Healthcare: Shifting Customer Expectations Require A Focus On Customer Experience

Summary

The pandemic placed unprecedented strain on how healthcare organisations communicate with patients, exposing a gap between decades-old contact centre models and a public that increasingly expects the same responsiveness from healthcare providers that it gets from other digital services. That stress test revealed where healthcare customer experience needs to evolve next.

Telemedicine adoption accelerated during the pandemic, signalling consumer willingness to embrace new models of care. Surges in vaccination and testing-related inquiries also created operational strain, with that volume risking crowding out patients with unrelated, ongoing healthcare needs across the system.

Central to that shift is the case for an omnichannel approach that moves beyond phone-based support and static websites toward the mix of channels patients already use, including messaging, social media, and text. Flexible, location-independent staffing models can also widen access to specialised healthcare expertise regardless of where patients or providers are physically based, while industry consolidation is placing growing weight on customer experience as a driver of cost management, revenue, and brand loyalty.

• The range of stakeholders healthcare organisations must coordinate information across, from providers to insurers to supply chain partners
• How artificial intelligence can support human agents without replacing complex patient interactions

What will it take for healthcare customer experience to keep pace with patient expectations shaped by other industries?