04 February 2016

Today, Lumeon released the results of an independent survey which shows the differences between patients and providers in what makes a good healthcare experience. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is a major difference between what patients feel makes a good experience compared to providers. According to the results, 71 per cent of patients stated a well organised and responsive service was the reason behind a good healthcare experience; contrarily, over 90 per cent of providers thought outcome and quality of the clinical team were the most important factors.

The survey, which interviewed 100 UK providers ranging from large NHS hospitals to specialist private clinics and 500 UK outpatients, explores the viewpoints of providers and patients, and the role in which technology can help build a better experience for both groups.

Patient Perspectives

Overall, patients are very satisfied with their providers. Seven in 10 felt their overall treatment was excellent, but felt the biggest problems were at the beginning and end of the treatment process. Pre-consultation, such as booking appointments and managing referrals (37 per cent), and patient aftercare, including follow up communications (22 per cent), are the stages which require the most improvements across the care pathway. Through technology in their daily lives, patients see a role for technology across each stage of the care pathway – half of respondents believe technology plays the most important role in supporting pre-consultation, including booking appointments and being referred.

Provider Perspectives

The focus of healthcare has moved beyond simply providing timely diagnosis and successful treatment. Providers recognise that there is a need to maintain a consistent treatment process across the entire patient journey, and technology is key to achieving that. Sixty per cent of providers note that patient management software is intrinsic to delivering a positive patient experience, but they don’t feel their systems are sophisticated enough to manage the patient journey. Only 39 per cent feel they have a sophisticated system that is highly automated and integrated whilst 49 per cent note that they have a simple system that supports the patient journey but has limited functionality and integration. Furthermore, 46 per cent agree that their organisation would benefit from an upgrade to existing systems to better manage prospective and existing patients more effectively.

In addition to creating a better patient experience, 84 per cent of providers note that technology saves time for management staff internally and 73 per cent believe it can better manage workloads. Despite all the benefits, however, providers are challenged to implement new technology. Fifty-five per cent see integration of new technologies as complex, expensive and time consuming, which points to a challenge for technology organisations.

“We’re pleased to see that patients are happy with their providers overall, and that the areas for improvements can easily be addressed,” said Robbie Hughes, Lumeon CEO.  “We know from other studies that providers are struggling to connect all their systems, which impacts their ability to provide a great patient experience through the care journey. Lumeon’s Care Pathway Management (CPM) platform connects all the disparate systems, providing a single, real-time view of the entire patient journey from referral to outcome. We give providers the ability to design and automate their own pathway rules, so each patient is automatically progressed through their personal care journey based on how their data fits these criteria.”

To download the full report with survey results visit http://bit.ly/1SJIjQU. For more information on Lumeon Care Pathway Manager, visit https://lumeon.com/platform.