Kyruus Blog

How to read this graph: The bars illustrate the total number of searches for a term (e.g. diabetes) over the month via the Kyruus ProviderMatch platform and the heatmap breaks the data out by week.

While people across the world have had to adjust their lives in the face of the coronavirus crisis, hospitals, health systems, their staff, and the patients turning to them for care have undoubtedly felt the greatest impact. Healthcare organizations face the tough task of not only caring for the influx of patients needing assessment and care for coronavirus, but also ensuring they effectively facilitate care for patients in their communities with non-COVID-related medical needs, such as chronic conditions, mental health, and cancer.

“To enable human beings to care for other human beings” has been the mission of Kyruus since we began this journey almost a decade ago. As our communities and nation face unprecedented and uncertain times, we maintain our steadfast commitment to this goal and to doing our part to improve access to care – no matter the circumstances. 

With patients acting more like consumers of healthcare and spending more time accessing information online, health systems are investing in their online presence to create experiences that attract consumers and connect them to the care they need. However, as they look to do so, many organizations are finding that executing a comprehensive, consumer-friendly, digital front door strategy is easier said than done. Successfully launching these projects requires cross-functional participation, technological evolution, and oftentimes, a significant cultural shift to become truly customer-centric.

As coronavirus puts healthcare consumers on increasingly high alert across the US, health systems have a critical role to play in meeting their information and access needs. With so many people turning to the internet to educate themselves, health systems can provide a much-needed trusted resource for factual information about the virus and its prevention, along with guidance on how to obtain appropriate care.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but in these initial stages, it’s imperative that health systems ensure that they’re making it easy for patients to:

This blog was originally published on Cerner.com on Feb. 19, 2020.

Estimated read time: 3 minutes

Key takeaways

• As consumers, more of us rely on our own research to find new health care providers.
• Health systems need comprehensive digital strategies to meet our rising demands.
• Convenience in health care includes online access and booking.
• Cerner and Kyruus are collaborating to help enhance online search and scheduling experiences.

As the world becomes increasingly digitized, patients are looking to interact with healthcare the same way they look for flights on Kayak or make a dinner reservation on OpenTable–with speed and convenience. And as health systems look to respond, understanding consumer behavior and the patient journey will be critical to delivering a user experience that successfully meets patients’ needs and expectations.

Whether your organization is looking to do so by revamping your website or building a new mobile app, here are a few design best practices from our work with consumers to help your team deliver user experiences that delight.

While healthcare continues to play catch-up to other customer-obsessed and digital-first industries, 2019 became the year in which many health systems started to align their organization around a commitment to improving the patient experience. This is certainly clear looking at our most popular content pieces from 2019–healthcare leaders want analytics to measure patient access, insight into how consumers make care decisions, and best practices for partnering with their organization to execute consumerism initiatives, like online scheduling.

To transform access and experience in 2020, check out the list below of the four most downloaded resources from 2019:

Kyruus had the pleasure of hosting Chris Pace, Senior Director of Digital Marketing at Banner Health, along with our Vice President of Marketing, Emma Smith, for a webinar titled “Turning Insights Into Differentiation: How Banner Health Transformed Its Digital Access Strategy.” The two discussed what today’s consumers expect from their healthcare experiences, including information to be readily available where they search, streamlined booking experiences–online and over the phone–and better access to quick, convenient care options, and how health systems can respond.

Last week, Kyruus CEO and co-founder, Dr. Graham Gardner, had the pleasure of participating in a webinar titled “Digitizing the Consumer Healthcare Journey” with Aaron Martin, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Providence St. Joseph Health. Aaron and Graham discussed a major problem facing the healthcare industry today: health system’s inability to keep pace with consumer expectations for a digitized patient experience that is transparent, affordable, and available on demand.

This is the first in a three part series focused on helping healthcare leaders understand how different generations access care to improve engagement and brand loyalty.

Did you know that millennials are projected to overtake Baby Boomers as the largest generation in 2019? In 2016, they numbered 71 million, while Baby Boomers numbered 74 million.¹ However, with millennials about to represent the largest contingency of the US population, health systems need to strategize ways to not only understand the needs of these younger consumers, but also develop programs to capture their attention and win their loyalty.