What is patient experience?

Patient experience is the sum of a patient’s perceptions of all interactions the patient has with healthcare providers, or with the healthcare system at large, before, during and after care. A positive patient experience typically correlates with greater patient satisfaction, better healthcare outcomes and higher quality of care for patients, and better business results for healthcare providers.

The range of interactions that make up the patient experience—often referred to as the continuum of care or the care journey—can include:

• Finding a health plan or healthcare provider
• Using a provider’s website, patient portal or other digital tools and services
• Visiting a healthcare provider’s facility or offices—the atmosphere, staff, check-in and registration procedures, wait times and amenities
• The patient’s and patient’s family’s interaction with doctors, nurses, clinicians and other healthcare professionals
• The final patient outcome—the result of the care or treatment—and the patient’s perception of that outcome
• Rehabilitation, post-procedural therapy and other follow-up care
• Billing, payment, insurance reimbursement, and dealing with Medicaid or Medicare

Patient experience may sound like an abstract concept, but healthcare providers, researchers and policy makers study and pursue it as a concrete measurement of healthcare quality and effectiveness. In the United States, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) administer a standardized patient experience survey, and require hospitals to publish their survey scores in order to receive full Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements.

How patient experience differs from patient satisfaction

Patient experience and patient satisfaction are different but related concepts. The main differences:

• Patient experience is a record of specific interactions during a patient’s care journey, whereas patient satisfaction reflects whether the care as a whole met the patient’s expectations.
• Patient experience is measured against standard criteria set by medical researchers, the healthcare industry and healthcare policy makers, whereas patient satisfaction is measured against each individual patient’s expectations and preferences, which vary widely.

It’s true that a more positive patient experience typically correlates with greater patient satisfaction. But it’s also common for two patients who received the same medical treatment to report very different levels of patient satisfaction. The inability to translate patient satisfaction scores or assessments into healthcare quality improvements has been a key driver of patient experience research.

A brief history of patient experience

Focus on patient experience began in the early 2000s, when patient-centered care, a healthcare initiative launched in the 1970s, merged with customer experience management, a consumer marketing concept introduced in the late 1990s.

In the patient-centered care model, the individual patient and the patient’s family function as part of the care team, and healthcare providers address not only the patient’s clinical needs, but also emotional, mental, spiritual, cultural and financial factors.

Examples of patient-centered care policies and practices include letting patients specify visiting hours (vs. standard visiting hours for everyone), giving patients more control over their room environment (including lighting, temperature and digital access options), and collaboration between patients and family on follow-up care plans.

Early patient-centered care initiatives were linked to improved patient satisfaction scores, adherence to treatment plans, better health outcomes, and fewer malpractice claims.

Customer experience (CX) management is the practice of tracking, measuring and optimizing every interaction a customer has with a company or brand—from their initial awareness of the company, through purchase, to post-purchase service and support—in order to build longer, more profitable customer relationships.

Healthcare researchers saw CX management as an opportunity to assess and optimize quality of care and hospital financial performance beyond what was possible with patient satisfaction measurements, and patient experience was born.

What factors into a positive patient experience?

Typically, a patient’s primary expectation for any treatment is to leave the hospital or clinic or medical office feeling better than when they arrived, or confident that they are on the path to recovery.

But healthcare providers, researchers and industry organizations point to several other factors that contribute to a positive patient experience. While these factors may differ depending on the type of care (e.g. inpatient, outpatient, cancer, surgery) or location (e.g. hospital or hospital department, nursing home), some factors cut across all healthcare experiences. These include:

• Access to care
• Clear communication
• Patient engagement
• Clean, comfortable care environment
• Responsive caregivers
• Coordinated, consistent care
• Patient safety
• Simplified administration processes

Access to care

Timely access to appointments with in-network doctors, clinicians and specialists can lead to faster, more effective intervention and treatment. It can also lower care costs for the patient (the greater the access to timely in-network care options, the less likely that patients will seek out-of-network or uncovered care options).

