Improve Customer Experience in healthcare

Transcription

1 Improve Customer Experience in healthcare

2 Welcome Welcome to our report on healthcare customer experience. Much like R2D2, it s short and useful. In fact, this report is only 2,367 words and should take you no more than 5 minutes to read. In the next 5 minutes we ll walk you through the importance and expected ROI of great customer experience (CX). We ll illustrate how CX can be directly linked to increased profits and customer engagement. Then we ll dive into identifying where opportunity lies for healthcare providers to support people affected by Cancer. Sit back, relax and enjoy! CreateHealth.io

3 >This is an exciting time to be in healthcare; in fact we d argue we re living in an historic time. Competition is becoming increasingly fierce and customers are much more demanding. To stay ahead of your competition it is imperative to understand the emerging trends that can help you improve customer experience. And herein lie some amazing opportunities. Let s begin by clarifying exactly what we mean by customer experience. A customer experience is an interaction between an organization and a customer as perceived through a customer s conscious and subconscious mind. It is a blend of an organization s rational performance, the senses stimulated and the emotions evoked and intuitively measured against customer expectations across all moments of contact. 1. A customer experience is not just about a rational experience (e.g. how quickly a phone is answered, what hours you re open, delivery time scales, etc.). 2. A customer experience is not just about the what, but also about the how. 3. A customer experience is about how a customer consciously and subconsciously sees his or her experience. With definitions out of the way, let s move to the sexy stuff and find out what the true value of CX is in the business world. Dr. Phil Klaus, Professor of Customer Experience and Marketing Strategy, (ESCE International Business School, Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University School of Management) and his team conducted a global study to determine which CX management practices are the most profitable ones. This study was inspired by findings from a Harvard study enquiring about delivering and receiving great customer experience from the firm s and the customer s viewpoint.

4 >Shockingly, 80% of the CEOs believed their companies provided great customer experience. But only 8% of their customers believe they receive great customer experience. This sobering finding is backed up by a recent report from Econsultancy 1 which concludes that whilst 90% of companies globally recognize the importance of customer experience, only 20% of these companies actually have what they feel is a well-developed customer experience strategy. There are huge gains to be made in this area for the first adopters. Prof. Klaus s study engaged 652 companies worldwide. From this he managed to cluster companies into three categories (these are very high level, and more detail can be provided if needed). Preservers, Transformers or Vanguards. 1. Preservers Preservers define CX management as an extension or development of existing service delivery practices. While acknowledging its importance, Preservers are incapable of making a strong business case for CX to their top management. Preservers are characterized by a series of limited initiatives rather than the construction of a comprehensive program based on a well-articulated, longterm vision. Their programs lack central control, the development of complementary business processes, and an overarching vision. Their average profitability is1.1% p.a. (based on last 3 fiscal tax years). 90% of companies recognize the importance of CX, only 20% have a good strategy. 2. Transformers In comparison to a Preserver s focus on incremental improvements, Transformers strive to become a CX-focused organization, acknowledging both the broad nature of CX and implications for managing CX throughout the organization. These organizations accept a long-term commitment to transformation. Nonetheless, they struggle to develop a CX business model and the corresponding business processes, resulting in an emphasis on existing processes. Companies who adopt this model are in a stronger position, with profits at respectable average of 4.1% pa.

5 3. Vanguard Vanguards have a clear strategic model of CX management that affects their entire organization, and develop matching business processes and practices to ensure its effective implementation. Vanguards integrate functions and customer touch-points to ensure that the customer experiences across their own business are consistent. CX practice is founded on the conviction that delivering the desired CX is the driver of organizational performance. Companies who adopt this model can expect champagne-popping profits of 8.2% pa. (Prof. Klaus s exact methodology and information in his follow up research can be obtained by contacting him directly on: profdrphilklaus@gmail.com) So why are Vanguards the most profitable ones, and how can your organization become a Vanguard? Vanguards accept that not every customer will bring immediate profit to an organisation, but they consider which customers will create profit in the future. They look at the long-term future of a client and see them as an investment how many sales teams are trained to think about the Lifetime Value of a Customer (LTV)? Is a bird in the hand still worth two in the bush? Prof. Klaus s findings are a powerful message for anyone questioning the importance of making great customer experience a core focus in any multi-channel strategy. After all, customers will always have an experience. And no matter if it was good or bad, it will determine their behavior. Great customer experience will provide you with higher revenues. A focus on great customer experience over sales is a proven formula for increased profits. 1 Econsultancy, Integrated Customer Experience report, October 2013

6 >Customer Experience in Oncology Improving customer experience in healthcare has huge economic benefits. A recent review by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) illustrates how patient experience is positively linked to improved health outcomes, and patient adherence. 2 Charmel & Frampton support further 3, showing how great CX can reduce a patient s length of stay in hospital and reduce staff turnover, correlating to reduced costs and improved outcomes. 4 The cancer community is lucky to have an effective means of capturing the experiences of people with cancer at a national level. In the UK we turned to the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey, insight from Macmillan s 2013 Survey 5 and The British Lung Foundation s 2013 Survey 6. All three surveys suggest there is a need to improve the patient experience in cancer. I do not get any advice.i feel alone and rejected by the system. The whole thing is an utter shambles, with no overall person keeping tabs on you, just different units who do not talk to each other, do not read your notes and prescribe medicines that react with each other. A person with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. 2 Doyle C, et al. A systematic review of evidence on the links between patient experience and clinical safety and effectiveness. BMJ Open : e Charmel P, Frampton S. Building the business case for patientcentered care. Healthcare Financial Management (3): Charmel P, Frampton S. Building the business case for patientcentered care. Healthcare Financial Management (3): Macmillan Cancer Support/YouGov online survey of 2,217 UK adults living with cancer. Fieldwork was conducted between 5 17 June Survey results are unweighted. Results presented are based on 455 people diagnosed within the last two years who had a stay of one or more nights in hospital during their cancer treatment. 6 British Lung Foundation, Survey of people affected by mesotheliamo 2013, 2013

