Customer Experience
Trend Tracker

Insights on healthcare Research

While consumers state they get about what they pay for and expect, the current status of the Healthcare Experience is immature and undeveloped according to the Q1 2010 International Customer Experience Tracker (n=1015).

In addition, it is understood that the healthcare industry needs to focus on maintaining and improving people’s physical well being. However, consumers expect healthcare providers to devote almost a quarter of their efforts in dealing with their emotional well being! Even more surprising, consumers believe that health insurers (24%) need focus on emotional well being even more than physicians (22%) and hospitals (19%).

A particularly surprising finding is that consumers state that pharmaceutical companies play a more important role in keeping people healthy than physicians do. This can be explained by the fact that consumers interact with pharmaceutical companies much more often than they do with physicians. It is difficult to imagine modern healthcare of any sort without the involvement of pharmaceutical companies. We often self medicate with over-the-counter medicines well before there is physician involvement. This effect is compounded in the US where many do not have insurance coverage that would pay for physicians.

To be fair, the top emotions consumers felt as a result of engaging the healthcare industry (ie, primary providers, hospitals, pharmaceuticals and health insurers) are satisfied, cared for and safe.

However, it is also telling that consumers feel more stressed, irritated and disappointed then valued. This is problematic for achieving the patient centered care the industry generally supports.