Healthcare decision-makers like to use data to support all kinds of decisions. The kinds of data are as numerous as the sources are prolific. These leaders measure processes, financials, clinical outcomes, myriad growth determinants, propensity for treatment options, physician performance, disease-population correlation, etc.
Yet one of the most critical measures of healthcare success at any hospital, physician practice or health system is patient experiences. When people tell their stories about interfacing with a health provider, we listen, internalize and turn it into a supporting or contrasting measure for how well the provider is fulfilling their mission. Recognizing patient experience – actually customer experience – as key to provider success, is the most important part of a new consciousness brooding in the healthcare environment today.
In their new book, Healthcare Tsunami, Wayne Glowac and Dean Halverson make the strong case that the new wave of consumerism in healthcare will change the industry forever:
“As consumers begin to spend more dollars on healthcare, they will vote, as they do in other ndustries, with their wallets. Consumers will have newfound power when they understand the value of that vote and use it to change the industry. This will change everything from the way care is delivered to the information available on procedures and their cost. Consumerism will generate greater transparency in an industry that has a high degree of confusion under present conditions.”
And, it seems, that in barely a year since the book had been penned, much of that transparency is coming to the fore of healthcare provider environments. Companies like Health Grades have engineered interactive web sites that allow people to rate providers on the quality of care, the outcomes, and even bedside manner. Other organizations have found ways to turn families’ frustrations about lack of transparency and disclosure into new gold mines. Care Pages offers patients and their families the opportunity to form communities of people in similar situations, so as to share war stories and speak about their health issues.
Many health systems and hospitals have been collecting patient survey data for years, and yet, this is a fairly antiquated and inflexible method of discovery. Research professionals serving the healthcare world universally acknowledge that survey data is limited in measuring and capturing the true power of customer experiences. Even more limiting, the data they collect is old and significantly past the emotional memory of the event.
But if experiences translate into consumerism that changes our way of doing business, how do we positively affect customer experience? And how do we know if these efforts lead to success? The answers lie in how people make choices.
------------Michael
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