The state of patient service in 2024
Patient access finds itself at a critical crossroads. Medical knowledge and technology are progressing rapidly, yet the patient experience often fails to keep pace.
Disjointed systems, siloed data, and a lack of personalization contribute to suboptimal service and dissatisfied patients. A new approach involves leveraging patient experience analytics, which has the potential to transform patient service—particularly at healthcare call centers—by putting patients at the center of every decision and interaction.
Understanding patient experience analytics
At its core, patient experience analytics is about collecting and analyzing data from all facets of the patient's journey, from their first contact with a call center agent, to telephone triage, through post-treatment follow-up, and every touchpoint in between.
This includes both structured data—e.g. feedback surveys, clinical outcomes—and unstructured data—e.g. call transcripts, online reviews. Even information from mobile apps can provide valuable experiential insights.
By aggregating these diverse data streams, providers can gain a comprehensive, 360-degree view of what patients are going through physically and emotionally as they navigate the complexities of the healthcare system.
Advanced analytics techniques like machine learning and natural language processing then allow providers to extract meaningful patterns and anticipate needs, enabling more proactive and personalized care.
The business case for patient experience analytics
Recent research continues to support the strong correlation between superior patient experience and improved financial performance. A 2023 study by Kaufman Hall found that organizations that provide exceptional patient experiences achieve significantly higher net margins compared to those with average patient experiences. This aligns with the broader trend of enhanced patient engagement leading to better financial outcomes for healthcare providers (HHM Global).
Additionally, the American Hospital Association's 2023 report emphasizes that providers with higher patient experience scores tend to have better financial stability, even amidst challenging economic conditions. This report highlights the growing importance of patient satisfaction as a critical driver of profitability and sustainability in the healthcare sector.
In addition to boosting the bottom line, patient experience analytics can also help providers:
- Increase patient satisfaction and loyalty: According to Accenture, 78% of healthcare consumers say they would switch providers for a better experience. This highlights the importance of patient experience in retaining customers and fostering loyalty.
- Improve clinical outcomes: Providers using predictive analytics have seen a 26% reduction in 30-day readmissions, as demonstrated by Corewell Health. This case study showcases how predictive analytics can enhance patient care and reduce readmissions.
- Meet value-based care goals: According to Forrester, 7 in 10 payers tie provider compensation to patient experience scores. This illustrates the shift towards value-based care, where patient satisfaction directly impacts financial incentives.
Key components of a patient experience analytics program
To reap the benefits of patient experience analytics, healthcare organizations need to take a systematic approach with the following key steps:
- Consolidate your data. Audit your existing data sources and bring all patient experience information together in a centralized repository. Don't just focus on structured data—mine unstructured sources like call recordings and medical notes as well.
- Choose the right analytics platform. Look for a healthcare-specific solution with robust integration and real-time capabilities.
- Get buy-in from leadership and staff. Educate the entire organization on the importance of patient experience analytics. For instance, BJC Healthcare appointed a Chief Patient Experience Officer and created a dedicated analytics team, which resulted in HCAHPS scores rising from the 44th to 84th percentile.
- Take action on the insights. Share digestible analytics with point-of-care staff and collaborate on improvement initiatives. When Advocate Aurora equipped clinicians with real-time patient experience dashboards, care coordination scores rose 215%.
Personalizing the patient journey
One of the biggest opportunities in patient experience analytics lies in leveraging data to tailor care to the unique needs and preferences of each individual. Predictive models can identify patients at elevated risk of issues like no-shows or readmissions, allowing for targeted interventions.
Real-time analytics can also help staff make in-the-moment adjustments to improve the patient experience. Sentiment analysis models can gauge the emotional state of a patient during a support call and suggest de-escalation tactics if frustration is detected. And intelligent call routing can match patients with the customer service agent best suited to their personality for optimal rapport.
Healthcare providers on the cutting-edge are combining experience analytics with clinical data to truly move toward precision medicine. ChenMed leverages a wealth of patient data to generate hyper-personalized care plans for its Medicare population, resulting in 50% fewer hospital admissions compared to the national average. By making each patient feel understood and valued, providers can boost outcomes while earning long-term loyalty.
Engaging patients outside the care setting
To elevate the patient experience, analytics and engagement efforts must extend beyond the four walls of the clinic. Leading healthcare organizations are mining experience data to proactively connect with patients at home through targeted education and real-time support.
For example, post-discharge callbacks and surveys can uncover recovery obstacles before they turn into costly readmissions. Enhanced first call resolution to common phone inquirers free up staff to focus on complex cases.
The future of patient experience analytics
While patient experience analytics is already transforming care delivery, emerging technologies are poised to unlock even more revolutionary capabilities:
- IoT devices will capture novel behavioral and biometric data to paint a more vivid picture of the patient experience.
- Federated learning will allow providers to share experience insights while preserving patient privacy.
- Blockchain will enable patients to own their experience data and selectively share it with providers for hyper-personalization.
- Digital twin simulations will model how operational changes could improve experience metrics before implementation
According to Grand View Research, the patient experience analytics market will reach $3.5B by 2027 as more providers recognize the power of this approach.
Embracing change
As healthcare becomes increasingly competitive and consumer-driven, patient experience analytics is shifting from a nice-to-have to a necessity. By harnessing the vast volumes of experience data flowing in from diverse sources, providers can finally understand their patients on a human level: their needs, their preferences, their challenges. With those insights, they can design processes, train staff, and leverage technology to deliver empathetic, personalized care experiences that improve outcomes and inspire loyalty.
While standing up a patient experience analytics program requires investment and organization-wide commitment, the ROI is clear. Improved metrics around satisfaction, outcomes, and utilization all link back to a healthier bottom line.
The only question is which side of the patient experience analytics adoption curve your organization wants to be on. Will you be a leader shaping the future of care delivery? Or will you be left behind as competitors use experience insights to attract and retain your patient base?
If you're ready to explore how patient experience analytics can transform your organization, we'd love to help. Our team has extensive experience implementing healthcare analytics solutions to improve patient and business outcomes. Reach out today to request a free consultation.
To learn more about how to leverage key patient experience metrics to drive success at your healthcare call center, download our new free eBook, “The 15 Key Patient Experience Metrics For Success.”