7 >CX failure To understand where opportunity lies, we must look at the micro-interactions across multiple touch points. Below are some pain points we pulled from the above research. CX failure: More than a third of patients (38%) feel they can t always ask their nurse questions about their condition, and more than 10% sometimes even felt humiliated by their doctor. 7 CX failure: Before starting treatment, almost half of patients (45%) were not fully informed about treatment side effects that could affect them in the future. Almost four in five (78%) were not offered a written assessment and care plan. Around four in ten (41%) were not given enough support from health and social services after leaving hospital. 8 CX failure: 47% of survey respondents highlighted improvements in the compensation claims process to be absolutely essential. Delays are also apparent in those receiving compensation even after having been awarded it: nearly a quarter (23%) of those who reported having received their award had to wait more than three months before receiving the money. 44% of those who responded to the question regarding their feelings about the length of the compensation process described it as leaving them either unhappy or deeply distressed. CX failure: Almost a third (31%) of patients revealed they did not have confidence and trust in all the ward nurses treating them. 9 7 Macmillan Cancer Support/YouGov online survey of 2,217 UK adults living with cancer. Fieldwork was conducted between 5 17 June Survey results are unweighted. Results presented are based on 455 people diagnosed within the last two years who had a stay of one or more nights in hospital during their cancer treatment. 8 Quality Health, Cancer Patient Experience Survey, Macmillan Cancer Support/YouGov online survey of 2,217 UK adults living with cancer. Fieldwork was conducted between 5 17 June Survey results are unweighted. Results presented are based on 455 people diagnosed within the last two years who had a stay of one or more nights in hospital during their cancer treatment.

8 >So where to start in creating a better customer experience? Macmillan defines a good patient experience as one where they feel supported, respected and meaningfully involved in decisions about their care, from diagnosis onwards. It would also be one that recognizes that cancer affects their whole life, including the people who are important to them. 10 Great patient experience can be seen as: 1) High quality communication patients must feel confident they can approach staff and ask questions. It is vital staff use language that patients can easily understand. 2) Meaningful involvement patients want staff to support them so they can make informed choices about their treatment and care. They also want providers of care to encourage them to give feedback about their care and know it will be acted on. Once my treatment was over, I was abandoned. There was no system to support me, no one asked me how I would cope emotionally, and when I started suffering side effects, I felt like I was making a fuss about nothing. The absolute silence of support was deafening. I m still lacking in energy and I experience flashing lights, so do I still have cancer? Has it been cured? Is it going to return? No one is there to answer my questions. Fran from London. 10 Macmillan Cancer Support, Improving care for people with Cancer P19

9 >Where does immediate opportunity lie? Coordinated care patients want to experience a clear and seamless journey between different care settings such as GP practices, hospitals and cancer centres. 11 A provider would see quick user adoption and key partnerships if their intervention helped user navigate this landscape. Home care - Currently, there is a severe lack of comparable data on the experiences of people with cancer outside a hospital setting; for example, the GP Patient Survey doesn t cover all the issues that are important to people with cancer, such as early diagnosis and continuity of care. Pharmaceutical companies could use their knowledge and expertise to work with the NHS to improve the data and insights needed to improve home care for cancer patients and their wider circles. Communication Multiple opportunities exist to improve the communication and education between healthcare staff and their patients. From digital to print, a focus on human-to-human support would significantly improve the experience of people impacted by oncology. Benefit navigation Speed up the process so that those suffering with mesothelioma can benefit before they die. An interactive guide that allowed users to update and improve content around benefit claims would add huge value and improve the experience of users at this time.

10 >Concluding Comments Before you run off and start building new solutions, speak to the people and companies on the front line already building out these interventions. From payers to patient groups, some great work is being achieved. For example, Macmillan are currently looking at a number of ways to improve relational care including the Macmillan Values Based Standard, which consists of eight practical behaviours designed to help change the dynamic of the relationship between staff and patients. Gary Hazel, Innovation, Insight and Brand Development Specialist, Toorank Distilleries. Believes that Pharma and healthcare overall have a huge opportunity to create a way to communicate in a way that keeps things open between provider and customer. Gary is seeing firsthand how non-verbal communication is becoming the norm for most companies. This norm creates an expectation by the customer that isn t being met in the healthcare arena. This approach is echoed by our own work at CreateHealth.io that has seen how healthcare consumers (patients, doctors, nurses, carers etc.) are more than willing to contribute to research and give up a lot of their free time to help improve healthcare. This is untapped potential for any provider willing to roll up their sleeves and make CX core to their thinking. This sadly brings us to the end of our short report. If you d like to obtain a deeper understanding of your customers and discover what they define as great customer experience, contact us at jon@createhealth.io To learn more about our insight projects and upcoming forums visit createhealth.io

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