Many businesses are caught in a data conundrum. There’s so much potential to apply data to do good, but it’s complicated to get right. Yet, compared with other industries and companies that are setting a gold standard for data-driven digital experiences — we’re looking at you Apple, Nordstrom, and Amazon — healthcare is significantly lagging behind in how to use data to create unique, impactful consumer experiences.
Healthcare organizations need to find a way to align their in-person interactions and digital experiences. From the patient’s perspective, interaction with a healthcare provider is no longer solely an in-person experience. It now spans from searching online for care, using an app to find a new doctor, a hybrid of in-person and telemedicine appointments, and the emergence of new care settings like ambulatory surgery centers, urgent care, and in-home care services. It’s time for the healthcare industry to catch up and build the same type of curated, consumer experiences that are now commonplace and a part of everyday interactions between consumers and the organizations they trust.
No one expects transformation overnight, but it is critical to focus on the consumer experience now more than ever. I challenge healthcare organizations to find ways to optimize their data while building the appropriate infrastructure needed to meet rapidly changing consumer expectations. I strongly believe that the successful use of data and analytics will empower healthcare organizations to create curated consumer experiences that meet current consumer expectations.
Let’s take a step back and discuss the industry today. The pandemic rapidly accelerated consumer expectations around convenience in healthcare – including how people would like to interact with a healthcare provider. The need for the sort of seamless interactions that the consumer experiences with their preferred retailer is sought after in healthcare. We need to emphasize the entire experience as healthcare organizations look for new ways to interact with patients and consumers.
Additionally, consumers have come to understand and even expect that organizations are using data to better personalize experiences – and are willing to volunteer data if of benefit to that end. For example, consider companies like Nordstrom, Apple, and Amazon that are excelling in the digital consumer experience. All three of these companies have set the standard for how consumers interact with their brands — from email communications, recommendations of new products and services, seamless experience from search through purchase, and the instant gratification that comes with that experience. But it starts with an intimate knowledge, earned through trust and history, with that customer.
Healthcare is vastly different and hard to compare to the simplicity of a retail experience. Unlike retail, which is usually a gratifying experience undertaken with the intention of making one’s life easier, a healthcare visit is frequently associated with stress, anxiety, sometimes pain, with the potential for bad news. It can also include an unexpected purchase, and doesn’t lend itself to the appealing simplicity of, say, an Amazon purchase from a smartphone. However, there is much to be learned and adapted from a focus on ongoing customer engagement.
Recently, our team looked at various data sets that showed patient retention is low across healthcare organizations, with an average 5-year retention rate across health systems of 43% (compared with average retention rates of 75% for banks, 78% for telecom companies, and 63% for retail companies). If healthcare organizations can replicate these retail interactions and learn the right cadence of engaging with consumers, our data shows that patients who have an ongoing relationship with a healthcare provider are more likely to visit in the future. Specifically, if there is repeat engagement with patients within the first year, the likelihood of the patient utilizing the organization for care in years three and five is 69% and 54%, respectively.
Further, healthcare organizations, like retail giants, have access to millions of data points which, in theory, should make it easier to create curated consumer experiences. However, healthcare is a highly regulated industry, and that oftentimes makes it much harder to use data and analytics to drive the consumer experience. This poses an important question that all healthcare organizations need to consider: How can you embrace data to create unique, personalized experiences?
Knowing that consumers have high expectations, if healthcare organizations seek to make the patient experience as intuitive as the consumer experience, they will need to do a lot of work to catch up. Here are some essential steps that healthcare organizations can use to better meet current consumer expectations.
First, healthcare organizations need to look at every interaction with a consumer/patient as a moment to influence their experience. This means looking beyond the in-person provider experience to understand all the ways that patients interact with the organization–for example, a virtual care visit, email communications for additional services and care options, as well as follow-up care appointments.
Additionally, healthcare organizations need to continue to challenge themselves to scale and structure their data to reflect every type of patient interaction. This doesn’t mean that every organization needs a complete overhaul of their data. The underlying challenge will be how organizations structure data and insights that can translate into curating that unique experience that consumers are looking for. Healthcare organizations can become adept at building these unique experiences and then replicate and scale their programs over time. As patients get more and more comfortable trusting a healthcare organization with their data, they also need to see the value of their data being put to work to curate positive digital experiences across the board. Looking ahead, when healthcare organizations invest in creating a more holistic view of patient interactions, it will lead to more data-informed decisions on how to improve and create curated digital and in-person experiences.
Once the baseline is set and organizations have a structured data program, additional data and insights can be layered on top to further impact a consumer’s health over time. For example, health systems can use social determinants of health, information from additional providers and specialists, and other factors that impact health equity to more appropriately communicate and support patients within underserved communities.
I predict in the next 5 years, these incremental steps taken now will add up and change the way consumers experience healthcare. he challenge ahead is to scale and use data in informative ways to build curated consumer experiences and build lasting relationships with current patients, communicating with them when they expect you to, reaching them when they need you, and helping them get the care that they need.
About Nik Green, Chief Data Officer, Mercury Healthcare
Nik Green, MS, is Chief Data Officer of Mercury Healthcare, a data and technology-enabled engagement company. He joined Mercury Healthcare, formerly Healthgrades, in August 2021. Previously, Nik worked at Amazon where he scaled their data science capabilities to meet the analytical demands of Amazon’s transportation authority network. During his tenure there, he was responsible for the data and analytics platform supporting the Amazon middle mile transportation network that impacted all customer orders. Prior to Amazon, Nik worked for Johnson and Johnson, Ascena Retail Group, and Delhaize America where he led multiple data transformations and moved organizations through cloud transformations. Nik received his Master of Science Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University and his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame.
Photo: elenabs, Getty Images
