• The patient experience outcomes are a direct indicator of the quality of care.

• Healthcare organisations need to focus on delivering an outstanding patient experience.

Below are some of the ways to achieve this:

1. Organisationwide Initiative - Ensure the value of care is an organization-wide initiative and not an individual clinician focused

2. Data and Analytics - Patient engagement and patient satisfaction should be backed by data and patterns and analytics should determine care outcomes

3. Collecting Feedback - Feedback should be taken on all new care delivery models to ensure a positive patient experience

4. Data-Driven Initiatives - Develop comprehensive frameworks that gather and leverage data analytics to drive future programs and change management initiatives

5. Technology - Leveraging technology to modernize and bring efficiencies in the data collection methods to get an accurate gauge of care quality and patient experience.

Data-driven patient experience

A data-driven patient experience is crafted by collecting data from every patient touchpoint. Here are 10 tips to consider before organizing the data structure:

1. Draw the right data - Effective communication is built on the relevance of the data collected and attaching it to patient behaviours whilst prioritizing it. The focus should be kept on what the healthcare provider wants to achieve and draw insights from every patient touchpoint to understand the behavioural patterns. Once enough data is gathered, the system can discover statistically compelling interactions with the healthcare provider and patient, providing avenues to drive growth.

2. Take a comprehensive approach to analyze data - Data is raw, free-flowing, holding numbers in their native format until it's needed. It can be queried for related information, creating a large set of data that can be enough to analyze and answer business questions. However, examing the life cycle of one’s data is necessary to derive the correct conclusion. There is a liability in making decisions based on false trends or on biases, as is the case when the data hold counterproductive information.

3. Agile and adaptable- Patients and their needs are evolving, prompting healthcare providers to be agile. If change is not fast-tracked, it will result in lost patients, losing out to competition and thus decreased market share. A healthcare provider's agility increases through continuous interaction with the patient and demonstrating responsiveness.

4. Anticipate patient needs and requirements - Instead of finding out what the patient wants, structured data predicts future trend by collecting information from the business environment. The business can draw curved lines with sufficient data and begin to predict patient behaviour

5. Expose brand content to where consumers are located - Brand penetration is extremely important, and structured data helps in guiding product placement so the brand’s identity is in prominent locations in the marketplace. The more patients see it, the more they recognize the product and identify it on social media platforms and online platforms helping grow sales.

6. Communicate with the unique selling points - By clearly articulating the unique selling point (USP), organisations can help patients distinguish and identify them, thus gaining competitor advantage. With the volumes of data available, it is possible to highlight the USPs of their product to target patients and market suitably.

7. Plan the patient's journey - The organisation can map their patient's journey for each patient persona with extensive data management. This not only allows them to refine the patient experience at every stage but allow for opportunities to connect with them. The quality of data to refine patient experience should never be compromised. Nevertheless, data acquisition methods should not degrade that experience. Don't force patients into data collection processes, thus inconveniencing them. Be careful of when, and how many times, you are requesting feedback to ensure you are not gathering repetitive information.

8. Use every platform - Collect data from patients irrespective of what platform they use, whether on a computer or smartphone. Their behaviour may vary between platforms, and getting feedback allows you to further refine the patient experience.

9. Clarify the strategies- Businesses and CX leaders must analyse data frequently and not just make note of the feedback being given, or the variation in responses in the data sets, they must also constantly refine their marketing strategy based on the results. Good data analysis can benefit the healthcare provider by adapting swiftly to patients changing behaviours and attitudes. Patient needs are shifting continually and business must adapt to the changing needs post-pandemic. This allows you to improve not only the patient experience but also build patient loyalty. Creating a better patient experience positions your healthcare facility to be innovative, intelligent, and better suited to the fast changing environment.

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