How to Improve Patient Experience: Strategies for 2025

We live in an experience economy.

You don’t just exchange money for goods, commodities, or services anymore; you exchange it only when experience is part of the package. This is true for all sectors, including healthcare.

How you engage a patient in a personal or memorable way throughout the patient interaction builds their experience in your facility. It’s not about the patient satisfaction metrics or quality ratings; it’s about how you make a person feel in your healthcare facility.

Let’s review the fundamentals to understand what “patient experience” means.

What Is Patient Experience?

Patient experience is how you make your customers feel about receiving healthcare services from your facility. The better their experience, the more loyal they will be to your clinic or healthcare facility.

It’s all about doing things from the heart. Let’s visualize two scenarios to understand what patient experience means when a person is in a hospital for a week and needs to give blood daily for monitoring.

Scenario 1:

Scenario 2:

A nurse walks in and pleasantly introduces herself. She details the complete process of how she will come every day to draw blood and why it’s essential. She talks respectfully, but the person sees her frown while finding a vein. Puzzled, she stabs the needle in, lucky to hit the vein, and draws blood out. At last, she asks if there’s anything else she can help with, and then she leaves.

A nurse walks in and pleasantly introduces herself. She explains why she’s there and immediately turns the conversation into getting to know the patient. She asks, “Where are you from?” or “What do your kids do?” During the conversation, she locates the vein. When she sees the patient getting nervous, she comforts them by saying that she’s been doing this for the past 10 years and is so gentle that others have started calling her “Gentle Amy.” She keeps the conversation going by asking, “What nickname will you give me if I draw out the blood without you feeling a sting?” Before the conversation is over, she draws out the blood, gives the patient a nickname for being strong, and asks if there is anything she can help with. She leaves.

In which scenario do you think the patient had a better experience? It’s most likely scenario 2.

In both situations, operations were standardized and the quality of care or service was consistent, yet a person would prefer to be in scenario 2. The small conversation kept the patient’s mind off the invasive procedure, making them less anxious. This is a positive patient experience.

A patient’s experience doesn’t limit itself to the process, high-quality service, or scripts you follow, but to what memories they take away. It’s in the little things you do and the small comforts you give, especially when it’s a caregiving institution. Even Mother Teresa talked about the same thing. She said, “We cannot do great things; we can only do small things with great love.”

Patients seek this when expecting a great experience from a healthcare facility.

What Does a Patient’s Experience Cover?

A patient’s experience is how they feel about everything they went through to receive care from your healthcare facility.

This includes everything, including scheduling the appointment, waiting for their turn, receiving consultations, staff member responses, and how easy it is to communicate and follow up with the medical practitioner and their care team.

It’s all about addressing the patient’s expectations in terms of respect, responsiveness, convenience, and clarity.

Metrics That Matter for Measuring Patient Experience

Below are a few metrics healthcare facilities keep track of when observing overall patient experience.

CAHPS and HCAHPS surveys

Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) and Hospital CAHPS (HCAHPS) are the national standards for measuring patient experience in ambulatory and hospital settings.

These patient experience surveys have standardized questions to ensure consistent patient experience data collection across organizations. Qualified vendors administer these surveys via phone or mail. The results are reported publicly, helping healthcare facilities compare their performance against national benchmarks.

Here’s an example of questions asked in an HCAHPS survey:

These surveys aren’t just for measurement; they also show gaps in experience, which, when filled, drive quality patient safety and care.

HCAHPS, often called H-caps, was developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in the early 2000s. It was implemented in 2006. The responses are aggregated into 10 publicly reported measures, usually reported as top-box percentages. Benchmarking is robust here.

For example, in a CMS report from mid-2024, the national top box score was:

• 80% for nurse and doctor communication
• 67% for staff responsiveness
• 70% for “definitely yes” on recommending the hospital

Operational KPIs linked to patient experience

Beyond surveys, there are various operational KPIs that healthcare professionals keep track of to understand the performance of day-to-day functions. These KPIs are scattered across different phases of a patient’s journey, for example:

• First call resolutionis a measure ofthe percentage of patient inquiries (calls, messages, etc.) resolved on the first contact without the need for repeat calls or hand-offs. Healthcare call centers solve about 71% of patient issues on the first call, which shows there’s room to improve how quickly and effectively patient questions are answered.
• Average handle time (AHT) is the average duration of a customer service interaction, for example, the time a patient spends on the phone with a scheduling agent or IT help desk, including hold time and wrap-up. AHT reflects efficiency in addressing patient needs. The goal here is to balance speed with care. It’s about 6.6 minutes for a healthcare contact center.
• Wait time is a universal pain point in healthcare. Metrics include time in waiting rooms for clinic visits, ER, etc., time on hold on the phone, and virtual queue time for telehealth visits.
• Follow-up turnaround time is how quickly patients receive results and follow-up instructions from labs or imaging facilities. The shorter the time, the better the patient’s experience.
• Missed appointments and no-show rates are both operational inefficiencies and signals about patient engagement and access. For context, no-show rates in the U.S. vary widely: from as low as 5% in some primary care offices up to 30% or more in certain outpatient specialties.

