Challenges With Patient Care Experiences Could Be Mitigated with AI

Creating a positive experience for customers is essential in all industries. However, in healthcare, it takes even greater importance. Patients interact with these organizations primarily out of necessity and when challenges related to their or their loved ones’ health arise. This means they will be much more careful when choosing their provider, and there will be more scrutiny once the choice is made. Because of that, healthcare organizations need to work twice as hard as their counterparts in other industries to create a positive experience that will differentiate them from the competition and deliver high quality of care.

What Does a Positive Patient Experience Look Like?

Due to the nature of healthcare, a positive patient experience differs slightly from other industries. Here, patients primarily focus on the professionalism and quality of care of the provider whose services they use. Factors important to them include facility cleanliness, staff interactions, communication, and wait times, which reflect the management and how the business is generally run.

How Are Americans Liking Their Healthcare Experiences?

According to a recent survey, 3 out of 5 Americans have had a bad healthcare experience. This is an excellent opportunity for healthcare businesses that are willing to use their resources to track, analyze, and improve patient interactions and set them apart from other healthcare providers.

From another report,  42% of patients find it challenging to connect with their healthcare provider, pointing out that communication is among the biggest obstacles to receiving quality services. Unfortunately, many of these providers don’t even realize this gap exists and cannot close it to improve their patient experience.

What Is Holding Healthcare Providers Back from Delivering a Stellar Experience?

While many healthcare providers would love to provide the best experience to their patients they possibly can, there are many obstacles in their way, preventing them from competing with others. Among these challenges, the most prominent ones include limited staffing and resources and a simple lack of measures to track their customer experience and find bottlenecks that could be easily alleviated if just their existence was known.

How Does a Negative Patient Experience Impact a Hospital?

A negative patient experience can harm a hospital financially in many ways. Primarily, it encourages the patient to spread negative word of mouth, both online and in-person, which contributes to many lost opportunities as potential patients turn away and choose to get treatment somewhere else.

Another way a negative patient experience can impact a hospital is decreased funding, which can further deteriorate the experience, as the establishment now has fewer resources and can’t properly meet its patients’ needs.

How AI Helps Healthcare Organizations Make Better Decisions

Not so long ago, only the biggest healthcare organizations had access to data collection and analysis. As a separate department of engineers was required to perform this task, small hospitals and healthcare providers could not possibly compete due to their limited resources. However, tat is now changing with the emergence of artificial intelligence.

AI is helping healthcare organizations process large volumes of data they’ve collected throughout the patient journey. Algorithms highlight trends, areas of concern, or best practices based on the results, such as which area of the establishment might need additional support to meet patients’ expectations and keep them satisfied at all times.

These AI tools are often integrated with data collection terminals placed strategically throughout key areas of the healthcare provider’s operations. It might include wait rooms, washrooms, and time-specific measurements, such as directly before and after the treatment is received. This allows healthcare providers to get a more comprehensive image of their business and make well-informed decisions supported by the latest technology. 

5 Benefits of AI for Healthcare Organizations

1. Lower Operational Costs: AI solutions allow businesses to better allocate their resources where they’re most needed, decreasing costs related to management and staffing.
2. Patient Loyalty: When patients see that their feedback is appreciated and applied, they’re more likely to return, knowing that with every visit, the quality of services they receive will increase their overall satisfaction.
3. Staff Retention: Collecting customer feedback can create a better environment for the staff, as they will now have immediate feedback on their work and know which areas need attention.
4. Increased Funding Opportunities: With outstanding patient experience come opportunities to obtain funding, grants, and donations, with interested parties seeing and appreciating the amount of work that was put into creating an excellent environment for patients.
5. Positive Word Of Mouth: Satisfied patients are more likely to share their experience with others, encouraging them to use a healthcare provider’s services and bringing more patients to their establishment.

Conclusion

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the world of healthcare by giving providers a way to measure, analyze, and strategize based on the insights they obtain. At a relatively low cost compared to human data analysts, these solutions are taking the industry by storm and allowing smaller companies to compete with some of the biggest hospitals and even surpass the quality of experience offered.