The role of CX personalization for payers and providers

Today’s consumers have high expectations when it comes to digital experiences. They’ve become accustomed to companies like Amazon, Google and Netflix delivering digital-first products that are personalized based on their preferences, interactions and history. Healthcare consumers want a digital experience that knows and understands them just like the other technologies they interact with. They want experiences that are tailored to their unique health needs and which recognize their goals. Healthcare payer and provider organizations that embrace personalization and prioritize consumer experience (CX) will be at a distinct advantage as the healthcare landscape continues to evolve.

Healthcare is inherently personal

When an individual interacts with their primary care physician or nurse practitioner, they receive a deeply personal experience. The discrepancy between traditional clinical interactions and digital healthcare experiences is profound. The majority of online payer and provider interactions are generic, transactional and have a subpar CX.

It’s time to reshape digital healthcare from a maze of impersonal and fragmented applications to a deeply personalized experience that places the consumer at the center of their health journey. Payer and provider organizations that focus on healthcare personalization will dramatically increase consumer engagement, loyalty and market share.

Barriers to healthcare personalization

There are a number of barriers to digital healthcare personalization. The first is the proliferation of fragmented point solutions. Point solutions have a distinct value in addressing specific health needs, but relying on them to create a digital experience is problematic. They require their own logins, only know a specific amount of information about a consumer and do not contribute to a payer or provider’s digital brand identity.

The second major barrier to personalization is siloed data. No healthcare organization can create an individualized CX without a robust data set to power this personalization. Segmentation and personalization are possible when siloed information is unified into a comprehensive consumer data set. The question then is how can companies break down data silos and integrate point solutions while providing a  personalized experience for consumers?  The answer: a digital healthcare platform.

A platform that enables personalization

An open and configurable digital healthcare platform brings together various systems, point solutions and data sources to create a seamless and deeply personalized healthcare CX at scale. Data from electronic health records (EHRs), claims, wearables and other systems communicate in real time, creating an accurate, 360-degree view of the healthcare consumer. These insights enable targeted, proactive next best actions that are hyper-relevant to the individual.

A platform can enable a next-generation digital front door, one that allows consumers to conveniently find, access, navigate and pay for care. This is the type of next-generation CX that healthcare consumers have come to expect and which healthcare organizations must provide to remain competitive.

The importance of personalized digital health experiences

Personalized CX has become the standard in so many industries outside of healthcare because it is the primary driver of engagement. True personalization can eliminate much of the friction consumers face when trying to access, navigate and pay for care. 

Most healthcare consumers only engage with their provider or health plan once or twice a year during episodes of care. By deeply personalizing the healthcare experience, there is potential to go from sporadic interactions to weekly or even daily engagements that empower consumers to actively work toward better health. This type of engagement model is an opportunity for both payers and providers to guide consumers to the services and activities that drive health outcomes and business objectives.