A few weeks ago, I brought up the notion of the ultimate patient experience in the healthcare sector—the idea that today’s hospitals and clinics have to view themselves through a hospitality lens, keeping in mind that patients have a choice when it comes to where they receive service. As a result, you are seeing institutions increasingly invest in patient-oriented tactics, from technology to methodologies to employees.

Check out Part 1 of this blog series by clicking here.

From the moment your patient walks in the door for the first visit, to the moment he or she returns for the check-up, your patient is expecting an unparalleled experience—characterized by fast service, seamless communication, enhanced collaboration tools and cutting-edge telemedicine solutions.

So what are some things you can do to improve your experience? Here are three to consider:

1. Leverage the Latest in Telemedicine: Just three years ago, a Telemedicine Survey from Foley & Lardner LLP revealed that 90 percent of healthcare executives were already developing or implementing a telemedicine program. That number has risen since then as telemedicine solutions offer a variety of benefits to patients, from reduced healthcare service costs to increased patient engagement. One of the biggest barriers to developing a telemedicine program, however, is the training, expertise and infrastructure needed to support the program. Here at Carousel, we help clients like you bring telemedicine solutions into your environment—handling everything from the implementation to the adoption to the day-to-day management of your solutions.

Learn how to bring telemedicine solutions into your environment. Click here.

2. Account for Ransomware: It’s long been understood that hospitals and healthcare institutions are prime bait for ransomware attacks. In fact, a new report states that the healthcare industry is hit “significantly harder” by ransomware than in any other industry with 88 percent of attacks hitting hospitals. (For a look at the damage caused to the healthcare industry as a result of ransomware, click here for a compelling read.) To improve your patient experience, you need to account for what you can be doing today, tomorrow and the day after that to improve your security posture. That can mean everything from upgrading your firewall to building a layered approach for defense. It’s imperative to take the time to make sure that you not only have comprehensive backup and recovery processes in place, but that you are approaching security with an “assumption of breach” mentality—more on that here.

3. Connect More to Your Patients: One of the things I hear over and over again from our hospital and healthcare clients is that they are searching for ways to leverage technology to reach their patients better—from the patient a stone’s throw away to the one located 40-50 miles down the road. Imagine the possibilities if you could leverage technology to alleviate complexities caused by geographic distance. Suddenly, your 70-year-old patient suffering from emphysema no longer has to hop in the car with his oxygen tank to drive an hour to your hospital for his follow-up visit. Instead, he can videoconference with his pulmonologist and have his vitals sent through remote monitoring technology. This level of care and personalization can be the difference between recurring patients and one-time visitors.

This is only a sampling of the techniques our healthcare institution can employ to greatly augment the patient experience. But I want to hear from you… what are you doing today that is working to create a heightened level of experience for your patients? You can reach out to me below or at asauer@carouselindustries.com.

• healthcare, 
• medical, 
• medicine, 
• patient experience, 
• telemedicine, 
• telepresence