Measurements in Healthcare from a CX Perspective
By Melissa Morgan, Director of Patient Experience, Optima Dermatology
The healthcare industry has traditionally seen patients through a clinical lens, not as customers seeking an experience. This disconnect has contributed to the widespread dissatisfaction patients express, particularly in areas like contact center interactions and digital services. The industry’s reluctance to adopt a customer-obsessed approach suggests a lack of focus on patient experience (PX), which can harm the long-term success of healthcare organizations. As patients gain more options, they increasingly choose healthcare providers based on the quality of their experience, making customer experience (CX) a vital differentiator.
Patients Have High Expectations
Patients interacting with a healthcare provider aren’t just comparing that experience to other healthcare organizations. They often compare it to their most recent customer service interaction—whether booking a flight or dealing with their cable company. As a result, their expectations are shaped by the broader consumer experience landscape, not just by healthcare norms.
A 2022 McKinsey report emphasized that patients expect greater transparency, convenience, and seamless digital integration in their healthcare experiences (InMoment) (McKinsey & Company).
Even though healthcare is a unique industry with its complexities, patients want the same ease and personalization they experience elsewhere.
The healthcare industry can no longer afford to view patients solely as recipients of care. Today’s patients are savvy consumers with high expectations, shaped by their experiences across industries.
What Patients Expect in Healthcare
Working in a multi-state dermatology network, we’ve observed firsthand how important it is to understand and respond to patients’ needs beyond just delivering healthcare. Through gathering voice-of-customer (VoC) data, we learned several key priorities that consistently surface in feedback:
- Choice: Patients don’t want to be forced into using technology; they want options. While some are comfortable with portals and self-scheduling, others prefer human interaction. Offering multiple avenues for scheduling and communication is essential.
- Responsiveness: Patients value prompt responses. Being put on hold for extended periods or waiting days for a callback only adds to their frustration. Efficient communication is a critical component of healthcare CX.
- Access: Timely access to care is paramount. Being told they have to wait months for an appointment can drive patients to seek services elsewhere, even if the provider is highly recommended.
- Connection: Patients desire a personal connection with their healthcare provider and staff. They want to feel like more than just a number, and impersonal processes can erode the patient-provider relationship.
Measuring What Matters
Improving CX requires more than just good intentions—it demands precise measurement and ongoing optimization. For healthcare organizations, this means defining what success looks like from the patient’s perspective and deploying the right tools to track key metrics. In our dermatology practice, we focus on several core areas:
- Wait Time Targets: We established average wait time targets to ensure patients aren’t left waiting too long on the phone for their initial interaction. With our contact center solution, Natterbox, we set a goal of maintaining average wait times under 60 seconds, significantly reducing patient hold times.
- Patient Abandonment Rate: Monitoring how often patients hang up before reaching a team member helps us gauge the effectiveness of our reimagined contact center. Abandonment rates indicate not only patient frustration but also potential lost business.
- Staff Productivity: By automating processes and integrating our contact center and CRM systems with our electronic health records (EHR), we streamlined workflows, boosting staff productivity by 77%. This efficiency allows our team to better serve patients while reducing operational stress.
- Patient and Provider Satisfaction: Happy patients often mean happy providers. Negative experiences, especially related to scheduling, can take up valuable time during appointments, distracting from patient care. Through our optimizations, we improved provider satisfaction by 26%, allowing our team to focus on delivering quality care.
Technology: A Key Enabler of CX
Choosing the right technology partner is crucial for supporting a patient-centric strategy. Our partnership with Natterbox allowed us to refine our contact center approach, enabling efficient call routing, volume load balancing, and deeper insights into patient interactions. This ensures that both current and prospective patients move through the system quickly and are met with the services they need.
Before adopting Natterbox, we faced limitations in call segmentation and lacked the flexibility required to deliver a high-touch, personalized experience. Now, with better data integration and reporting, we can track why patients may not book appointments and use this information to create meaningful action plans.
By continuously refining our process and leveraging technology, we reduced hold times by 66%, an improvement that directly impacts patient satisfaction. According to InMoment’s research, reducing wait times is one of the primary drivers of a positive healthcare experience (InMoment).
A Transformative Approach
Our success in improving healthcare CX is driven by a commitment to innovation and an unwavering focus on the patient. We believe that defining clear CX metrics, partnering with the right technology providers, and consistently measuring and refining processes have enabled us to transform how we deliver care.
This data-driven approach has helped us grow rapidly while staying true to our mission of treating every patient like we would want our friends and family treated. With CX at the core of our strategy, we have not only improved satisfaction among patients and providers but also set ourselves apart in a highly competitive healthcare landscape.
Conclusion
The healthcare industry can no longer afford to view patients solely as recipients of care. Today’s patients are savvy consumers with high expectations, shaped by their experiences across industries. By measuring what matters—choice, responsiveness, access, and connection—and using technology to streamline operations, healthcare organizations can improve patient experiences, satisfaction, and loyalty.
To remain competitive and innovative, healthcare providers must prioritize patients, listen to their needs, and exceed their expectations. Those who do will thrive in today’s environment and shape the future of healthcare CX.
References:
Buchter, J., Cordina, J., & Lee, M. (2023, March 14). Driving growth through consumer centricity in Healthcare. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/driving-growth-through-consumer-centricity-in-healthcare
Lindsey, Cori (2024, September 18). Customer experience in healthcare: Tips & trends. InMoment. https://inmoment.com/blog/customer-experience-healthcare/