Ontrak Health uses Nextiva as its cloud-based contact center solution to monitor its operational KPIs.

Qualitative feedback and sentiment data

Qualitative feedback includes survey comments, free-text narratives, social media posts, and call center recordings. Such data captures the why behind the numbers. Many healthcare facilities employ quick feedback requests with post-visit and post-call surveys within 24 hours of a clinic visit.

Some health systems use proprietary post-visit surveys, administered by vendors like Press Ganey, in addition to the standardized CAHPS. Likewise, after a call to a customer service line, an automated interactive voice response (IVR) system can invite the caller to rate the health care experience or answer, “Was your issue resolved? Press 1 for yes, 2 for no,” which is followed by an opportunity to leave a voicemail comment. These on-the-spot surveys offer qualitative snippets that keep fueling the continuous feedback loop.

Healthcare CX tools use AI algorithms to analyze sentiments in these qualitative snippets and determine the overall sentiment. These tools are well-tuned to pick out patient sentiments from call center conversations, reviews, and social mentions.

10 High-Impact Strategies to Improve Patient Experience

Below are some high-impact strategies that can help improve patient experience for organizations.

1. Improve scheduling and access to care

Experience delivery starts when a patient contacts a medical facility. Some contact for regular appointments, while others expect urgent and priority care for critical issues. You need to serve both situations well.

Dr. Bruce A. Scott, AMA President, says, “It’s becoming increasingly challenging to access a physician. It’s almost at a crisis level.” As a responsible healthcare facility, you need to address this.

Implement open-access or same-day scheduling for such urgent issues. This shows you care, and when it matches how you deal with such cases, it translates into experience.

When receiving regular care, give customers the flexibility to self-schedule through IVR, chat, or patient portals. Make the customer’s experience as flexible as possible.

2. Make communication human and clear

“A good scalpel makes a better surgeon. Good communication makes a better doctor.” Dr. Josh Umbehr notes the importance of clear communication in an article on TechCrunch.

According to statistics, up to 80% of the information patients receive in a clinical visit is immediately forgotten. Doctors and nurses must ensure patients follow their medical advice.

Use methods like “teach-back” to ensure patients understand the care you’re offering. Offer updates during long wait periods or call hold times. Giving patient summaries or handouts is best to ensure information is documented.

Most importantly, train your staff to listen. It’s the most significant yet overlooked part of communication in any medical institution. Research shows that patients, on average, get only about 11 seconds to explain their concerns before being interrupted by physicians.

3. Train all staff on empathy and de-escalation

Your staff needs to empathize with customers, and this empathy must be ingrained in their behavior, caregiving, and all patient interactions with customers within and outside of your facility.

Dr. Peter Pronovost says, “Patients don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care.” This is highly relevant in the context of modern healthcare initiatives. Show patients that you care by displaying the empathy expected of you. This is what a patient expects.

If a patient shows signs of frustration, coach your team on responding empathetically. To do this, hold regular patient experience huddles to review wins and areas of concern.

Check out healthcare call center best practices to coach your team effectively.

4. Build a culture of follow-up and accountability

Electronic health records (EHR) are used to call patients back about labs or open questions. If some patients miss an appointment, don’t show up, or simply reschedule, treat them respectfully and understand barriers. Bring empathy into these interactions, as patients might come back later, but they’ll carry how you made them feel for a long time.

If your doctors or caregivers make commitments, make sure they follow through. For example, if you say, “I’ll call you in a week to check on that,” you must adhere to what you promised.

5. Use digital tools to empower patients

In one survey, 41% of patients said they would switch providers over a poor digital experience. This could be difficulty with online forms, a lack of online appointment scheduling or bill pay, or other factors, and one in five have already done so.

Delivering a decent digital experience has become indispensable. To do this, you need self-service solutions like IVR, mobile apps, or portals to check results or reschedule.

Even a healthcare CRM can help you provide adequate care. Communication systems, portals, and apps integrate with a healthcare CRM, giving you a unified platform to manage all patient communication.

See if you can automate follow-ups a few days after a patient visits your facility. Give patients options to get a call back and help them avoid being on hold.

6. Make care coordination seamless

Patients frequently navigate multiple providers, departments, and care settings, and they feel the pain when care is not coordinated. In a survey of over 1,000 patients, 42% spent six minutes or more recounting their medical history at every appointment. The data isn’t integrated, making this a significant challenge in streamlining a patient’s experience across different medical facilities.

Matt Hollingsworth, the CEO of Carta Healthcare, says, “One thing that I think is completely unconscionable is that you can’t share your data with other care providers when you want to get better care, and people get frustrated about that constantly.”

