Sufferers right now don’t simply consider their healthcare by whether or not or not they bought higher. That’s clearly important, however sufferers consider their healthcare experiences the identical manner they consider each different service expertise of their lives. Was it simple to navigate? Did workers and suppliers talk clearly? Did they really feel revered? Did somebody observe up?
For a lot of healthcare organizations, this looks like an enormous problem. You may have one of the best docs and analysis on the earth, however that alone isn’t sufficient to take care of a powerful popularity. For leaders whose groups affect the affected person expertise — whether or not in operations, nursing, administration, or affected person companies — it means determining what glorious customer support in healthcare seems to be like throughout the various totally different touchpoints within the affected person journey.
However you don’t must determine it out from scratch. Well being techniques and hospitals the world over have invested severely in affected person expertise, and their outcomes supply real-world classes. Beneath are six standout examples, together with classes you may apply at your individual group to drive higher affected person experiences.
1. Mayo Clinic makes “I don’t know who to name” a non-issue
One constant problem sufferers face throughout many healthcare techniques isn’t about scientific high quality; it’s about fragmentation. Sufferers with complicated circumstances usually discover themselves as the one thread connecting their heart specialist, their internist, their bodily therapist, and their surgeon.
Nobody is speaking to anybody else, and the affected person is left to handle the coordination and advocate for themself.
Mayo Clinic constructed its whole mannequin of care round fixing this drawback. Each affected person is assigned a coordinating doctor who takes private duty for guiding care over time. Specialists throughout departments collaborate — usually inside a single go to — to develop a unified remedy plan. It’s an built-in strategy, and it has been the inspiration of Mayo’s mannequin for over a century.
I skilled the affect of this personally final 12 months when my father was affected by constant GI points, important weight reduction, and varied different signs. He first went to his native physician, then he tried navigating a number of native Chicago hospital healthcare techniques. However as a result of he didn’t have a analysis, he didn’t know who to name or find out how to get the assistance he wanted.
Then, as a result of my sister lives close to Mayo, he picked up the cellphone and referred to as them. A couple of minutes later, he had an appointment scheduled to see a staff of specialists who would consider his well being, working collectively to create a personalized remedy plan. It was an ideal instance of Mayo’s patient-centered care strategy in motion.
Methods to scale back care coordination friction at your group
Map your typical affected person journey and determine each “who do I name now?” second. These are the friction factors most value addressing.
Think about assigning a care coordinator for sufferers with complicated or continual circumstances. Even part-time coordination is best than none.
Use shared inside notes so no affected person has to re-explain their historical past at each appointment. EHR self-discipline pays actual dividends in affected person belief.
Even casual “that is your go-to particular person” communication throughout affected person consumption can replicate the coordinator impact for lower-complexity sufferers.
2. Geisinger affords dissatisfied sufferers their a refund (no questions requested)
Over ten years in the past, Geisinger Well being System in Pennsylvania launched an unprecedented program: If a affected person felt they didn’t obtain variety and compassionate care, they may request a refund of their copayment (as much as $2,000) by way of an app.
No dispute course of. No negotiation. No questions requested.
This system was referred to as ProvenExperience, and in an interview with Clinician, Geisinger’s then-CEO David Feinberg shared how the concept was acquired by his friends:
At first, I talked to different well being system CEOs and trade leaders about ProvenExperience they usually all stated, ‘Don’t do it.’ I actually felt dejected.
Then I considered Kodak executives discussing digital images. And Blockbuster speaking about on-line video choices. Have been in addition they advised ‘Don’t do it?’ That’s after I stated to myself, ‘We’re doing it.’
Geisinger’s staff doubled down on compassion and their popularity, constructing ProvenExperience on a easy concept: If a affected person paid for care and felt the service failed them, returning their cash was the precise factor to do — identical to every other service enterprise would.
“Finally, [patients] simply need to be acknowledged and to spare different households any ache they may have skilled,” defined Feinberg. Was there some threat concerned? Sure. However Feinberg and his staff knew it might result in a greater affected person expertise.
So, what occurred?
It was the other of what most likely anticipated: Sufferers not often abused this system. Refund payouts have declined dramatically over time, from $320,141 in FY2016 to roughly $84,000 in 2020 and $40,000 in 2021 — whilst affected person satisfaction scores dropped throughout COVID.
The largest affect of this has been the impact on Geisinger’s tradition. It’s given rise to a tradition of accountability, together with empowering Geisinger’s staff to proactively situation nearly all of refunds.
Very similar to an excellent resort or restaurant would acknowledge [a failure], earlier than the affected person asks for a refund, we’ll supply it.
