Consumers across every age group expect healthcare digital experiences that match the ease and convenience of making purchases online, reserving a restaurant, booking private accommodations, getting personalized movie recommendations, filing taxes, and even virtually buying a car.  However, the consumer-patient journey is far more complex and multifaceted than other everyday consumer experiences. Patients and members need support every step of the way, and finding the right care is often the first hurdle patients face. Healthcare organizations (HCOs) can ease this important step in ..read more

While entering a new and highly competitive pediatric market, our client needed to offer an excellent digital experience. The health system partnered with Perficient to build a frictionless and guided experience that patients and families both need and expect. Providing a Truly Patient-centered Experience First, we identified site KPIs, developed target personas, built a digital roadmap, and audited site content. We then built and launched a fully redesigned website on the Optimizely platform, applying our strategic recommendations to optimize the website experience, navigation, and content ..read more

Editor’s Note: This guest blog post comes courtesy of Deepak Rao with DAMSR  All of us can relate to the scenario where a patient spends two hours in a clinic for a 30-minute appointment where the actual time spent with the provider was 10 minutes or less. The patient experience in clinics is not optimal and there is a lot of room for improvement. Here are some common pain points for both patients and providers: Delays in overall access to care due to scheduling availability Patients experiencing long wait times (poor HCAHPS scores) Declining reimbursements from outpatient clinics A Ne ..read more

Much is being written in the media about generational decision-making when it comes to healthcare. Boomers are closing the digital divide, millennials are driving a streamlined end-to-end experience, and Gen Z is pushing that experience to include more transactional services such as voice search. But where is Gen X in all of this? The generation that grew up with land-line phones and John Hughes movies before graduating to flannel and Nirvana spans 1965 to 1980. This ”invisible generation” is a forgotten one, sandwiched between two larger cohorts. While they may be small, they are mighty and ..read more

If you work with a hospital or health system, the most important section of your website is likely the provider directory. In fact, in an unofficial ranking of 50 of Perficient’s recent hospital website implementations, we found that, aside from the homepage, the provider directory is the most visited section and one of the most influential for driving new patient acquisition. So how can you make sure your providers are providing a meaningful and engaging experience before a patient even steps into an office? Below, we’ll discuss tips to create an experience that drive conversions…and connect ..read more

It’s no secret that, for organizations to be successful, a healthy focus on the bottom line is critical. That goes for healthcare and life sciences organizations as well. Because of this, many organizations focus on ”hard skills” when training their patient support, customer care, or contact center employees. Hard skills are those teachable skills that are often easier to quantify, such as product details, service offerings, or the technology they use to enter an order. Hard skills certainly have their place, after all understanding the products and services is paramount to helping drive grea ..read more

We recently discussed how journey maps can be leveraged across organizations to create a holistic, patient-centered experience (if you missed it, you can learn more about ‘Activating Journey Maps Across your Healthcare Organization’). But before you can activate journey maps, you must create them. The following these best practices for planning your next healthcare journey maps will help involve your greater organization from the start, helping you to enhance the patient experience at every corner of your brand. Bringing this organizational focus into the planning and creation of journey maps ..read more

Healthcare marketers used to discuss the “patient experience” within their health system. More recently, however, the focus has shifted to “consumer experience,” and the reason is obvious: retail giants keep pushing deeper into the healthcare space, and they’re bringing retail practices and improved consumer experience with them. Before a person becomes a patient, they are a consumer shopping around, as they do in other retail sectors, looking for the best healthcare option. But even before they are consumers, they are humans – individuals with unique motivations and challenges. They don’t ju ..read more

On Jan. 1, 2021, new guidelines from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services went into effect requiring hospitals that operate in the United States to provide “clear, accessible pricing information” online for the services they provide. Hospitals have a choice in how they provide this information, and the experience varies widely from hospital to hospital, with some creating a user-friendly experience and others offering a lengthy spreadsheet driven by hospital codes. This initiative can aid consumers in their decision-making processes, but, for many, it brings up more questions than ..read more

As with many people, 2020 was a big year for me personally. In October, my wife and I welcomed our first child to the world. It was a C-Section, so that meant we had an extended stay at the hospital. With the COVID precautions in place, I can’t say it was a vacation-like stay. In fact, we were required to: Wear a mask 24/7 Not able to come and go from the hospital to get outside food or air No visitors or family were able to visit – FaceTime was the only option. All DoorDash or outside food orders had to be sanitized before entering hospital grounds. It was great getting home from the hospi ..read more