3 Key Takeaways from NGPX 2018

What a week it was at NGPX 2018!

This year’s conference took place in sunny San Diego, California, and gathered hundreds of Healthcare and Patient Experience (PX) professionals to share lessons and stories on managing the patient experience based on their organization’s own experiences, and also discuss the best ways Healthcare organizations can go about improving experiences across the patient journey. 

iperceptions was proud to be a sponsor of this year’s conference, and I was also excited to be the chair for a track of sessions that focused on “Predictive Analytics, Data and Technology for Improved Experience”.

This conference provided an intimate environment that, by the end of the week, gave me the opportunity to attend a number of enlightening sessions and workshops, as well as discuss face-to-face with many healthcare professionals on how they go about managing the Patient Experience.

Here’s a quick summary of the takeaways me and the iperceptions team got from attending NGPX 2018.

A key Customer Experience (CX) trend is also impacting Healthcare

It has become increasingly easy for people to access key information and compare different organizations, not to mention, share their experiences with others (especially if it’s a negative one). This has no doubt had a growing impact on what people now expect from their experiences with brands, since it is now easier for them to switch to another brand if they feel they can receive a better experience from them.

This is a trend CX professionals in most industries are constantly battling with. As such, it was not surprising that ‘patient expectations’, and how they are becoming more complex and difficult to meet in the Healthcare sector, was frequently discussed throughout the event. Considering that research is showing nearly six in ten people now expect their Healthcare digital experience to be similar to that of retail, these amplified expectations appear to be melding from industry to industry.

In a sector as complex and competitive as Healthcare, being able to understand how patients’ expectations are changing at each stage of the patient journey will undoubtedly continue to be a hot topic among PX professionals moving forward.

The Patient Experience extends beyond the in-care experience

The primary focus at NGPX 2018 was the in-care experience – the experiences that take place within the medical center or hospital setting. Although, in my discussions with healthcare professionals attending the conference, the topic of experiences outside of the hospital also came up often.

Whether we were discussing telehealth, the ease of making a follow-up appointment, or even the process of researching different medical centers, it was interesting to see how expansive the scope of PX can truly be in the eyes of the other attendees, and the different moving parts that can impact each of the experiences that make up the Patient Experience as a whole.

With something of this scope, PX professionals will need the right insights at their disposal that will at least allow them to more quickly align internally and take action more quickly and offer a Patient Experience that stands out compared to their peers. Which brings me to my third takeaway:

Technology will be key to addressing issues with the in-care experience

It was very interesting to get healthcare professionals’ take on the in-care experience and learn of the limitations they are facing within their own organization. A common theme that I could identify in my discussions was the role of technology in helping to unlock many opportunities to address some of these issues, particularly as it relates to patient feedback. For example, technology could play a part in:

1. Providing more flexibility when collecting patient feedback, whether in terms of how this feedback is collected, the use of short and tactical surveys to better understand the specifics of their in-care experience, and even help address issues relating to low sampling.

2. Removing departmental silos within the healthcare organization by making it easier to communicate key findings and monitor common Patient Experience metrics being measured throughout the patient journey, helping make sure everyone is on the same page.

3. Better informing and aligning your Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) through easier access and visibility into key insights culled from Voice of the Patient efforts, which could help support and solidify their patient-centric decisions.

NGPX 2018 was a very educational and eye-opening conference for the iperceptions team. It allowed us to get a unique peak into some of the top healthcare organizations’ Patient Experience efforts, and we look forward to next year’s edition of the conference.

In the meantime, if you were not able to attend this year’s conference and would like to learn more about how iperceptions can help your healthcare organization better understand and improve the patient experience, make sure to schedule a meeting with us.

Banner image source: Headway on Unsplash