Understanding your Healthcare Audience - Patient, Consumer, or Human?

Patient-Centric Care

The goal of any health care system is to provide "patient-centered care" that is focused on quality improvement and improved outcomes. Patients do better with connected care, so this reaches the very heart of the healthcare system. Clinical and operational services primarily drive patient-centric care: "How can we best serve the patient? and while it ultimately benefits the patient, it is not readily apparent to the patient and therefore doesn't influence their decision.

Patient-centric care includes things like:

• Multi-Disciplinary Clinics: These clinics allow newly diagnosed cancer patients to see all of the specialists they'll need in one visit, rather than five separate visits.
• Patient education materials: include information on wound care, chronic condition management, etc.
• Discharge Instructions: To assist patients with understanding the following steps to take.
• Family Caregiver Involvement: At the point when friends and family are involved, patient results are better.

Consumer-Centric Experience

The consumer-centric experience helps patients understand and choose the right treatment. Rather than just considering episodic needs, it considers patients' healthcare journey (not just episodes) and how they decide who to choose based on ease/convenience and emotional considerations, such as, "Who do you feel is a trustworthy healthcare advisor?"

Consumer-centric experience includes things like:

• Ease: The goal should be to design digital processes and content around the patient journey, including strong find-a-doctor data, clear pathways to alternative care options, such as virtual visits and urgent care, online scheduling and intake forms, appointment reminders, and any functionality that facilitates easy next steps.
• Nurture: EstabEstablishish a relationship with the patient that extends beyond episodic visits, such as building proactive outreach.
• Transparency: Healthcare purchases are particularly convoluted; as patients continue to assume greater financial responsibility for their care, they increasingly expect cost transparency.
• Customer Service: Provide feedback channels, respond to concerns, and resolve issues in a way that is convenient for them.

Empathy for People

To be 'human-first', you must remember the people who are your patients, acknowledge their feelings, and consider their larger motivations and challenges. At the end of the day, health goals are based on larger - human - motivations. The goal of people wanting to be healthy is not just to be healthy or because the doctor told them to be healthy - they want to be healthy to be able to be with their families and friends, do the things they love, and enjoy life's moments. However, you also have to deal with human challenges unique to each individual. Humans are creatures of habit, influenced by the environment that surrounds them, as well as different biological tendencies. Being human-first should be evident in every aspect of healthcare - from human-to-human interactions to the tone you use.