Patients’ expectations for their engagement with healthcare providers and pharma companies
The pandemic brought with her an evolved type of patient. One that is more focused on knowing and managing its own health. Educational resources shared by HCP and pharma companies have more value than ever.
Patients look at healthcare as they look at other industries in terms of wanting a seamless customer experience throughout the touchpoints of their journeys.
As the whole world went digital, to successfully engage, healthcare providers and partners must empower the patients with valuable information that’s easy to understand and bite-sized continuously.
Patients are in demand of more knowledge to make their health decisions and want a tailored experience all the way. Providers and organizations must look further into what the data tells them and interact with patients according to their preferences.
Let’s check what healthcare providers and pharma companies need to know about patients’ expectations for this new year of 2022…
Top 3 Shifts for Healthcare Providers in 2022
The landscape has evolved and so did the type of patients and healthcare consumerism. As consumers, patients are seeking and relying on guidance from HCP and pharma companies to make the best decisions along the journey.
Taking a glance at what a seamless customer experience means for Healthcare Providers, 3 main shifts have to happen now, namely:
1) Patient engagement – the focus must derive from the acquisition stage to the retention stage
2) Patient data – start applying predictive analytics and insights for outcome improvement beyond the clinical arena
3) Patient view – providers must build a 360º patient profile to deliver a holistic experience
Top 3 patients’ expectations and needs
So, what do patients want and need to engage, be loyal and confident, and feel guided at each stage?…
Accurate information
Digital disruption brings the benefit of more self-aware patients. A successful engagement strategy means empowering the patients with resources that allow them to keep track of their health. Specifically to help them be aware of the options to make knowledgeable decisions.
Participation in their care decisions
Having the needed knowledge, healthcare providers can engage and guide their patients throughout the care journey. Whether we speak of treatment options, next steps, or rehabilitation, the patients need to have the right to collaborate in those decisions and are looking for partnerships when it comes to providing guidance.
Better communication
With more data available, delivering a personalized experience to each patient is both what they seek and what HCPs and pharma companies can offer nowadays. Analytics help identify the needs and preferences so that the communication flow and digital interactions can be best suited to the care journey.
Did you know that 52% of patients want more communication and digital interactions from their healthcare professionals (Pega)?!… Add value and make meaningful interactions with our 90 seconds PatientVisual videos!
What do the numbers say?
The Healthcare system’s navigation can be a tricky one for patients that find it confusing and complex.
According to Pega’s survey results, patients as healthcare consumers want tailored engagement as a motivator throughout their customer’s journey with 65% of patients stating that the communication flow with their HCP office makes them want to improve their health.
76% of healthcare providers lean towards omnichannel. It’s based on the belief that it will make it easier for patients to engage if they offer a variety of communication channels. Providers and organizations must deliver fit-to-size messages with valuable resources that are multi-channel and multi-device to gain loyalty, trust, and continuous engagement from the new era of patients.
63% of respondents agree that they would switch doctors due to poor communication or engagement. This is a 23% decrease year over year.
77% of healthcare organizations strongly believe patients would switch due to poor engagement – up to 103% year over year.
Indeed, they are in search of meaningful interactions and valuable knowledge. Healthcare providers and pharma companies need to consistently deliver positive communication and add value along the path to retain their target audiences.
Did you know that 96% of people have watched an explainer video to better understand or learn about a product or service (Wyzowl)?!… Start sharing snackable 90 seconds PatientVisual videos with your patients today!
The digital native patient
With 52% of patients having little to no experience navigating the healthcare system, according to Pega, they want more tools that grant them easy access to their health information. This includes helpful resources to understand and be aware of the choices themselves along the way.
Patients want more control and demand more transparency when it comes to healthcare services and life-science data.
55% of consumers say that navigating the healthcare system is difficult
To build the patient’s trust, the message has to be consistent! Furthermore, healthcare providers and life-sciences organizations are expected to work together and deliver connected care as a seamless experience.
The digital native patient expects to have the same customer experience as in other industries (such as retail, for example). An experience that is tailored to on-demand care. So providers need to be one step ahead and proactively provide meaningful and understandable resources through their preferred channel of choice.
The phone is still a primary channel. But with everyone’s time constraints, there should be an investment in new channels. One of them is email, where engagement happens when the patient can and wants to.
Pro-Tip: Personalized customer experience empowers the patients while building trust and authority and gaining a better outcome when it comes to loyalty and retention.
Remote healthcare: In progress…
Providing healthcare remotely was already evolving. However, it became urgent with COVID-19 on the horizon, and providers had to step up for the new challenge.
- Home health care facilitates hybrid care arrangements, benefiting the patients’ experiences. They can be cared for right from the comfort of their homes, in a more affordable way, and with a sense of personalized high-value care delivery.
- Virtual Health Care powered by historic data brings new options for care delivery. They are personalized and always received at the right time. This brings to the table new intelligent care opportunities at the point terminals with diagnosis and scheduling intelligence.
- Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) real-time data transmission will allow real-time remote diagnosis. Even with the patient in a remote setting, HCP can provide for the patient from a distance. This is thanks to the continuous flow of real-time data.
63% of consumers are open to giving their doctors real-time access to health information via connected devices and apps to improve health outcomes
Conclusion
More than anything else, patients expect partnerships from healthcare providers and pharma companies.
Seamless experiences with meaningful interaction and valuable materials are what they are in search of. After all, having guidance and being knowledgeable of their own health options, increases patients’ confidence, trust, and loyalty.
Even though the phone is still the primary channel of communication, organizations must be proactive and consistently be present through a communication flow that travels and fits with each patient’s needs along the health journey, such as email with educational video content added.
Healthcare providers need a consistent message that runs omnichannel, as its digital patients are both multi-channel and multi-device. Delivering a personalized customer experience empowers the patients – with what they are in demand of – while increasing loyalty and retention.