Implement an interoperable EHR system and set a “tell it once” policy to ensure seamless coordination. This will alleviate the burden. Some leading organizations assign care navigators or case managers to help coordinate appointments, especially for patients with complex needs. These navigators help schedule care across specialties, remind patients of follow-ups, and serve as a single point of contact. Overall, ensure that the patients don’t have to repeat their story at every touchpoint.

7. Incorporate shared decision-making

Shared decision-making (SDM) allows physicians and patients to make health decisions together, considering the best medical evidence and the patient’s values and preferences. This collaborative approach leads to more personalized care and higher patient satisfaction:

Surveys show that many patients desire greater involvement in their care decisions. In England’s 2022 GP Patient Survey (with over 700,000 respondents), 44.6% of patients said they wanted more participation in healthcare decisions than they currently have. This was the highest level since this was tracked, and up significantly from prior years.

This research also observed that when patients engage in shared decision-making, outcomes improve. Patients are more likely to adhere to chosen treatment plans, have less regret about their decisions, and report higher satisfaction.

However, there’s a difference in the extent to which patients want to participate in decision-making. Some want to delegate their decisions to the doctor, while others like to evaluate all the options in detail. A population-based study noted that about 20% of people prefer a more clinician-directed approach, but the majority appreciate at least some discussion of options. Personalizing the decision-making approach is key.

Lately, some surveys have started measuring SDM. For example, the CAHPS survey asks if doctors involve patients in decisions as much as they would like.

8. Proactively address health literacy

Health literacy is the ability for patients to obtain, process, and understand basic health information to make appropriate health decisions. Patient care suffers when they can’t comprehend what’s being explained or struggle with medical forms and instructions. Patients with low health literacy are more likely to feel overwhelmed and dissatisfied.

You must put all written and verbal communication in plain language by default. For example, instead of saying, “You have a benign neoplasm,” say, “You have a non-cancerous tumor.” Or you could say, “Limit salt in your food” instead of “Follow a low-sodium diet.” You get the gist.

The written information you give the patient needs to be at a reading level of 6th grade. This helps most adults understand. If possible, include more visual aids, like an infographic showing how to manage chronic conditions.

9. Create a welcoming physical and digital environment

The environment significantly influences how patients feel about their healthcare experience. A welcoming atmosphere is clean, comfortable, easy to navigate, and designed with the patient’s perspective in mind.

Cleanliness is not just about infection control; it affects patient dignity and comfort. Similarly, noise levels matter. Excess noise from alarms, loud staff conversations, and other patients are common complaints and can hinder rest and recovery.

First impressions count. A difficult-to-find clinic with a cluttered, uninviting waiting room and an unfriendly front desk encounter may already put a patient in a negative mindset before any clinical care occurs. On the other hand, a thoughtfully designed environment, both in-person and online, can reduce patient anxiety while building trust and confidence.

You can create a more hospitable environment by:

• Regularly rounding in waiting areas to ask patients if they need anything and offering updates if there’s a delay.
• Avoiding rude signage and using more compassionate language is particularly important in a caregiving facility.
• Providing a seamless digital experience on a mobile app or web browser. This pays off in patient loyalty and positive word-of-mouth reinforcement.

10. Use feedback for continuous improvement

According to an Accenture report, around one in five patients switched healthcare providers in 2023, and 89% of people said they did so because the facility was hard to do business with.

Patient concerns might keep changing, and you, as a facility, need to keep yourself updated with the latest opinions. Healthcare organizations that excel in patient experience treat it as an ongoing quality improvement endeavor. They systematically collect patient feedback and, crucially, act on it. Closing the feedback loop visibly demonstrates to patients that their voices matter and drives continuous service improvements.

You can gather feedback through post-visit or post-call surveys while consistently monitoring patient sentiment and recurring complaints. Some hospitals hold annual patient experience fairs or reward programs to celebrate units that improved scores or solved persistent problems, ensuring a positive patient experience.

How Technology Improves Patient Experience

Communication is a major part of caregiving. It covers how you communicate, its clarity and simplicity, and how well the patient understands and retains that communication.

Unified communications platforms bridge those gaps by giving staff access to patient context and enabling consistent messaging across channels. They help your staff be on the same page while dealing with customers, digitally or in person, minimizing miscommunication or patients repeating themselves.

Nextiva: A Technological Solution to a Better Patient Experience

Nextiva, a HIPAA-compliant platform, gives you the digital construct needed to offer a seamless experience to people interacting with healthcare facilities. The call center solutions automate routing patients to the best available doctor or support staff. This reduces wait times significantly.

The platform’s omnichannel support for voice, chat, SMS, or email lets a facility engage patients on the channel of their preference. It offers real-time analytics on response times and hold duration, giving an overview of the team’s performance. This automatically showcases optimization opportunities.

With Nextiva, you can easily automate follow-ups and set reminder calls, which helps reduce no-shows. Overall, Nextiva adds the care needed in a patient’s digital journey while helping your team with the context required for personalized care.

It keeps your patient satisfied and creates opportunities for a memorable experience.

Book a Nextiva demo. See how it empowers your facility to deliver on modern care expectations.