In part-one of this two-part blog series we talked about the value of patient journey mapping from the patient’s perspective. This week we will cover how journey mapping can increase efficiencies and outcomes for providers within an organization.
One of the biggest issues we found care providers to have, especially in primary care, is the breakdown in communication throughout a patient’s journey that can cause risks for decreased satisfaction, outcomes and care plan adherence, all things that ultimately affect the care you are able to provide for your patient.
The Patient Journey Map uses the voice-of-the-patient to guide appropriate actions for creating better patient experiences and retaining patients to your organization. Here are the final 3 of the 7 reasons that your organization should implement a patient journey mapping solution.
- Make the Care Continuum Continuous - When patients are referred outside of their PCP there is often a breakdown in communication between providers. These breakdowns could be a result of geography, technology, network among other circumstances. Often the care continuum does not feel continuous from the lens of the patient and causes opportunities for gaps in care thus affecting overall outcomes and your bottom line.
- Close-the-Loop - Communication breakdowns are at the heart of most negative patient interactions. If a patient has a certain expectation that is not communicated throughout the touchpoints on the patient journey, the chances are that this expectation is not going to be met. Quickly identifying and correcting any patient issues can make or break a patient experience and create better efficiencies for your practice.
- Continuous Improvement - Collecting patient journey data is important, but it is what you do with the data the matters the most. Having the proper plan in place to review this data regularly will help understand systemic themes, recurring issues and improvement opportunities.
By mapping the patient journey, your organization can uncover silos and pain points while setting expectations, connecting emotionally with the patients and correcting issues quickly. It can also identify break downs between referring providers. The most important part of collecting this data is implementing an improvement plan. We also recommend that you revisit that plan regularly to understand how your interventions have improved the patient journey.