Dwight McBee is the chief experience officer at Temple University Health System in Philadelphia. Here, he discusses the biggest challenges and opportunities for improving patient experience.
Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What is the No. 1 challenge facing healthcare chief experience officers? How do you plan to tackle it?
Dwight McBee: The challenge that remains a priority is staying ahead of patient and family expectations. Healthcare is a rapidly changing environment, and the experience of care is often the differentiator when other services and quality outcomes are comparable. Our approach, like many other health systems, is to harness the voice of our patients at every opportunity to learn, and ultimately optimize, our care-delivery process to exceed expectations.
Q: What are some of the untapped opportunities to improve patient experience today?
DM: Companies like Google have taught many industries that there is power in big data. This is an area that can translate to a smarter and more responsive healthcare environment. I believe there is a new dimension of patient experience performance hidden within large data sets.
Q: How do you see the role of the chief experience officer evolving in the healthcare field over the next five years?
DM: It is my hope that the chief experience officer role will continue to evolve and grow in influence. As the complexity increases, there will always be a need to have someone with a finger on the pulse of the patient experience at the executive level. The CXO role has gone far beyond HCAHPS [Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems] and will be an integral part of healthcare systems for years to come.