There’s a straightforward fact in providing adequate healthcare: the consumer is the primary stakeholder in both their health and the industry at large. 

The process from admittance to discharge can be a labyrinth for patients, and there is a profound need to shake up some of the standard practices of doing business in the healthcare field. 

Simplifying the process for patients in healthcare starts at the front desk, moves to the examination room, and finally, the discharge process after the visit. 

Often, a visit to a primary care physician, hospital, and E.R., or urgent care is fraught with stress and worry from the patient’s perspective. 

Even during a wellness exam, the level of anxiety can be much higher than it may have been for the individual the day before or after the visit. 

Compounding that experience and making the discharge process complicated and time-consuming only adds to the patient’s anxiety, stress, and worry, even in the best of times. 

The central point is that healthcare consumers are the primary stakeholder in the industry. Therefore, their overall experience should focus on all but the primary healthcare provided. 

Recognizing this point is shaping the future of the administration of the healthcare industry and forcing positive changes to the overall experience and process of providing healthcare as a service. 

And the anxiety only increases when insurance claims become stuck. In limbo, there are solutions such as BPM software for healthcare to help streamline the process for insurance providers, healthcare providers, and consumers together. 

Streamlining the processes of admittance and discharge, the implementation of electronic records, and scheduling and appointment setting only serves to improve the patient’s experiences. 

To deliver a quality service, healthcare administrators must recognize the fact that improved customer experience will improve the perception of the services provided. Unfortunately, in the United States, healthcare often provides too little at too great a cost. 

Recognizing the central stakeholder, the individual patient, will only serve to improve the quality and perception of healthcare providers in the future. 

While streamlining the administrative end of the healthcare industry will improve the overall perception of the services provided, focusing on improving the awareness of health and wellness is the first step in improving the overall health of the individual and communities. 

The streamlining of the administrative end, whether it be processing, admitting, discharging, billing, payroll, and benefits, will come across as a better experience for the consumer. 

But, unfortunately, lost in the more traditional processes of many hospitals, administrative actions end up slowing the consumer’s experience down as well. 

By focusing on changing the structure and ease with which administrative functions take place allows your organization to rededicate resources where they belong; the patient. 

The front-facing potential for improving the perception of healthcare is that of the primary care physician. 

The Primary Care Physicians Role In Improving Consumer Relations

The primary care physician’s role is to provide adequate care, compassionate education, improved care coordination, cultural sensitivity and competence, better communication, and access. 

The primary keys to improving consumer confidence and care provided by the primary care physician can impact the overall experience by: 

• Improved Communication
• Cultural Awareness and Competence
• Coordination of Care
• Compassionate Education
• Adequate Care

The need to improve consumer confidence in the healthcare industry is crucial, coming out of the misinformation and confusion associated with the pandemic. 

Consumers are paying attention to the ease and convenience of their overall experience with healthcare providers, often making decisions based on ease of access to medicine when choosing providers. 

The Shift Toward The Patient Experience

So shifting from a doctor-centric perspective to a more business-savvy, consumer experience perspective will only positively impact perceptions. 

Challenges to the existing market models such as virtual healthcare providers and retail outlets providing healthcare services are only accelerating the consumer-centric model. 

Organizations and providers adapting to this new paradigm will require hospitals and providers to communicate better, improve the customer experience, and respond more to consumers’ requests. 

Taken together, a refocus toward the overall patient experience will disrupt the traditional models but improve the quality of care and services as a whole, improving the health and wellness of the patient and the community. 

Customer service training, improved use of technology in the patient processes, increased access through online portals, and just providing better care in a timely, adequate fashion are some of the primary keys to improving your patient experience. 

Changing the paradigm in the healthcare industry is already occurring. Reshaping the process focuses on the consumer experience, in this case, the patient, and streamlines every facet of the healthcare service from administration to billing and more. 

The focus on the patient’s experience will improve the overall quality of services provided and alleviate the unneeded stresses that healthcare causes among patients.