How Do You Enhance the Patient Journey? Understand Preferences in Advance The evolution of Human Understanding started with compliance measures to gather information on healthcare settings and programs for populations. Then a wave of consumerism formed to gather insights about health services and user segments, tracking transactions for patients as consumers. Today, we know that the evolution of the patient journey is about making a human connection to gain a deep personal understanding of patients to serve them better. 

Strong communication between patients and providers is the key to creating a positive patient experience. And the channel for that communication has shifted in recent years.

The overall number of patients who would definitely recommend a hospital to others decreased by 4.5 percent during the pandemic, reflecting a national decrease in patients’ perceptions of care across all care settings, according to a Press Ganey survey published Nov. 4.

As health systems struggle with increased demand care amid labor shortages, it's clear that a fundamental transformation must occur. To achieve this transformation, health systems must improve population health and help patients access healthcare on their terms through technology and innovation.

For many patients, the standard healthcare experience has been transactional in nature. But according to Gregory Makoul, PhD, CEO of PatientWisdom at NRC Health, an evolution is underway that focuses on treating each patient as an individual.

As COVID-19 cases fall nationally, a reprieve makes for a good time to revisit the shared need for crisis standards of care. 

Most patients use the internet to research their health concerns after leaving their physician's appointment unsatisfied, according to an October report by the AHIMA Foundation, the charitable affiliate of the American Health Information Management Association.

Patient engagement solutions help organizations manage many patient interactions more effectively so providers can focus their time on patient care.

As healthcare becomes more of a consumer market, providers must adapt to transform the experience they offer patients. Those that seize this opportunity will improve the care experience, attract more patients and streamline operations. 

Although COVID-19 vaccinations are finally paving the way for a more stable operating environment, more disruptive market changes are on the horizon. Healthcare leaders are considering the impact of these shifts on their organizations' financial plans and the overall patient experience. 

Leading healthcare organizations are working to bring together service, back office and operations to adapt to changing patient needs and business conditions.

When you hear someone say they love their physician, what do they give as the reason for it? I asked this question to a hybrid audience at the 27th Annual NRC Health Symposium in August. Here are the responses we heard:

Southdale Hospital in Edina, Minn., part of Minneapolis-based M Health Fairview, has added 52 single occupancy rooms that will open to patients Oct. 4. 

Consumers' digital experiences outside of healthcare are setting a high bar for what they increasingly expect to receive in healthcare. A set of six consumer beliefs is driving change in all industries, including healthcare. These beliefs are:

With health systems’ adoption of EHR systems, physicians' roles are expanding far beyond just providing good clinical care. Physicians often feel they can add the role of billers, medical record custodians and quality management specialists to their resumes.

Today's healthcare consumers expect their experience — from scheduling to payment — to be easy, seamless and online, much like almost every other service and product journey they go through today. Healthcare is complex, and many parts of its ecosystem use antiquated and offline processes and tools that are disjointed and difficult to navigate. 

Today’s patient wants access to information quickly, empowerment over their patient journey, and updated communication options to help them manage it all. How are providers responding? Keeping up with modern demands requires new methods for patient engagement at five critical touchpoints in the patient journey. 

The hospital’s unique culture of “Carism” saved it from the brink of closure and transformed it into one of the country’s “100 Great Community Hospitals”

As Cooperstown, N.Y.-based Bassett Healthcare transitions to an integrated delivery system, it turned to Optum as a partner to preserve its culture and independence.

I've written in the past about how we need to reconcile the terms "patient" and "customer" in healthcare. There are segments of the healthcare community that still believe thinking of the people we serve as anything but patients diminishes the dignity of the patient-provider relationship.