CRM and process automation company Pegasystems has revealed the results of a new survey into healthcare consumers’ experiences during the pandemic.
The survey of 2,000 US-based consumers and 200 healthcare business decision makers looked at the state of engagement in the industry.
Among the key findings were that the number of patients who said they would switch doctors due to poor communication and engagement dropped 23% to 63% compared to last year. Meanwhile, 50% of consumers agreed their doctor and health insurer are closely connected – up 27% compared to the year before.
However, the study also found numerous pain points remain. 55% say that navigating the healthcare system remains difficult, with other standout findings including:
- The fact that 54% of consumers say they are happy with the level of communication from their doctor’s office
- That’s despite 76% of healthcare organisations believing they make it easy for patients to connect with them
- 53% of consumers say they are open to giving insurers access to their real-time health data
- 49% are comfortable with their doctors using AI
“While the healthcare industry made strides to deliver connected, simplified experiences during a tumultuous year, the reality is that consumers still bear the brunt of navigating a very complex ecosystem,” said Kelli Bravo, vice president and global industry market lead, healthcare and life sciences, Pegasystems.
“In the post-pandemic world, care teams–from providers to insurers – must increase personalization and reduce complexity to empower consumers to engage more in their health and drive better care outcomes.”
Back in May, the company revealed the results of research into major customer experience frustration points. A global study of 12,700 business leaders, agents, and customers found that 77% of customers said they would take their business elsewhere if they received poor service.
“The pandemic served as an accelerator for many organizations to fast-forward their customer service strategy deeper into digital,” said Jeff Nicholson, global leader, CRM Strategy, Pegasystems, at the time. “Today’s challenge, however, is that many traditional approaches still lack the journey-centric technology needed to achieve fast resolution via a customer’s preferred point of contact. Just being present on a range of channels is no longer enough. The next great opportunity is to up-level the quality of service on all channels so they can consistently resolve the same critical customer issues.”
