April 7, 2025
From Insight to Impact: How Personalization Enhances Patient Experience
We began our blog conversation earlier this year focusing on the importance of the interconnected patient experience, particularly from the perspective of healthcare organizations and revenue cycle management. This month we turn to the patient perspective and the importance of patient insight. Specifically, how mining patient data and using analytics throughout the entire patient journey empowers healthcare organizations to connect and improve the overall patient experience, increasing satisfaction and loyalty.
When healthcare providers connect with patients in a way that feels personalized and meaningful, patients feel truly known. This connection encourages them to take an active role in their healthcare journey—from scheduling and intake to billing and payments. Most importantly, making personalized patient engagement the norm fosters satisfaction, trust, and long-term loyalty.
We call this the “Know Me” effect—a dynamic approach that considers each patient’s unique characteristics, behaviors, and preferences. This phenomenon isn’t exclusive to healthcare; consumers experience it daily. Airlines remember seat preferences, hotels anticipate room choices, and retailers recommend products tailored to individual tastes.
A McKinsey study reveals that 71% of consumers expect personalized interactions from brands. The same holds true in healthcare. Patients expect providers to understand their financial situation, technological preferences, communication styles, comfort with digital self-service, health history, and more.
Leveraging Data for a “Know Me” Strategy
This level of patient insight is now possible through sophisticated data analysis, going far beyond traditional credit scores. It starts with comprehensive patient data, including demographic and psychographic details, as well as past behaviors. With the right technology, this data is analyzed through a healthcare-specific lens and shared across the organization.
The result? System-wide visibility, allowing every team—pre-service, billing, accounts receivable, and customer service—to see the full patient picture and engage accordingly. A “Know Me” strategy enhances every interaction, including:
- Price transparency
- Pre-care messaging
- Patient intake and registration
- Consent preferences
- Billing statements and payment plans
By ensuring every touchpoint aligns with patient needs and preferred communication channels, engagement becomes seamless and effective.
Real Impact: Personalized Engagement in Action
Here’s how a patient with high medical costs responded to a tailored payment plan from her hospital:
“I really appreciate the hospital offering payment options. Having two ER visits in three months was quite a shock to my finances even with health insurance. I am sure that I will pay off the bill sooner thanks to the payment options.”
Personalized engagement works. By delivering relevant messages and flexible payment options in the right channels and cadence, healthcare organizations build stronger patient relationships.
The Bottom Line
More than half of consumers are more likely to return to a business after a positive personalized experience (Segment), and nearly 60% of businesses see increased retention and conversions due to personalization (Wizard).
Patients expect personalization. When they feel known at every stage of their healthcare journey, they reward providers with their trust and loyalty.
