Over the past few years, hospitals and health systems have significantly accelerated their technology roadmaps and advanced their digital strategies by leaps and bounds. Just to make sure we haven’t forgotten, just a few short years ago, provider directories looked more like yellow pages than modern 21st century web pages.
It should not be missed, however, that consumer demand for convenient digital access and self-service has also increased dramatically during this period. As a result, there are still ample opportunities for hospitals and health systems to simplify access to care and meet rising consumer expectations.
Today, when searching for a provider online—especially on one of U.S. News and World Report’s top 20 hospital sites—consumers are likely to encounter many consumer-friendly features.
These include clinical and lay terms, making the search process more user-friendly and helping ensure providers have the right expertise. There is also a lookahead feature with predictive search results to simplify the search process. Additionally, consumers continue to discover a global integrated site search, including provider and location, which creates a more streamlined experience.
Taking it a step further, visitors to top hospital websites can find detailed provider profiles that aid the patient-provider matching process as well as consumer-friendly information such as patient ratings and reviews and provider photos. They also encounter clear and prominent calls to action that allow end users to understand the next step in the process.
All these modern features make it easier for consumers to interact with content, search for and choose providers, and ultimately make appointments. But consumers want more.
Today’s healthcare consumers want the same digital self-service and user-friendly experiences they have become accustomed to in every aspect of their lives. There is still room for improvement in the digital experience of the top 20 U.S. health systems when serving existing and new patients.
Here are five key capabilities that all health systems should consider adding to their digital arsenal. Doing so will simplify the process for consumers to discover, select and schedule care.
1. Appointment availability in provider search results
In a recent survey, more than 80% of healthcare consumers said that appointment availability is very or extremely important when choosing a new healthcare provider. Displaying real-time availability in search gives consumers the priority information they are looking for, which enables them to choose the most convenient care option.
However, despite the clear need for this information, only one (5%) of the top 20 U.S. health systems indicated which providers were about to offer availability or showed real-time availability in provider search results.
2. Provider Scheduling
Enabling online scheduling is critical to the consumer experience. Consumers continue to prioritize accessing online schedules when choosing care. Almost 60% of those who prefer to book online said they would switch providers to offer this option.
Many health systems offer online schedules for established patients (eg, through patient portals), but have not yet invested in converting new patients’ online needs. Among the top U.S. health systems, less than half (40%) have online placements for new patients in their Find a Provider, indicating a significant gap in online patient access.
3. Service-based scheduling
While provider-centric online scheduling is the health system’s most prominent opportunity, it’s not the only one.
Consumers are now thinking more broadly about scheduling care online for a range of services. This includes urgent care, imaging, labs, and vaccines, to name a few. However, only 10% of the top U.S. health systems offer online scheduling of broader health care services (i.e., in addition to scheduling appointments with specific providers) in their “find a provider” searches.
By providing this, health systems can differentiate themselves from online consumers.
4. Virtual Care Scheduling
Consumers are also interested in the flexibility of a hybrid care model that allows them to access care through a combination of virtual and in-person visits. For example, more than 40% of consumers said they would prefer to access routine or mental health care virtually or through a combination of virtual and in-person visits. But only 35% of top U.S. hospitals offer new patients the option to schedule a virtual visit online in their Find-a-provider.
The flexibility to offer virtual care options, such as on-demand urgent care or planned visits across a variety of providers and services, is a key differentiator for online healthcare systems.
5. Digital access outside the website
Recent research has shown that consumers searching for care online are most likely to conduct a general internet search (53%) and/or visit a health plan website (52%) after a healthcare facility website. Additionally, consumers are increasingly turning to mobile applications.
While many of the top 20 health systems offer mobile applications for existing patients (e.g., patient portal apps), only over a third (35%) of mobile applications enable new patients to be found and scheduled care without requiring them to create a prepaid account. There is a significant opportunity for health systems to go beyond their websites and integrate these key channels – Google searches, health plan websites and mobile apps – into their digital access strategies, making it easy for new and existing patients Discover, select and schedule care online.
The race to keep pace with changing patient access preferences continues to present significant opportunities to improve the digital environment. There is a unique opportunity to offer more consumer-focused self-service options for select care and online appointments.
As hospitals and health systems look forward, they should consider adding these capabilities. These features will help health systems engage consumers proactively, convert their interests into appointments, and provide the convenience and flexibility to come back to schedule future online care.
Photo: elenabs, Getty Images
