Transforming the Patient Journey Post-COVID

The challenges healthcare executives and administrators face are constantly changing. Host Kevin Stevenson talks with the heroes behind the heroes that are enabling hospitals, urgent care centers and telemedicine operators to spend their time tending to patients, while they handle the logistics.

The digital consumer experience applies to much more than retail. It’s also integral for healthcare patients. As healthcare accelerated its digital channels in the pandemic, what does this mean for the consumer experience? To answer those questions, Astound Commerce, a global digital commerce platform, created the report, Transforming the Global Healthcare Consumer Journey: Now and Beyond Covid-19. Talking about what they learned from this is Tina Wilson, VP of Global Health and Life Sciences.

The survey included 1,000 healthcare consumers all over the world. It asked them about their patient experiences. It looked at access to healthcare and the reception of telehealth. The insights were powerful. Tina said, “What surprised me the most was the significant challenge for women’s health. Only 21% of women felt very confident that they could afford an emergency healthcare situation.”

Along with the inequality of women, the study showed many disparities, supporting the importance of social determinants of health (SDOH) impact on access. “Only 40% of all respondents said they had adequate access to care,” Wilson added.

Different regions of the world also had different perspectives. “Those in South America were very responsive and had positive responses to healthcare. The EU less because of uncertainty around Brexit,” Wilson explained.

So how can providers better engage with patients to ensure better experiences and outcomes? Tina commented, “Patients are consumers. It’s relatively the same experience journey with other brands. And patients are adopting digital channels.”

The study revealed that 41% of respondents had used telehealth, and appointment scheduling online was up 39%. These data points further substantiate the consumerism of healthcare.

Wilson also spoke about the trends emerging in 2021, and it comes down to one word—data. “We’ll see trends toward accurate data, and companies need to process and act on it fast,” she noted.

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