The patient experience impacts a hospital’s bottom line. In fact, an Accenture study found that hospitals that offer a better patient experience tend to have 50% higher margins than their peers. It’s worth remembering the patience experience doesn’t just begin at check-in – it often starts in the parking lot.
For patients, families and visitors under stress, parking operations should feel seamless, safe and intuitive. This is equally important for nurses, doctors and other caregivers to reduce stress, which can improve the quality of interactions with patients. Still, many hospitals struggle with outdated systems and operational processes that should be refreshed to support a patient-first approach.
Every hospital is unique, which means parking cannot be a one-size-fits-all model. Each hospital site requires tailored solutions to address its specific needs, supporting flexibility and care for everyone who enters the parking lot. Technology can also play a significant role in supporting efficient parking operations and space management for these facilities. With all these things in mind, parking can become a positive part of the patient experience.
Why Parking Matters in Healthcare
Parking is the first and last impression that many patients, families and visitors have when visiting a hospital. For healthcare professionals, such as nurses and doctors, a negative parking experience can add to their stress and impact the quality of care they provide on a given day.
Confusion, slow processes and lagging technology. These are all added stressors to situations that are often already difficult for all involved. By prioritizing a simple, seamless parking experience, healthcare providers can eliminate an added burden and help create a better environment for everyone who enters their facilities, from the parking gate to the door.
Safety, easy payment, entry and exit, and wayfinding are all helpful tools in reducing anxiety and supporting visitors as they experience a healthcare facility or hospital. A well-managed parking operation supports safety and increases overall satisfaction. This can improve retention and foster a positive reputation over the long term.
Beyond the One-Sizes-Fits-All Approach
What works for one hospital may not work for another. No two hospital campuses are the same—a trauma center has very different needs than an outpatient clinic.
This remains true when we examine parking operations. Many hospitals have tried and failed to implement turnkey parking solutions, like gateless systems, or the same technology across multiple locations. However, this often isn’t the right fit.
Hospitals need custom-built solutions for their parking operations. They need to assess their location, traffic patterns, patient needs, and more to then create the right setup and operational system that will keep people moving quickly and in a stress-free way.
Creating a Tech-Powered Parking Experience
Once a healthcare facility identifies the right parking solutions for its operations, it can then invest in the right technology to support its parkers. Technology helps create a seamless, quick patient parking experience. And it gives hospitals more control over access, compliance, and space allocation.
Ensuring proper space allocation in parking decks is crucial for hospitals, and technology can help ensure that staff and patients have sufficient spaces available and easy access during peak hours. For example, license plate recognition (LPR) technology can be a good fit for some hospitals as it enables quick entry for employees and frequent visitors. At the same time, gates still manage high-traffic areas for one-off visitors or valet zones.
Beyond technology, signage, communication, and wayfinding are important factors that make the parking process easier for everyone.
The Role of Premium Service in Healthcare Environments
Operational excellence is the backbone of any hospital and healthcare facility, and people play an integral role in running things smoothly and efficiently—this remains true when it comes to parking.
Many healthcare systems face challenges with parking solutions providers who underdeliver on service, transparency or staff training. Knowing this, it’s critical to look for a partner that offers a people-first approach to parking through well-trained staff, accessible customer support, and transparent reporting.
Especially in healthcare environments, it’s important to prioritize courtesy and a calm demeanor—patients remember how they are treated. The right parking provider will understand this and help hospitals put their best foot forward at every step.
Preparing for the Future
Hospitals should always look toward the future to determine what investments should be made to support patient outcomes and overall operations. For parking operations, this may mean investing in vehicle-integrated payments, mobile platforms, or smart space management tools at some point.
The most important factor when considering these investments is understanding how they will support adaptability and flexibility in the future. Healthcare facilities and locations must be able to adapt quickly as their needs and patient behaviors change. Knowing this, it’s essential that healthcare organizations partner with a hardware- and software-agnostic parking solution provider to minimize disruptions and enable solutions to be scaled over time.
The Sweet Spot of Parking
Parking is a part of the patient experience—it’s the first and last touchpoint for many when at healthcare facilities. This process should be as easy and seamless as possible for people visiting their loved ones, bringing their children in for an emergency, or coming in for their own appointments.
Hospitals should invest in parking processes and solutions that help increase patient satisfaction, support staff, and operate more efficiently. This begins with selecting a parking provider that understands your organization’s unique pain points and can evolve and grow with you.
Derek Kline
Derek Kline is Vice President of Operations at Universal Parking.
