It’s undeniable: Providing a positive patient experience (PX) is critical in healthcare – yet all 50 states in the U.S. experienced significant PX declines over the past two years, according to The Leapfrog Group. Healthcare organizations need informed insights into patient perceptions and industry trends to understand how to adapt to shifting expectations and improve PX and care delivery.

The Beryl Institute’s 14th PX Pulse Report goes straight to the source with five core questions, covering how patients rate the overall quality of healthcare in the U.S., which healthcare issue is most important to them, how they rate their overall experience from the past year, how important it is that they have a good patient experience, and why a good experience is important to them.

We identified three key areas that demand attention and reflection.

 

Trust Dynamics

A cornerstone of the patient-provider relationship, trust is intricately linked to people’s perceptions of healthcare organizations. The report underscores that trust, or lack thereof, stems from the perception that healthcare entities prioritize their interests over patient welfare.

And it varies significantly across healthcare touchpoints. The report reveals a striking contrast – labs, primary and specialty providers, and pharmacies garner much greater trust than local hospitals, emergency rooms, and urgent care facilities. This emphasizes the need for a renewed focus on building and maintaining trust within traditional healthcare institutions.

Fostering strong patient-provider relationships plays a key role in exceptional patient experience.💡Patients cited communication and how they’re personally treated during an encounter as key contributing factors to the level of trust they have in healthcare.

 

Feedback Preferences

Patients are not only comfortable providing feedback, but prefer doing so promptly.💡The vast majority of people expressed their desire to give feedback within 24 hours of a care experience, primarily through online surveys. This signals a growing appetite for digital patient engagement in healthcare feedback mechanisms. Through real-time feedback, healthcare providers can address concerns promptly, demonstrating a commitment to patient satisfaction and well-being.

Despite the willingness to provide feedback, the report does highlight a concerning trend: While over 50% of respondents have given feedback, 57% feel that their efforts were somewhat or not worthwhile. 💡A sizable portion believes that their feedback did not result in tangible changes, with 31% perceiving healthcare organizations as unresponsive. This speaks to a need for organizations to have actionable data they can quickly respond to.

 

Patient-Centric Focus

Contrary to an assumption that people seek care for convenience, the report suggests that establishing long-term relationships with a single provider holds greater importance for the U.S. healthcare consumer. This insight challenges prevailing notions, and calls for strategies that prioritize relationship-building.

💡Respondents suggested several items they’d like to be asked about regarding their care experience, including elements related to timing (wait times), how they’re treated, and whether their concerns and needs are addressed. This emphasizes the need for healthcare organizations to tailor feedback mechanisms to focus on patient-centric aspects that truly matter to individuals.

 

Get Real-Times Insights to Improve Patient Experience

The Beryl Institute’s PX Pulse Report serves as a valuable compass guiding the healthcare industry toward patient centricity and a jumping-off point to begin putting strategies in place.

Feedtrail’s XM platform can help healthcare organizations demonstrate responsiveness to patient concerns by providing a transparent feedback loop. Immediate feedback allows for timely adjustments that could mean the difference between positive reviews and referrals, which drive revenue, and poor NPS scores and patient losses that hurt the bottom line. Contact us today to learn more.

 

 

About Ryan Phillips, Customer Success: Ryan Phillips is a member of the Feedtrail Customer Success team and based in Long Beach, California. Ryan’s background in management consulting allowed him to bring expertise in software deployment and professional services to Feedtrail as the company’s first employee. Since then, Ryan has played a pivotal role in implementing, supporting, and strategizing with customers both large and small. Ryan has also had in hand in facilitating the development of the Feedtrail XM Platform applications such as employee experience, flexible messaging, and rounding.