Resource Library

The University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) addresses a facility issue through "design sprint," which incorporates such concepts as "creating consumer experiences," and "being nimble to exceed the rate of change," as described in the SHSMD's report Bridging Worlds: The Future Role of the Healthcare Strategist, Second Edition.

Brookwood Baptist Health’s patients bear the burden of rising

Facing increasing high-deductible health plan enrollment and a consolidating market, Emory Healthcare's leadership team needed to understand how their patients make healthcare decisions and the role that price played in where they went for care. To do this, Emory carried out in-depth customer focused work and price benchmarking to understand its relative position and the role of price in consumer choice.

Extended hours and same-day appointments are fine, but not nearly enough to give today's consumers the convenience and access they desire. "What people really want is on-demand access," says David James, MD, CEO of Memorial Hermann Medical Group in Houston. "…They just need to get things done, and time has become really important for them."

Patients' personal investment in healthcare is higher now than ever before, and so are their expectations. In this consumerist environment, quality of experience is a prime factor in driving loyalty. This article explores both quantitative and qualitative approaches that are needed to grasp the entire patient choice decision-making journey.

This article describes how organizations can approach efforts to improve the patient experience, including examples of strategies gleaned from other industries. The article also highlights how one progressive hospital—Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula—is using mobile and digital technology to gain insights and meet consumer needs in real time.

Explore stories of how human-centered design can infuse humanity and bring about cultural change within a hospital, mediating organizational needs with those of end users who may be stressed or vulnerable. Hear about innovative projects that span the design of systems, clinical processes, services, environments, digital interactions, and printed materials.

In 2015, The University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) became one of the first health systems in the nation to focus on creating exceptional patient experiences using human-centered design. Here are answers to several questions about the health system's new approach to experience design.

Patient referrals are often a piece of paper with a specialist's name and phone number on them, which leaves patients with the burden of navigating the referral and coordinating their own care. This session will present novel ways to standardize referral management, provider data management, and patient access across a health system's multiple patient access points in order to improve the patient experience, increase patient conversion and retention, and fully leverage the clinical expertise within a network.

HealthEast, a four-hospital system serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, was determined to make good use of its patient portal—to improve health outcomes by sharing proactive, consistent health information that patients could access anywhere. Read more about their implementation of two digital health tools.

The Jackson Story is the account of a strategic initiative resulting in the development of Meridian Health Village at Jackson, a health/fitness/wellness center. This presentation focuses on the consumer-centric planning, implementation, and communications which were key to turning this concept into a reality for the local community.

To make its website as sweet as the town's iconic chocolate bar, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center took a patient-centered approach when redesigning its web presence. In this session, hear how Penn State used patient input throughout the redesign and how those approaches influenced the design direction.

How can you profitably grow your urgent care business? Is it possible to delight consumers and physicians alike? How can you earn consumer respect and trust? How can you use urgent care to drive lifetime patient loyalty? This session covers Sentara Healthcare's journey to drive urgent care growth and profitability.

In this session, patient access experts from Houston Methodist will discuss the strategies and tools they have utilized to streamline a complex referral process and create a better experience for both patients and providers.

Learn how, with a highly personalized strategy, Kish/Northwestern uses six strategic approaches to help develop stronger community connections, which have led to increased access to hospital services, use of preventive screenings without overuse, and greater awareness of the system brand as a trusted health resource and not just a place to go to when ill.

Learn how Community Health Network (CHNw), a leading Midwest health system, used an analytical technique called MaxDiff (maximum-difference or best-worst scaling) to leverage insight from consumer research, enabling healthcare strategists to prioritize which functional, communications, and human resource development actions would have the greatest impact.

Learn the latest forces catalyzing healthcare consumerism, best practices for developing consumer insights, strategies utilized by companies such as Best Buy, Crayola, and Walgreens, and how such techniques apply to healthcare.

A revolution of emerging technologies is now a part of everyday life. Learn insights behind this vast space and how to apply digital technologies to your brand and patient experience.

Gundersen Health System is using an online consumer panel to make and validate marketing decisions. As hospital and health system leaders and marketers, we must evolve to meet the expectations of the engaged healthcare consumer. But how? Many of us have adjusted our business models or made changes to our marketing strategies to try to meet the needs of these new healthcare decision makers. But how do we know if our direction aligns with the opinions and needs of this more engaged and influential consumer?