Roughly 8 percent of healthcare organizations consider consumer expectation a high priority and have implemented several consumer-based strategies with some success, according to recent research out of Kaufman, Hall & Associates.
The report, titled the "2017 State of Consumerism in Healthcare: Slow Progress in Fast Times," is based on more than 125 healthcare organizations' responses to Kaufman Hall's 2017 Healthcare Consumerism Survey. The majority of survey respondents (74 percent) were from health systems across the U.S., while 21 percent of those surveyed identified as leaders at various U.S. hospitals.
Here are five insights from the report.
1. Roughly 90 percent of survey respondents cited improving key elements of the consumer experience as a high priority for their organizations. However, only 30 percent said they instituted tools or practices in those areas.
2. More than half (58 percent) of healthcare leaders said offering digital tools and information to enable consumer engagement represented high priorities for their organizations. But of those leaders, 14 percent said they have those capabilities in place.
3. While respondents identified access to care as one of their organization's top priorities, only 19 percent of those surveyed said their organizations offered significant access via retail clinics. Nearly half of those surveyed (47 percent) said their organization did not own or operate retail clinics.
4. More than two-thirds (69 percent) of respondents said their organization implemented an online patient portal. Roughly 43 percent of those surveyed said they implemented tools to allow patients and providers to communicate through online messaging services.
5. Almost all (97 percent) of respondents said their organization uses post-visit patient surveys to gain customer insight, followed by quantitative research (85 percent), analysis of internal patient data (72 percent), real-time feedback during visits (34 percent) and advanced analytics (23 percent).
To read the full report, click here.