Greg Burke, MD
Chief Affected person Expertise Officer, Geisinger
Like Ritz-Carlton empowering staff to spend as much as $2,000 to enhance visitor experiences, Geisinger’s program has despatched a transparent sign that what issues is affected person expertise. Along with issuing refunds, any expertise situation a affected person flags is paired with an motion plan to stop the identical scenario from occurring with future sufferers.
“A part of studying is not only realizing what went flawed for a selected affected person or household, however then discovering methods to repair it,” Dr. Burke stated. “There [always has to be] an motion plan related to failure. That advantages the system and likewise advantages the sufferers, as a result of then we’re frequently bettering.”
Methods to create a tradition of accountability round affected person expertise
You don’t have to supply money refunds to use Geisinger’s underlying precept: Make it simple for sufferers to inform you when one thing went flawed, after which reply meaningfully.
Audit your present suggestions channels. Are affected person complaints really reaching somebody with the ability to repair them, or are they disappearing right into a type? What do you do with that suggestions?
Prepare workers to proactively acknowledge service failures, catching points throughout the go to slightly than ready for a criticism. Proactive help creates a greater, extra memorable expertise for sufferers.
3. Stamford Well being borrows from hospitality to make sufferers really feel human
Sufferers don’t simply need competent care; they need to really feel seen. Stamford Well being in Connecticut has made this concrete by drawing specific inspiration from the hospitality trade.
In a 2024 weblog submit, CEO Kathleen Silard describes their strategy: “We take cues from top-tier eating places by creating tailor-made in-patient meals for cultural and spiritual celebrations, corresponding to Rosh Hashanah and Chinese language New Yr.” Vacation caroling, details about spiritual observances broadcast on bedside TVs, and foyer performances from a neighborhood skilled orchestra are a part of the deliberate effort to make sufferers really feel revered as people slightly than managed as instances.
Typically, the smallest gestures carry the best affect. In healthcare, these considerate touches assist sufferers and their households concentrate on what issues most: therapeutic.
Kathleen Silard
President and CEO, Stamford Well being
Stamford Well being is considered one of solely 90 well being techniques worldwide to earn Planetree Gold Certification for excellence in person-centered care. This certification is significant as a result of it’s exterior recognition that they’ve created an organization-wide tradition that helps partnering with sufferers and their households to enhance well being and well-being holistically.
This concentrate on nice care makes an enormous distinction within the affected person expertise, and it requires a long-term dedication to create a tradition that helps it.
Methods to convey a hospitality mindset to your staff
Prepare front-line workers find out how to acknowledge cues that sign a affected person is burdened, confused, or uncomfortable and reply proactively.
Evaluate your group’s bodily setting. Do your ready rooms, lighting, and signage really feel welcoming or institutional? How are you going to make them extra calm or soothing?
Lean into moments of connection. When a affected person is interacting with a member of your workers, it’s your greatest alternative to construct belief and create a optimistic expertise. This may be so simple as giving a affected person your full consideration, asking questions on a affected person’s preferences (and taking notes in your EMR system), or adjusting your remedy plan primarily based on an individual’s cultural id.
4. St. Bernard Hospital went from “F” to “A” on $100,000 a 12 months
In Spring 2021, St. Bernard Hospital — a 174-bed unbiased safety-net hospital on Chicago’s South Aspect — acquired the one “F” Leapfrog Hospital Security Grade within the state of Illinois. Somewhat than launching an costly tradition transformation, they made focused, sensible fixes.
Michael Richardson, employed as Chief High quality & Affected person Security Officer in September 2021, convened a multidisciplinary staff of nurses, pharmacists, and physicians to determine the basis causes. What they discovered was virtually embarrassingly easy: Wi-Fi lifeless spots and damaged barcode scanners have been stopping nurses from scanning affected person wristbands and drugs on the bedside.
A primary infrastructure failure was masquerading as a compliance drawback.
They fastened the Wi-Fi. They changed the scanning gear. Additionally they applied digital hand hygiene monitoring: BioVigil badges that flip inexperienced after handwashing and alert workers who enter a affected person room with out washing. Barcode medicine administration compliance jumped from roughly 70% to 95–98%. Hand hygiene compliance reached roughly 90%.
By 2023, St. Bernard had earned an “A” from Leapfrog. The group’s VP referred to as the turnaround “extraordinarily uncommon.” The entire annual value of all high quality enchancment initiatives? Roughly $100,000.
As St. Bernard’s CFO famous, “The prices of offering poor high quality care far outweigh the prices of security initiatives.”
Methods to determine affected person expertise enchancment alternatives at your group
Earlier than assuming your affected person expertise issues require a tradition overhaul, audit your core infrastructure. Are there damaged instruments, system failures, or workflow gaps that front-line workers work round daily?
Ask your nurses and pharmacists what slows them down. In St. Bernard’s case, the reply was already recognized — it simply hadn’t been fastened.
