The demand for simplicity and ease in healthcare interactions has led to the consumerization of healthcare and the adoption of patient-centric and value-based care. Healthcare providers are increasingly looking to new technologies to enhance the patient experience and address the challenges associated with fragmented interactions.
Engaged patients are more likely to seek prompt care and have better health outcomes. However, when patients face difficulties or frustrations in their interactions with providers, their engagement can decline, leading to delayed care and unmet medical needs. Providers also waste time and resources due to disparate systems and processes, resulting in frustration and lost productivity.
Studies show a positive association between patient experience and healthcare outcomes. Better patient engagement and communication with providers lead to improved adherence to medical advice and treatment plans, ultimately resulting in better health outcomes.
As providers undergo digital transformation, it is essential to revisit the various point solutions that power the patient experience. Leveraging customer experience (CX) technology and digital patient interactions can offer practical solutions to enhance the patient experience. Here are four ways these technologies can make a difference:
- Simplify and streamline patient-provider interactions: Healthcare providers should support multiple interaction modalities to cater to different preferences. This includes offering both human and automated interactions through various channels, such as phone calls and chatbots. Analyzing data from patient interactions across the care journey can help personalize interactions, identify areas for improvement, and automate processes to create more intuitive experiences.
- Increase patient access with self-service: Optimizing provider websites and digital channels is crucial to ensure patients can easily find the information they need. Smart knowledge management and optimized content can enable self-service starting from internet searches and extending across different platforms. Automation and self-service features can help with routine actions like scheduling, rescheduling, or canceling appointments, bill payments, referrals, and prescription refills. Proactive and automated outreach can also reduce no-shows by confirming appointments and offering rescheduling options.
- Connect experiences along the care journey: Aggregating data from every touchpoint, including phone calls and digital interactions, along with post-care survey responses, can provide insights into the end-to-end patient journey. Applying analytics and AI to this data can help identify areas for improvement, guide next steps, and drive excellence in patient interactions and care.
- Empower contact center agents: With staffing shortages and increased strain on healthcare systems, intelligent human-machine collaboration can make a difference. Leveraging smart conversational AI can offload routine interactions, saving staff time. Empowering contact center agents with knowledge bases, automated sentiment analysis, and real-time guidance can enable more empathetic conversations and better support for patients.
By leveraging CX technology and connecting patient interaction data, healthcare providers can gain a deeper understanding of the entire care journey. Data-driven insights can drive improvements in patient access, engagement, and outcomes, ultimately enhancing the overall patient experience.