Advancement in technology and competition in the market highlights the importance of customer experience and satisfaction. Applying this concept to healthcare, a service provider brings forth the value of patient satisfaction. Particularly at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, transformative engagement has become vital. Hospitals and clinics streamlined their interactions for improving patient experience. While other industries focused more on customer experience to stand distinctive in the market, the healthcare industry was focused on bettering health outcomes, diagnostics, and operational standards. As a result of the major switch to digital care, patient satisfaction has surprisingly increased during this period.
In an Accenture survey that included 2700 patients regarding changes in care during COVID-19, they found patients largely favoured virtual care. About 9 out of 10 respondents felt that the care they received virtually from their healthcare provider was as good or better than before COVID-19. Likewise, nearly half of all patients reported that they are now getting treatment at home instead of going to their healthcare provider’s office, and 60% of patients want to use technology more for communicating with healthcare providers and managing their conditions (Accenture, 2020).
During the on-going pandemic, patients are afraid to risk exposure to COVID-19 by going to their healthcare providers for regular treatment, and many deferred or even changed their treatments. As patients are avoiding healthcare facilities, many started to learn how to use new technologies to continue the care they urgently need. Virtual tools became essential lifelines for communication and guidance for patients now administering their treatments at home. By using technology to support communication and care, healthcare providers were largely able to maintain or even improve the patient experience. Patients appreciated the more personalized interactions, the faster response time, and the convenience of being able to manage and monitor their care from home (Accenture, 2020).
Furthermore, a 1,000-person survey distributed by digital customer experience platform Lightico also suggests that part of this demand may be partially the result of positive first-hand experiences. Among the 31% of participants who said they had received care remotely, 41% described their experience as either \”good\” or \”excellent.\” Although this rate indicates clear room for growth, it did outpace the respondents\’ satisfaction levels with remote services from other industries, such as banking (33%), telecom (33%), auto lending (29%) and insurance (28%) (Muoio, 2020).
With hospitals overloaded and many nations closing their borders, it\’s not surprising that COVID-19 has placed digital health in the spotlight. These surveys suggest not only that the services are on consumers\’ radar, but that they may be appreciating their digital health experience enough to continue using the technology once the COVID-19 pandemic is over. If you don’t currently have digital health or online booking solution at your practice, feel free contact us to see how our applications can solve your pain points.
References:
Accenture. (2020, July 10). How COVID-19 has permanently changed patient behavior. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/life-sciences/coronavirus-patient-behavior-research
Muoio, D. (2020, April 13). Poll: Consumers report greater satisfaction with digital health services than those from banking, telecoms. MobiHealthNews. https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/poll-consumers-report-greater-satisfaction-digital-health-services-those-banking-telecoms