Empowered by mobile and social technology that connects to their daily life and gives them access to an unprecedented amount of medical information, they are no longer passive patients with little choice other than to comply with their doctor’s orders. Instead, they are customers researching their conditions, evaluating their treatment options and considering their healthcare providers’ quality and satisfaction scores.
At the same time, technology and demographics are converging to move the industry beyond the delivery of care to sick patients. A diverse set of players, including new entrants from non-traditional fields, is focusing on a fundamentally different approach — disease prevention and the management of health. Healthcare is being reimagined, the balance of power is tipping toward the consumer and organizations that don’t adapt will be left playing catch-up.
This is why it is more critical than ever to make your organization a listening organization. It starts with asking patients what they want, then creating the type of culture that enables everyone to be empowered around patient needs. You need to consider the customer experience in every decision you make, from capital investments to human resources. You should train your employees to help them understand the rational and the emotional aspects of the customer experience. And importantly, your leadership team needs to lead by example, living the customer experience as your organization’s number one value.
The correlation between employee engagement and customer engagement will become more important as the aging population leads to an explosion of incidents of chronic diseases that must be proactively managed. Everyone in your organization, from the top down, should be focused on demonstrating empathy, getting the basics right, speaking with one voice and making it easy for the customer. Little touches can make a big difference.
For example, instead of a physician sitting across from a patient to share lab results, he or she should sit beside the patient so the patient can see the notes written in their medical record. Sharing actual notes has been controversial for some physicians, but research shows that when notes are shared, patients are more engaged, have more trust and can be proactive in correcting any mistakes.
Healthcare is an industry with a trust gap. Patients question that the payer has their best interest in mind, that the physician really cares about them and their issues and will actually spend time with them, that their employer is providing them with the best health plan and that the government is developing policies that will positively transform our system of care. Listening to your patients, and then acting to improve their customer experience, will help build trust in your organization. And trusted organizations are more successful, more profitable and more likely to grow than organizations that break trust.
Historically in healthcare, we have not taken into account the perspective of the patient because we’re often stuck in a doctor-knows-best kind of culture. But now, we’re finding that consumers really do know what they need. When we take consumers’ needs into account, truly bring them into the conversation and empower them with data and information, consumers become our partners and a thriving, reimagined healthcare organization emerges.
Kristen Vennum is the Americas Advisory Health Sector Leader at Ernst & Young LLP. She is based in Washington, DC, and can be reached at Kristen.Vennum@ey.com.
Becky Ditmer is a principal in the Advisory Health sector of Ernst & Young LLP. She is based in McLean, VA, and can be reached at Becky.Ditmer@ey.com.
The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ernst & Young LLP.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker’s Hospital Review/Becker’s Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.