Begin with the highest-risk, most measurable gaps first. Treatment scanning and hand hygiene are each safety-critical and trackable.
5. WellSpan Well being’s AI outreach agent successfully engages historically underserved affected person populations
WellSpan Well being, a well being system in central Pennsylvania, deployed an AI voice agent named “Ana” to achieve sufferers eligible for colorectal most cancers screening — particularly sufferers with out energetic on-line well being portal accounts, who’re usually unreachable by way of typical digital outreach.
Ana makes cellphone calls in English and Spanish, explains the significance of screening, solutions affected person questions in pure dialog, and arranges to mail at-home FIT (colorectal screening) take a look at kits. The system was designed to have interaction sufferers the well being system couldn’t in any other case attain.
In an evaluation of 1,878 outreach calls from September 2024, the outcomes have been important: 15% of Spanish-speaking sufferers agreed to screening, in contrast with 6% of English-speaking sufferers. That’s a 2.6x larger opt-in price from a inhabitants that’s traditionally underserved by healthcare outreach.
Navigating the healthcare system once you don’t converse the first language could be brutally troublesome. Sufferers could not know the precise phrases to precise their signs successfully. Emotions of embarrassment and frustration shortly floor, which is why it’s really easy for sufferers like this to be underserved or obtain insufficient remedy.
WellSpan Well being’s AI outreach is a good instance of leveraging expertise to beat these boundaries and enhance the chances of higher outcomes for sufferers.
Methods to leverage AI and expertise throughout your affected person journey:
Determine affected person populations your present outreach strategies don’t attain successfully. Portal non-users, non-English audio system, and sufferers with out dependable electronic mail entry are frequent gaps.
AI-assisted outreach doesn’t require a big well being system finances to implement. A number of distributors supply per-call pricing fashions accessible to mid-size practices.
Run small experiments to check AI or different new applied sciences. Whereas every affected person phase could reply in another way, the one method to be taught and see the outcomes is to strive.
6. Parkview Well being listens to 277,000 sufferers a 12 months — and acts on what they hear
Parkview Well being, a regional well being system primarily based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was ranked the primary medium-sized well being system nationally for affected person expertise by NRC Well being in each 2023 and 2024. In 2025, they acquired NRC Well being’s Excellence in Expertise Administration Award — a recognition given to only one group per 12 months.
The inspiration of their strategy is scale and self-discipline in listening. Parkview collects greater than 277,000 affected person surveys yearly and makes use of the outcomes to drive adjustments and enhancements.
There’s no higher manner to enhance than listening to straight from our sufferers about what they preferred or what they didn’t like.
Tanya Hammon
Director of Affected person Expertise, Parkview Well being
Along with listening to sufferers, Parkview additionally focuses on what their staff want. The system has been named a top-five Most Cherished Office in America, highlighting the connection between worker engagement and affected person expertise. Worker-focused initiatives have included issues like quarterly life-style profit stipends, providing paid volunteer hours annually, tuition help for furthering training, and partnering with native childcare suppliers to offer backup childcare for working mother and father.
I’ve usually heard it stated that pleased staff result in pleased prospects, and it appears the identical connection could exist in healthcare. Given the bodily and emotional burdens that healthcare staff carry with their sufferers, I don’t assume anybody needs to be shocked at that.
Methods to construct a listening tradition at your group
Quantity issues: 277,000 surveys do not occur accidentally. In case your present suggestions assortment is just too skinny to floor patterns, enhance the touchpoints and channels to gather extra suggestions.
Affected person suggestions is simply precious if it drives motion. Construct a course of for routing survey insights to the individuals who can act on them, with clear possession and timelines.
Worker engagement and affected person expertise are correlated. In case your affected person satisfaction scores are low, analyze your worker satisfaction knowledge alongside it.
Nice affected person experiences require nice focus
Nice customer support in healthcare seems to be totally different from a SaaS firm or advertising and marketing company, however lots of the identical greatest practices and core concepts stay the identical. From decreasing friction within the affected person expertise to empowering staff and thoughtfully implementing expertise, each healthcare practitioner and group has a myriad of alternatives to enhance the affected person expertise and ship higher outcomes.
The examples above span totally different budgets, specialties, and organizational sizes. What they’ve in frequent is their disposition — they’ve all made a option to prioritize creating nice affected person experiences. Somebody selected to ask the precise questions, discover the precise gaps, and make concrete adjustments to drive enhancements.
Should you’re a healthcare skilled or the chief of a affected person expertise division, you are able to do the identical factor. Decide one touchpoint in your group the place the expertise falls brief — discharge, ready room communication, language entry, post-visit follow-up — and make it meaningfully higher.
That’s how each instance on this checklist started, and it could rework your group over time too.
