Nothing is more personal than health, and consumers today expect their healthcare experience to be better than retail, insurance or banking services. Many times, when we visit retail, insurance or banking websites, they navigate for us or provide usage-related products and services through a personalized experience. However, my digital patient experience is messy, intermittent, and usually so impersonal. Consumers want the interaction with their care team to be frictionless in their preferred method of communication.
In recent years, the pace of change in the entire healthcare industry has accelerated.For a full range of healthcare organizations-from doctors’ offices to health insurance companies to pharma and pharmaceutical companies-leading this change is the key to increasing participation and providing a superior consumer experience. Therefore, it is time to rethink health care participation. Although the healthcare industry has made great strides in providing connected experiences during the year and a half of the turmoil, the reality is that consumers still bear the brunt of navigation in a very complex and often disconnected healthcare ecosystem.
Data shows that despite the need for better participation, patient loyalty has increased
According to Pega’s 2021 health care participation survey, more than 2,000 patients and 200 senior health care executives from medical plans, medical systems, and pharmaceutical companies pointed out that the gap between patients’ perceptions of participation and the industries that provide participation has significantly narrowed. But still shocking it. As health care challenges persist, patients are much more tolerant during a pandemic. The most telling thing is that compared with last year, the number of patients who said they would change doctors due to poor communication and participation dropped by 23% (from 86% to 63%)-although persistent problems continue to plague medical care The healthcare industry. This is a significant drop, but due to the ongoing uncertainty of the Covid-19 variant, it is temporary.
Because many people still feel the effects of the pandemic, patients are reluctant to find new healthcare providers. But this is a temporary effect, and healthcare organizations are aware of it. Active communication will greatly help retain patients and make them feel valued. They want more communication. The results show that the collaborative participation that consumers experience from their doctors and insurance companies has improved: 50% of consumers agree that their doctors and health insurance companies are in sync and close contact, which is a significant increase from 27% last year . In addition, consumers noticed the better cost predictability of health insurance companies: 51% of people said their insurance company can tell them the cost before surgery, which is higher than the 16% in the previous year.
But will these positive emotions surpass the pandemic? Overall, the healthcare system frustrated consumers: 55% said navigation is still difficult, compared with 61% last year. Therefore, if providers and payers wish to build on their newly discovered customer goodwill, the survey suggests two key focus areas to help provide a better personalized care experience:
Bridging the gap in patient communication
Many care organizations (76%) believe they can make it easier for patients to contact them. However, more than half (54%) of consumers said they are satisfied with the level of communication in the doctor’s office. When healthcare organizations communicate, the information provided can be confusing: Nearly half (48%) of consumers say they receive conflicting information from insurance companies—an increase of nearly 20% from last year. Organizations must address this cognitive gap to consolidate the trust and loyalty of patients.
Accelerate the adoption of advanced technology
If this means improving their health outcomes, consumers are slowly becoming more willing to allow payers and providers to use more technology. For example, 53% of consumers said they would like to allow insurance companies to access their real-time health data-an increase of 13% from last year. In addition, 49% of people are satisfied with their doctors using artificial intelligence to make better care decisions. As customers become more comfortable with these methods, health organizations have the opportunity to introduce new proactive ways to interact with healthy consumers.
Although consumers are more loyal to doctors and payers than before the pandemic, suppliers are not so convinced: 77% of people believe that patients will switch suppliers because of poor communication-an increase from last year 103%. The vast majority are exploring new technologies to better interact with patients to help them maintain proactive care. In the post-pandemic world, care teams from providers to insurance companies must increase personalization and reduce complexity so that consumers can be more involved in their health and drive better care outcomes. Some people say that the development of healthcare in the next ten years will be more developed than in the past 100 years.
Therefore, most healthcare organizations consider innovation as a key strategic component.This accelerated view of technology enhances how healthcare organizations provide services and personalized care to customers to improve overall health. Healthcare is connection: connecting consumers to the right care and connecting information from providers to payers to patients/members. After Covid-19, it is now more necessary than ever. All these connections boil down to one-on-one participation, which is why it is so important to provide personalized, prioritized, and preemptive healthcare. Personalized experiences empower consumers, simplify healthcare services, and drive better results.
