Patient Experience Consulting

Patient Experience has become a catch-all term with many definitions and interpretations depending on the lens through which it is viewed.

The importance of and focus on patient experience and the patient journey has increased dramatically, and not coincidentally, since the patient satisfaction metrics became tied to reimbursement in 2012. In the current era of value-based care, focus on and improvement of the patient experience is more important than ever.

Because there are so many factors that influence and contribute to the patient experience, it’s difficult for hospitals and medical groups to wrap their arms and minds around how to approach planning and implementation of patient experience systems and protocols within their organizations.

As evidence, the title and role of Chief Experience Officer (CXO) is still relatively new in the healthcare industry, but more healthcare organizations (particularly hospitals and health systems) are adding this position every year.

The CXO role is very important but often a lonely position carrying enormous responsibility and accountability but with limited resources and dedicated staff.

Organizations large enough to employ a CXO still require expertise, help and additional bandwidth in building effective patient experience systems and coaching and training providers and staff.

Structuring and implementing patient experience systems, training and coaching to foster accountability and real engagement by providers, staff and patients is a complex, time-consuming and difficult process, to say the least.  The larger the healthcare organization, the more challenging it is to achieve the organization goals for constantly improving, monitoring and measuring patient experience initiatives.

Patient Experience has become an ecosystem within healthcare industry. Hospitals, health systems and medical groups need to understand, plan and implement Patient Experience systems, training, coaching, process and protocols within the context of this ecosystem and its impact on both patients and provider organizations.

For example, the terms Patient Experience and Patient Engagement are sometimes used interchangeably when, in fact, they are related but different and distinct. Patient Engagement is a vitally important part of Patient Experience but many other aspects of Patient Experience and the overall patient journey need to be in place and functioning well in order to truly influence patient engagement, compliance and adherence.

Assessing, comparing and vetting the many companies, software platforms and tools, coaching and training programs that are offered today in the realm of patient experience is itself a daunting task.

Forefront Healthcare Consulting has been creating, coaching and training patient experience systems for healthcare organizations since long before it became an industry imperative.

Forefront brings an unbiased, objective perspective and expertise to evaluating and assembling the best of the best available patient experience programs and services to help healthcare organizations and CXOs create and successfully implement the most specific and effective patient experience model for your organization.

Think of Forefront Healthcare Consulting as your trusted advisor, consultant, advocate and resource finder for crafting or improving your patient experience efforts and results. Call 800-924-5447 to find out more.