One Expert’s Take on Why and How Telehealth Could Be Better
Matt Hummel, chief experience officer and vice president of consumer strategy and design, Paragon
Telehealth skyrocketed during the pandemic as a way to keep patients and providers safe when in-person office visits weren’t absolutely necessary. The volume of virtual visits went from hundreds a month to thousands a day practically overnight, but the quality of the experience hasn’t always measured up. How do we make it better?
To imagine the future, we reached out to Matt Hummel, chief experience officer at Paragon, a full-lifecycle digital strategy, design, and web solutions provider with deep experience in journey mapping and service design.
“If we were putting where telehealth is today on a maturity model, in most cases it would be low,” says Hummel. “We’re not really thinking through the journey. We’re not thinking through the experience, and I think it is ripe for that exploration.
“Right now, [the telehealth experience] is confusing, and I think that is inherently limiting its reach. Because if you don’t have some digital savvy, you’re unlikely to be successful in getting a visit on your own.
“For example, a recent client’s experience goes like this. First you need to schedule the visit. Then you need to remember you have this visit.
“You have to log into MyChart, click a link in MyChart, navigate to the virtual visit section, click the link to start the session. If you don’t have [your provider’s] video tool, you have to download and install the software. And then you have to come back into MyChart, re-click the same link you clicked before, and then get thrown into a waiting room to wait for the provider.
“The usability alone on that stage of the journey — the actual getting into the appointment — is often not frictionless, and certainly not seamless.”
Read the full interview now:
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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