Why the Patient Experience Matters

When it comes to taking a trip to the doctor’s office, did you know hundreds of little decisions are made to shape the experience you have? From the lighting of the clinic and the person who greets you at the door, to the wait time and the communication leading up to your appointment, your experience should be thoughtfully curated and coordinated. In an age where healthcare can be an increasingly frustrating experience, here’s why focusing on the patient experience matters.  

What is the patient experience?  

Put simply, the patient experience is the sum of all interactions that influence a patient’s perception across their care journey. For employers who offer onsite, nearsite, or virtual healthcare, patient experience directly impacts health outcomes and the ROI you can achieve. When patients come in, they should have outstanding experiences that motivate them to come back and bring others. Should getting care prove to be a hassle, your employees will likely delay or skip it altogether, leading to more complicated and expensive care needs down the road.  

Why does the patient experience matter? 

Patient satisfaction often leads to higher engagement and utilization at your wellness center. That’s because when patients experience exceptional care, they are more likely to return. By offering experiences that meet their needs, you can directly influence clinical quality and outcomes, helping your people be healthier. With healthier people comes lower healthcare costs for you and a more productive workforce, since your employees aren’t missing work for illness or to see the doctor. By providing easy access to primary care, health issues are addressed earlier and there are fewer costly emergency room visits and hospital admissions, which in turn saves on your bottom line. 

What leads to amazing patient experiences

Strong clinical support 

When care teams have access to robust resources and support, they can spend more time focusing on the experience that patients have in your center. If you partner with a healthcare provider to deliver onsite, nearsite, or virtual care, they should provide things like relevant trainings, tip sheets, and guides on how to best engage with patients to ensure everyone is on the same page. Implementing patient satisfaction surveys after each appointment will also allow them to keep a pulse on what’s going well and where they can improve. 

Engaging patient events  

Events are a key component in the success of increasing patient engagement and satisfaction with your wellness center. Events should be tailored to your specific patient audience. They can vary in scale and scope, from one-time affairs or recurring occasions to larger, annual celebrations. Consider partnering with a healthcare provider that has a dedicated team of people to help host patient events such as grand openings, anniversary celebrations, health fairs, meet and greets, lunch and learns, or walk-a-thons to stimulate interest and engagement. Events such as these not only help build awareness of your wellness center but also encourage utilization.  

Care team training 

The patient experience is an art, and it takes everyone in a care team working together to ensure success. Because of this, finding a healthcare provider with a proprietary patient experience training program can prove fruitful in engaging existing and new patients. This type of proprietary program can enable care teams to foster strong relationships that consistently provide outstanding wellness center experiences for your employees. Think of it as a form of customer service. Training care teams in the art of the patient experience not only improves health outcomes for your people but also drives brand loyalty. 

Patient outreach   

Your healthcare provider may also partner with you on strategies to reach more of your employee population and educate them about the wellness center. Built on the principle of providing excellent service, these outreach and education efforts support patient engagement and lead to higher employee utilization.  

The member experience at Premise Health  

At Premise Health, we realize it takes a village to deliver an exceptional experience for our members. All team members are trained to provide exceptional experiences, and numerous teams collaborate to enhance how members interact with Premise and the services we deliver. And the data speaks for itself: out of every 10 people who visit a Premise wellness center, six decide to make us their primary care provider.  

If you’d like to learn more about how Premise prioritizes the member experience, contact us today.