In the past two years, we have witnessed a fundamental shift in patients’ perceptions of the healthcare experience.Almost overnight, healthcare providers switched to using telemedicine appointments at a certain pace in the spring of 2020 78 times higher Compared with the months before the Covid-19 pandemic. Although digital-centric care initially seemed to be a temporary solution to unprecedented situations, it turns out that these changes are part of a broader recalibration of patient expectations. Compared with the best experiences patients have recently encountered in other aspects of life (especially the digital retail world), the healthcare experience has fallen behind. This is why now, nearly two years after the onset of Covid-19, patients continue to use telemedicine services at a rate 38 times higher than their pre-pandemic levels. After all, in many cases, it is just a more convenient alternative to traditional face-to-face dating.
In the healthcare field, we often see this development as a huge victory for patient-centered care—it certainly has the potential to be that way. But it is important to remember that the temporary solutions set up to create telemedicine and digital care opportunities at the height of the pandemic are not a completed strategy. Rather, they are the starting point for imagining a new set of digital channels for healthcare.
Given the rapidly evolving nature of patient expectations, it is clear that healthcare providers must find ways to transform their services and experiences to provide a true omnichannel healthcare experience (HX) that unifies face-to-face and digital touchpoint care. In the process of seeking to provide a more powerful healthcare experience, a powerful overall strategy emerged-the “digital front door”.
What is the digital front door?
The digital front door is a strategy that uses modern methods to conduct traditional healthcare interactions in person or manually to provide patients with a more integrated, digital, and frictionless experience. In practice, DFD brings more ease, convenience and accessibility to the entire healthcare journey. The value of a deeper digital front door strategy has the ability to bring substantial returns to healthcare organizations. Not only will it increase operational efficiency, but it may also increase patient retention, attractiveness, and loyalty—all of which are important indicators as profit margins continue to shrink in the competitive healthcare market.
A strong digital front door strategy includes each of the following strategic components:
- Optimize interaction, capabilities, support and care throughout the healthcare process
- Use data to provide a more personalized and predictable patient experience
- Use self-service channels to provide care, information and support
- Clarity and transparency of all services, care, and costs make healthcare more “shopping”
Why the digital front door is more than just “telemedicine”
The main focus is on the delivery of telemedicine, which reduces the greater impact of the digital front door strategy on the entire operation. For example, if a patient completes a telemedicine appointment, but then learns that they must call and wait to schedule a follow-up appointment, they may postpone the appointment-which may lead to worse patient outcomes and lower patient retention rates.
The true digital front door strategy explores the entire patient life cycle to find opportunities to create efficiency and convenience for staff and patients.
As you explore a comprehensive digital front door strategy, keep the following key touch points in mind:
- Digital input and care start: Provide digital access to tools, information, and education that will help solve initial care problems and increase brand awareness in crowded markets.
- Omni-channel care and patient support: Provide frictionless and convenient care for patients anytime, anywhere.
- Personalized and proactive care follow-up: Provide follow-up information, guidance, and support to enrich care results and simplify ongoing care throughout the patient’s daily life.
How to quickly start your digital front door transformation
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to a digital front door strategy for healthcare. However, there are steps you can take to help ensure that the tools and strategies you deploy are aligned with the unique expectations and needs of your patient population. For the most successful adoption, take a step back and get a clear understanding of the demographics of your current and target patients. More importantly, discover what they want from their healthcare experience.
You can start this exercise by conducting some research and analysis to determine the shortcomings of your current patient journey, channels, and interactions. Voice of the customer (VOC), employee listening, data analysis, and current patient journey maps can help you create a gap between your current experience and the experience you want to provide.
From then on, it’s time to establish consistency within your organization and build components that can help you maximize the work of your digital front door. In many cases, working with experts in healthcare experience can help you navigate the technology selection, design, and orchestration process to ensure that your strategy produces measurable results. In all cases, consistent measurement and recalibration of your solution is a necessary condition for continuous synchronization with the patient. When an organization sees patient expectations as the North Star, it can begin to transform potential customers into loyalists and build unforgettable experiences to promote patient care and bottom-line.
Photo: tonefotografia, Getty Images
