Most health system leaders know not to take patient loyalty for granted. But they might be surprised at just how fickle healthcare consumers can be. The truth is, despite how much progress organizations have made in enhancing the patient experience, patients are only about as loyal to their healthcare providers as they are to their mobile phone plans.1This can be disquieting news for health system leaders, who might hope that personal relationships with patients would prevent them from walking away. But market forces and evolving consumer preferences are pushing patients to be much choosier about their clinicians.Start with financial motivations. The patients share of financial responsibility for healthcare bills rose an eye-popping 11 percent last year.2 As more healthcare spending comes directly from their pockets, patients are more selective about where they spend it. Theyll take their business elsewhere if a provider falls short of expectations or if they can save as little savings as $500 on their costs3.Those expectations, meanwhile, have been rising. The ease and convenience they encounter in other industries have taught patients to hold high standards for service. Thats not unreasonable. But it puts healthcare leaders on the back foot, as they chase the benchmarks set by the likes of Amazon and Netflix.

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