Three reasons marketers should help shape the patient experience

When it comes to shaping the patient experience at hospitals, the responsibility usually falls to someone outside the marketing department. Perhaps it’s a vice president of quality, a director of nursing, or a patient care advocate. Many times there are committees assigned to improve patient care, but rarely are representatives from the marketing department invited to the table. If marketers are involved, it’s usually in their role as communicator, not as an innovator.

Why is this the case? The main reason is that most of the efforts to improve the patient experience focus on the clinical side of the experience, and rightly so. The clinical experience is the foundation of the healthcare experience — without strong clinical care, hospitals and clinics would not survive as providers.

But the clinical experience, which is essential to the equation, is only part of the healthcare experience. Healthcare organizations can often impact patient satisfaction in a greater way by focusing on those elements surrounding the clinic experience. And this is where marketers can play a primary role in shaping the patient experience.

Here are three reasons why marketers are perhaps the best equipped to help drive real innovation in designing the patient experience:

1. A broad vision — Few in healthcare organizations are as well positioned or qualified as a marketer to see all of the organization’s consumer touch points. Marketers can draw from a deep understanding of all the ways in which a healthcare provider touches a consumer, from community outreach to primary care to inpatient care, and everything in between, to improve existing experiences or generate new and different experiences.
2. An understanding of the audience — No one in a healthcare organization is likely to be better educated or experienced in understanding how consumers think than the marketer. Essentially, building a positive experience is a branding issue, which is the territory of the marketer. Understanding consumer psychology, research methodology, strategic planning and the power of design and creativity are all essential to developing a compelling experience: Is there anyone more qualified in your organization in these areas of expertise?
3. Filling the void — Those charged with improving the clinical experience — quality and safety managers, care managers, physicians and nurses — have little time to focus on anything other than the clinical care itself. In some cases, they see the “other stuffâ€? — such as service, convenience or communication — as secondary to the clinical element. Yet these elements that surround the clinical are just as critical to impacting the overall experience of the patient, and the marketer is perfectly positioned to focus in this area.

For more on marketing’s role in shaping the patient experience, see GeigerBevolo’s white paper, Leading the Charge: How marketers can help shape the patient experience.