Clear communication

Doctors, nurses and other caregivers need to make sure each patient (and each patient’s family) understands diagnoses, prognoses and treatment plans, and are included in decision-making related to specific treatment and to the patient’s overall well-being. Effective techniques include:

• Using simple, straightforward language, without medical jargon
• Educating patients about their condition and treatment plans, explaining or clarifying medical terms
• Actively listening to patients—focusing fully on the patient and patient’s family, listening to their words but also noting body language and other non-verbal cues
• Employing visual aids where helpful to convey complex concepts
• Confirming that patients understand all care- and treatment-related matters discussed.

Hospitals can deploy in-person or virtual interpretive services for patients who speak different languages or communicate using sign language.

Patient engagement

Patient engagement refers to initiatives to get patients more deeply involved in their own healthcare, primarily by encouraging or empowering them to share in healthcare decision-making, personalize their care to match their circumstances and preferences, and make informed medical and lifestyle choices that can improve their health.

Digital technologies are significant drivers of patient engagement, to the extent that today the terms patient engagement and digital patient engagement are nearly synonyms. Patient portals, mobile healthcare apps, telehealth solutions and other technologies give patients more flexibility to connect to health, treatment and wellness information—and to doctors and caregivers—when and how they want.

A clean, comfortable care environment

Regular cleaning and disinfection of patient rooms and waiting areas, adequate and comfortable seating, natural lighting and calming colors, low ambient noise levels (especially at night), comfortable temperatures—all of these can create a positive impression, reduce patient stress and anxiety, and reassure patients that they are receiving quality care at a well-run healthcare facility. Amenities and ‘touches of home’, such as access to Wi-Fi and streaming services, can further alleviate stress for patients and patients’ families.

Responsive caregivers

Responsiveness includes not only timely response to call buttons or specific requests, but also the patient’s sense of ‘being heard’—for example, not needing to repeat concerns about certain medications, special dietary requirements, noise at night, etc.

Coordinated and consistent care

Smooth transitions from clinician to clinician and department to department (e.g. ER to patient floor)—during which complete and accurate care information travels with the patient—helps reduce treatment errors while reinforcing the impression that the care team is on the same page and the patient is in ‘good hands.’ A recent survey found that

Across clinical areas—inpatient and outpatient, surgical and medical, emergency and scheduled—the single largest driver of a patient’s likelihood to recommend a hospital, facility or provider is perception on how well their care team members work together.¹

Similarly, consistent competence, attentiveness and communication across caregivers makes a difference. Even single exceptions—i.e. one uncommunicative or insensitive doctor or nurse—can often have outsized negative impact on patient experience.

Patient safety

Practices that minimize or eliminate preventable harm to patients are foundational to a positive patient experience and to positive patient outcomes. This includes

• Minimizing exposure to healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) such urinary tract infections (UTIs), Clostridioides difficile (C. diff), or surgical site infections (SSIs)
• Minimizing exposure to flu, COVID or other communicable diseases
• Preventing medication errors (e.g. administering the wrong medication or incorrect dosages)
• Preventing patient falls or collisions
• Preventing pressure wounds (bedsores).

A culture of patient safety, in which caregivers and patients are encouraged to communicate safety concerns so that they can be addressed, is crucial for continually minimizing safety risks.

Simplified administrative processes

Simplifying administration—the transactional business of healthcare—can improve the patient experience by allowing caregivers, healthcare facilities staffers and patients to spend less time on paperwork and more time focused on care.

A comprehensive patient portal—a web site or app that brings together appointment scheduling, billing and payment processing, patient data (including test results), instructions for discharge and follow-up care, alerts and notifications, and communication with doctors or caregivers—is a powerful tool here. Other on-site tools, such as self-service kiosks for patient check-in or mobile patient registration stations, can further streamline administrative tasks.

Patient experience surveys

Surveys are the most commonly used tools for measuring and evaluating patient experience, in large part because many national governments administer standardized patient experience surveys and mandate their use.

