Today’s patients crave seamless and streamlined processes when it comes to managing their health. Long gone are the days of waiting hours to check in with the front desk or waiting days, even weeks, for test results and lab data.
According to Laura Lovett of Mobihealthnews, “Most patients today are also consumers used to getting what they need, when they need it. This, coupled with the demand for more healthcare services, means that the way healthcare is provided is going to change in the future.”
At this year’s Next Generation Patient Experience (NGPX) conference industry experts discussed the importance of using digital tools, including healthcare-based mobile apps and interactive patient portals, and AI to meet customer expectations and improve CX. Healthcare professionals also examined the parallels between guests at theme parks and healthcare consumers, leading to the conclusion that hospitals can learn quite a bit from theme parks.
“Guests at a theme park and patients at a hospital go there expecting a transformative and immersive experience,” explained HGS’s Global Head of Healthcare Marketing, Kevin Nolan. “People expect easy access and a smooth exit. For example, the Mayo Clinic has taken cues from theme park design to launch an interactive kiosk for patient check-in and check-out. Now, two years in, patients are increasingly comfortable with the set-up. Where expectation meets reality is in the handling of the experience. The least skilled and experienced workers are often the people that the guest/patient interacts with the most. Hospital systems have an opportunity for upskilling their teams across all disciplines to provide a more pleasurable and patient-centric experience.”
As today’s consumers continue to expect excellence in efficiency as it pertains to their health and treatment plans, experts urge the industry to look to theme parks to create transformative and immersive CX. Afterall, for healthcare consumers and patients, the path to a healthy life doesn’t have to be a rollercoaster.
To read more insights from NGPX click the link here.
