Yesterday morning, we received a question from a patient who was using SeamlessMD in her recovery after surgery.

I immediately responded to her question. A few hours later, she replied back:

“Hi Josh – I can’t believe I got a reply… and so quickly.”

I responded with:

“I’m glad the quick reply delighted you! We pride ourselves in helping hospitals provide a better experience for their patients :)”

She then said:

“Thanks Josh – I work in customer relations myself and people do appreciate timely assistance – I was actually surprised to get a reply at all.”

Of course, I’m proud of our team whenever we delight the patients we serve. It’s a wonderful feeling.

Unfortunately, what’s more striking about this story is that it shows the low expectations that patients have of our healthcare system.

Patients want better, and they deserve better. But given the challenges facing our healthcare system, you can’t blame them for not expecting much.

That said, times are changing. In some pockets of the world, patients are already expecting more. If it’s not the norm yet where you live, it soon will be.

Patient experience 1.0

Since the 1980s, patient experience has become an increasingly important indicator of healthcare quality.

No longer was it good enough to just make the right diagnosis and deliver the right treatment. We began to care about the overall patient experience – from the moment a patient stepped foot in the hospital to the moment they left.

We began to survey patients about their experience, so we could identify problem areas ripe for improvement:

• Did your doctor answer all of your questions?
• How well did your nurses treat you?
• Was your pain well controlled?

We started listening to patients. We used their feedback to continuously improve the way we cared for patients inside the hospital or clinic. We started to shift from provider-centered to patient-centered care. We still do all of this today.

This was patient experience 1.0. And it was certainly a step in the right direction.

However, the past decade has us bearing witness to a new age of patient experience.

Patient experience 2.0

Last century, our healthcare system became very good at treating acute illness. Most healthcare was delivered in the hospital or clinic setting. As a result, we mostly cared about improving the patient experience within the hospital or clinic.

This century, the concept of healthcare delivery is rapidly expanding beyond what just happens inside a hospital to everything that happens between visits – or before visits even need to happen.

In the same way that the modalities for healthcare delivery have expanded, so too has our notion of patient experience. Today, how we manage our patients when they go home is as much a part of the patient experience as how we care for them in the hospital. This is patient experience 2.0.

With the ongoing shift from volume-based to value-based reimbursement, combined with the wide availability of web, mobile and the Internet – our healthcare system finally has both the incentives and the capability for this level of patient experience to exist.

To be clear – this isn’t about being at a patient’s beck and call. It’s about the delivering the right care to the right patient at the right time.

It means that healthcare must evolve as the human race evolves. It means that we must engage patients in the ways they expect to be engaged.

It means that in a world where every person will soon be connected to the Internet through a mobile device, a patient should not have to drive three hours to follow up with their surgeon for a five minute incision check.

It means that in a world with widely available video conferencing technology, a patient should have more cost-effective choices for after hours care than the emergency department.

It means that in a world where we send secure messages in every other facet of our lives, a patient should not have to play phone tag with their doctor.

I’m grateful for the healthcare providers we work with, who also believe in building this new level of patient experience. The patients we support are already experiencing it. And they are telling us they now expect it from the healthcare system going forward.

I can’t wait for the day that a patient isn’t surprised to get a response from the healthcare system. Together, we are going to make patient experience 2.0 the norm.