NHS surveys (United Kingdom)

In 2002 the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) administered the first mandatory patient experience survey, as part of its efforts to assess healthcare quality. Today the NHS Care Quality Commission (CQC) requires all NHS trusts—analogous to hospital systems or healthcare organizations in the United States—to survey patients on their recent care experiences.

NHS offers specific surveys for adult inpatients, children and young adults, urgent and emergency care patients, maternity patients and more, and publishes national and site-level benchmarks and data for each survey.

CAHPS surveys (United States)

In 2005 in the United States, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare services (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) developed the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, known at the time as the HCAHPS survey. The Deficit Reduction Act of the same year required hospitals to report their HCAHPS scores to receive full Medicare compensation, effectively ingraining patient experience management into the American healthcare system.

Since then CMS and AHRQ developed additional surveys for assessing patient experience in outpatient surgery facilities, nursing homes, dialysis centers, home health care services and care facilities on American Indian reservations—as well as targeted surveys for child hospital patients, emergency room patients, rehabilitation center patients, cancer care patients, mental health patients and more. The acronym dropped the ‘H’ and the surveys are now called CAHPS surveys (although the adult hospital survey is still sometimes referred to as the HCAHPS survey).

Designed to be administered 48 hours to 6 weeks after treatment, CAHPS surveys ask patients for feedback regarding

• Communication from nurses
• Communication from doctors and care providers
• The hospital or care facility environment
• Care in the facility
• The discharge process
• Overall rating and recommendation (‘Would you be likely to recommend this facility…?’)

CMS publishes CAHPS survey results in its Provider Data Catalog (https://data.cms.gov/provider-data/) so that consumers can compare healthcare providers.

Healthcare providers may gather patient feedback using other tools, including focus groups (which can yield more detailed feedback), questionnaires and online reviews and ratings.

Benefits of an improved patient experience

A positive patient experience correlates with benefits for patients and healthcare organizations.

Better health outcomes. The more positive the patient experience, the more actively patients participate in their medical care and adhere to treatment plans, medication schedules, and lifestyle changes that drive recovery, promote lasting good health and prevent costly readmissions. A commitment to clear communication and patient safety reduces the risk of medication errors, HAIs and threats to patient health and recovery.

In contrast, a poor patient experience can have a dangerous negative impact on patient outcomes. For example, in a 2021 survey by Accenture, 34% of participants who reported a negative patient experience said they were less likely to seek treatment from any provider the next time they needed it.

Improved provider reputation and patient retention. A positive patient experience can strengthen patient trust and loyalty, drive patient accuracy and lead to more recommendations and referrals for a hospital or healthcare provider.

A recent study found that patients who trust their healthcare provider are 300 times more likely to recommend that provider. Perhaps more important, when it comes to patient experience bad news may travel farther than good. In another study, 44% of patients said they would share their positive experience, while 52% said they would share their negative experience.

In the same study, 61% of patients who reported a positive experience said they would return to the provider in the future, while 35% of patients who had a negative experience said they would not.

Higher profit margins (and better business for hospitals). Since hospitals began measuring patient experience, studies have shown a correlation between positive patient experience and higher profit margins.

• A 2016 study by Accenture found that hospitals that deliver a ‘superior’ patient experience have profit margins 50% higher than hospitals reporting average patient experience.
• A 2016 study by Deloitte found that hospitals with ‘excellent’ HCAHPS ratings had an average net margin of 4.7 percent, compared to an average net margin of just 1.8 percent for hospitals with “low” ratings.
• A 2023 study by the European Journal of Health Economics found that “better patient experience is associated with a higher proportion of elective patients, greater revenue, and lower costs.’

Positive patient experience can improve business for hospitals and healthcare providers in other ways. A 2021 paper published in the Journal of Healthcare Management reviewed 40 peer-reviewed patient experience studies, and found a consistent correlation between positive or improved patient experience and increased recommendations from patients, better patient retention, and fewer patient complaints.

¹
https://www.aha.org/guidesreports/2025-03-11-improvement-safety-culture-linked-better-patient-and-staff-outcomes

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