The Digitalization of the Patient Journey
We talk a great deal about digital technology and the way it can be used to augment the patient experience during the healthcare delivery process. However, what we don’t focus on so often is how digitalization impact the patient’s entire journey through a healthcare system.
When we think of digitalization applied to healthcare patient experience, we often think of direct models of contact such as telehealth or methods of measurement and reporting such as survey data, but the patient journey involves dozens of digital touchpoints, from the moment symptoms develop – or even before then – up until treatment has concluded – or has settled into an ongoing routine in the case of chronic conditions.
So, let’s take a deep[ish] dive into the current patient journey and explore how digital technology has transformed the experience in recent years.
The Digital Patient Journey
The digital patient journey begins with what can be loosely defined as the digital front door. The digital front door is a group of digital touchpoints which represent a patient’s first few steps along the healthcare journey. The digital front door can be made of everything from social media posts and adverts and your portal/website, to contact center comms, self-scheduling tools, and beyond.
By studying the patient journey as it sprouts from the digital front door, you can gain a deeper understanding of how each patient comes into contact with your organization and track how the experience grows from that point. Who visits your healthcare organization? Who doesn’t? What makes your patients choose you over a competitor? What factors keep them coming back as a return service user?
All these questions can help your organization identify roadblocks on the patient journey which prevent patients from engaging. Outdated scheduling platforms, a lack of digital communication tools, and more can all impede the patient journey and prevent your healthcare organization from acquiring new patients and retaining existing ones.
"[Digitalizing the patient journey] entails holistically re-examining how every component of the health care experience, from the digital tools to visit interactions, synchronizes to address the full continuum of patient needs throughout the journey," reports a research piece in the Journal of Digital Health. "By doing this, care shifts away from one-size-fits-all, fragmented strings of visits, toward seamless experiences that adapt to patients’ needs in real-time while integrating within their daily lives."
Stages of the Patient Journey
We’ve already discussed the digital front door as it pertains to the patient journey, but where does the patient experience travel from that point?
Firstly, we have the awareness stage where someone realizes they or someone they care for needs help. They will already have absorbed some information by a kind of digital osmosis at this stage and will have some idea of the options which are available to them.
They will then progress to the searching stage of the journey. This is where a person is actively seeking healthcare providers who can help with their condition or general advice online. Predictive modelling is one digital tool you can use at this stage to better target your marketing to intercept patients at this stage.
At the pre-care stage, the patient has chosen a provider and has begun initial consultation. This is a very tenuous stage of the process as patients are likely to seek second – or more – opinions and the potential for them to switch providers is high. CRM technology can be deployed here to better personalize care and reduce the chances of this happening.
Point of care is where tests and referrals are ongoing. Keeping referrals within your healthcare network and removing roadblocks from care coordination processes will provide you with the greatest chance of retaining patients at this stage.
Post-care refers to the point where treatment has concluded, or ongoing care has been settled into. Quality outcomes and patient retention is the focus here which closes the loop on the patient journey and ensures your healthcare network is the first one they turn to for future problems.
As you can see, the stages of the patient journey share a lot of DNA with the customer journey of a retail interaction. Many of the same factors are in play and many of the same strategies can be deployed for acquisition and retention. The stakes are obviously much higher in healthcare, but patients just want to feel cared for and appreciated throughout the experience.
Final Thoughts
Digitalization during the patient journey can help healthcare organizations reach patients at the earliest possible stage of their condition and keep them engaged throughout the process – increasing the chances of retaining those patients for years to come and for whatever life might throw at them.
Digitalization of the patient journey is set to be part of the conversation at NGPX 2022, taking place in December at the Hyatt Regency Indian Wells, CA.
Download the agenda today for more information and insights.