Feb 28, 2025
Customer Experience has become a buzzword in recent years, but does investing in CX actually improve your bottom line? The answer is “yes” according to emerging research, which shows that companies that are considered CX leaders “generated 5.4x the shareholder return as laggards—a gap that has widened over the past 16 years.” Investing in customer experiences, including key UX moments in a customer journey, leads not only to competitive brand differentiation, but also increased revenue and decreased operational costs. This trend is particularly relevant in healthcare, where changing consumer expectations and technological advancement have resulted in companies evolving their approach to customer experience. This transformation presents challenges and opportunities.
Modern consumers want to see the relevance, convenience, and accessibility they commonly find with retailers and ecommerce sites replicated in other facets of their lives, including their healthcare. To meet these expectations, health organizations increasingly leverage data to create more personalized and seamless experiences across products and channels. Also, a broad shift to more holistic and preventative healthcare has heavily influenced the desire for better experiences (and outcomes).
Although technology leads to opportunities and innovation, brands continue to struggle with connecting fragmented customer data across multiple platforms and channels, overcoming the limitations of legacy systems, getting the level of consent necessary to deliver better experiences, and combatting elevated levels of sophisticated fraud. A lack of clarity around regulation and enforcement related to data privacy and technology use leads to uncertainty for brands and consumers. Proving out ROI, which includes cost savings, not just revenue, and may need to be tracked over a long period of time, can also hinder the stakeholder buy-in needed to ensure budget for CX initiatives.
More than 77% of respondents to an American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) survey reported finishing work later than desired or after hours due to “excessive documentation,” with nearly 75% going as far to say it hampers patient care. While regulation and guidelines for use in healthcare remain unclear or in development, AI is expected to lead to automation that will reduce burnout and free up providers’ time to focus more on patients.
Late last year, Google expanded its AI-powered offerings for healthcare providers. Vertex AI is a new generative search tool that allows payers and providers to scan patient documents and sift through notes and patient data for relevant information. Google also expanded its Healthcare Data Engine to include a data mapping tool that provides a longitudinal record of patient data in a standard electronic health record (EHR) format.
More than half of consumers agree that ideal healthcare experiences involve being seen by a professional in a timely manner, easy and consistent communication, and care relevant to their specific needs. Consumer research agency, Mintel found that, only 24% of U.S. consumers feel valued by healthcare systems. With healthcare costs expected to rise 8% this year, continued inflation, and loss or reduction of employer-based health plans, consumers are looking for solutions that make them feel more valued.
This is leading to a significant rise in customer-centric healthcare options such as concierge medicine, a membership-based service that guarantees more dedicated 1:1 time with physicians, easy-to-schedule appointments (that are not months out), and around-the-clock access to care. Partner MD is just one example of a service whose doctors see 6-10 patients in a day (versus an average 20-35 patients). It also offers same- or next-day appointments, advanced physicals and screenings, as well as complimentary access to dozens of wellness resources. Prices vary depending on age and location but are around $200 a month.
According to Mintel, 27% of consumers report they have started to interact virtually with the healthcare space. In-person visits aren’t going away, but an aging population preferring to age-in-place and more digitally native patients are leading to the hybridization of services facilitating remote care. For example, Vori health offers specialized care for back, neck, or joint pain and uses a mix of telehealth and in-person care for treatment. Vori’s approach helps break down silos between teams to deliver care when patients need it, reduce the need for in-person visits, and improve overall care.
BeamO is a MultiScan health device consumers can use at home to measure temperature, heart electrical activity, heart rate, oxygen saturation, and lung health. Readings can be sent to a patient’s healthcare provider to help determine the next steps in their care plan. This can be particularly useful for virtual appointments, helping doctors provide a diagnosis in real time.
The healthcare industry is undergoing significant transformation in how it approaches customer experience. For example, Cigna plans to “invest more in care advocates, pare back hurdles to receiving care, and make it easier for doctors to update patients on the status of prior authorization requests,” in addition to tying executive compensation to customer satisfaction (via NPS scores)—a unique approach to prioritizing known pain points. Understanding that CX needs to be owned by everyone in an organization—not just product teams, customer support, or sales teams alone—is integral to adopting a human-centered ethos.
To succeed, organizations must take a more holistic approach to optimizing CX. Although that can seem overwhelming, here are some key areas to focus on.
Health-based organizations that focus on these elements engender trust, achieve competitive differentiation through more integrated and consistent experiences across multiple touchpoints, and build more resilient customer relationships.
