4 Keys to Delivering a Retail-Like Patient Experience Journey

For patients, it’s as much a plea as it is an ultimatum to their providers, one in which they essentially are saying now is the time for the healthcare industry to collectively and collaboratively find ways to deliver the seamless, transparent and user-friendly customer journeys they have grown accustomed to as retail consumers. Here’s how Florian Otto, CEO of Cedar, a healthcare financial technology platform provider, sums up the situation: “The pandemic has enhanced digitization, and more value has been placed on the intuitiveness and ease of consumer experiences. We have already seen this shift in industries such as retail and finance, but consumers are explicitly demanding more from their healthcare providers and payers…Healthcare is at a critical point where stakeholders must collaborate to improve digital experiences and transparency or risk significant decline in consumer loyalty and financial outcomes.”

In 2021, overall healthcare IT spending grew by a projected 7.3%, according to Gartner. The question for healthcare providers, then, is where exactly to direct their IT dollars in order to consistently generate the kinds of outcomes that feed patient loyalty and the bottom line? Using those resources to create a more retail-like digital customer journey would be a good starting point. Here, based on our experience working closely with enterprises in both the retail and healthcare segments, are four areas on which to focus.