Patient Experience Overcoming Communication Challenges in Healthcare Through Omnichannel Solutions

1. Patient Experience: Overcoming Communication Challenges in Healthcare Through Omnichannel Solutions

2. Growing Demand for Digital Healthcare Consumers’ growing use of digital devices over the years impacted the healthcare industry significantly. According to McKinsey, consumer adoption of telehealth increased from 11% in 2019 to about 40% in 2021 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Most telehealth consumers (74%) were highly satisfied, 76% of them said they would likely use telehealth services in the future. 

3. Multi-channel Standards for Patient Communication   Consumers’ growing use of multiple digital devices and apps generated new standards for service and communication. Patients expect hospitals and other healthcare providers to deliver service digitally, as mentioned. Still, most people (71%, according to McKinsey) also expect the service to be through multiple communication channels they usually use like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Chat, e-mail, and more. 

4. Patient Experience Medical issues can often be stressful for patients, especially for the chronically ill. During Covid-19, stress levels rose and still exist as the pandemic continues to spread with new variants. In this Armageddon-like reality, patients need immediate information and response for stressful medical issues. Providing this type of service through traditional channels is very costly, slow, and inefficient.  Solution: Implement AI and automation capabilities in your operational systems. To avoid extensive costs, improve response time and patient satisfaction, every hospital or medical institution must implement a technological solution that can provide automated service to patients from the very first moment.  AI service bots, for example, can resolve the slow service delivery and responsiveness issue by immediately replying to every initial request and engaging with patients from the very first moment, without the need for immediate professional intervention. Patients can receive information and test results, book doctors’ appointments, and more.  Video Chat & Voice Call features are also crucial for digital healthcare delivery. Video Chat and Voice Calls can provide a solution for issues that can be resolved remotely, such as doctor consultations and requests. In case of quarantine, patients can receive medical service remotely without endangering any of their surroundings. These abilities ensure higher patient satisfaction and a unique patient experience.  

5. Big Data and Integration  Healthcare companies hold massive amounts of patients’ data and store it on various systems and databases. That requires healthcare companies to be able to manage all the data under one single rooftop.

6. Security and Privacy  Patients entrust personal medical information with healthcare providers and accordingly expect that information to be kept safe and secure.  One minor breach in a hospital’s database or customer service system can leave it wide open for cyber-attacks. Hackers can steal information and use it to cause tremendous damage or sell it to the highest bidder that may use it for malicious purposes. 

7. In Conclusion Digital technologies keep evolving and mark a new era for the healthcare industry. As patients expect digital service to become more digital and multichannel, healthcare providers need to upgrade their service and enhance patient experience or get left behind.  Implementing an omnichannel, AI-based, and secured customer communication solution is imperative for any clinic, hospital, or medical institution now more than ever.