Building Next-Generation Healthcare through Human Understanding

By Jennifer Baron, CPXP , Chief Experience Officer at NRC Health

Healthcare is no stranger to challenges, but there’s one large concept underlying the industry’s ebbs and flows: the changing demographics of our consumers, patients, and employees. The generational differences that are inherent to each of these groups, no matter their age, income, or lifestyle, inform how they seek care—and how hospitals and health systems deliver it.

As NRC Health’s first Chief Experience Officer, I spend a lot of time thinking about ways to evolve the healthcare industry to serve people across six generations. Our industry has been at a tipping point for several years; knowing that patients have their own unique values, experiences, preferences, and even frustrations means that there’s an opportunity to personalize care at the individual level for next-generation Human Understanding.

Delivering quality patient care today and tomorrow means keeping individual needs at the forefront of the care experience while also being mindful of the nuances of generational differences and the gaps in care that result.

Enter next-generation Human Understanding: being aware of those differences and answering the call to action to create the human-centered healthcare landscape of the future.

Alongside Ryan Donohue ; William England, Ph.D. ; Sarah Fryda ; and Toya Gorley , we authored Next-generation Human Understanding, a playbook for healthcare experience management that highlights the current challenges of healthcare—from how to compete with new market entrants to developing how health systems can foster intergenerational understanding and flexibility for better care experiences. I’ll take a high-level look below.

Bridging the healthcare experience gap

The healthcare experience gap transcends generations, leaving patients feeling frustrated and unheard. The digital native may prefer the convenience of an app, but the traditionalist who prefers a phone conversation with their doctor may not. This divergence can lead to significant dissatisfaction among patients, despite a health system’s best efforts to streamline care.

The statistics are telling. Nearly 47% of healthcare consumers find the system “very confusing” to navigate, according to a 2024 NRC Health Market Insights study.

Even more recent data shows that patient experience scores stagnated or even declined following the pandemic.

As younger patients increasingly turn to retail clinics like Walgreens and CVS, it’s clear that traditional models are failing to meet their needs.

Take Diane and Lucy, for example. Diane, in her eighties, is overwhelmed by a complex healthcare system after a serious illness, longing for personal connections with her healthcare providers.

In contrast, Lucy, a twenty-something with Type 1 diabetes, embraces a modern wellness clinic that prioritizes her health journey through easy digital access and personalized care.

Their experiences highlight the need for healthcare to adapt to the evolving expectations of patients.

To bridge this experience gap, healthcare organizations must diversify their feedback mechanisms and design patient interactions that resonate across generational lines.

By prioritizing inclusivity and understanding the unique desires of each cohort, we can create a healthcare system that truly serves everyone.

Creating the seamless care experience of the future

The two stories above illustrate a fundamental challenge in healthcare today: the need to adapt to the evolving expectations of patients. With six generations of consumers, each with distinct values and preferences, it’s vital for healthcare organizations to understand and address these differences—not just for personalization but also to create the seamless healthcare experience that all consumers are looking for.

The key to delivering seamless healthcare? An empowered, encouraged workforce.

“People development is a cultural trait of high-performing organizations,” says Stephen Beeson, MD, founder and CEO of Practicing Excellence. Without opportunities for growth, retention among newer generations will diminish.

Healthcare is on the brink of a seismic shift—not from advancements in medical technologies but instead due to changes in employee demographics and the evolving preferences they bring.

As generations evolve, so do the values and expectations within the workforce.

Younger employees seek organizations that prioritize community engagement and social responsibility—especially Gen Z, its newest entrants—contrasting with older generations who may favor traditional structures of order and hierarchy.

Despite these shifts, 56% of employees report their companies rarely solicit feedback on their experience, and 64% say their feedback often goes unaddressed.

This disconnect is mirrored in employee survey data, where younger generations are less likely to respond, leading to underrepresentation in feedback that informs change.

By investing more intentionally in experience management across the continuum, healthcare organizations can unlock the potential to create a more effective and inclusive system.

A focused, individualized approach to enhancing both patient and employee experiences could be the transformative strategy needed for the future of healthcare.

Elevating experience management in leadership

Leadership is evolving as our work teams, patients, and consumers change.

However, many leaders struggle to prioritize the experiences of those they lead and the consumers their teams serve daily.

Just as financial management is a key expectation for leaders, experience management must also become a fundamental capability.

Currently, experience management remains an underrepresented concern in many healthcare organizations. It is often relegated to small teams working within siloed structures, limiting its overall impact.

Imagine the potential of experience teams equipping every leader with the tools and frameworks needed to become champions of experience management.

So how can organizations successfully build experience management as a core capability? Here are three essential steps:

·???????? Assess your experience management maturity. Conduct a six-capability assessment (as discussed in the full playbook), to identify strengths and gaps in leadership, culture, and operational consistency.

·???????? Develop a modern experience return on investment (ROI). Create a compelling business case showing how investing in experience management improves outcomes.

·???????? Build your toolbox. Equip your organization with real-time feedback tools and AI-enabled platforms to enhance engagement and foster continuous dialogue among employees and patients.

Takeaways

Patients and healthcare workforces are changing rapidly. As we move further and further into a more patient-centric healthcare system, those at the top must have the proper knowledge and tools to plan for the next evolution of care delivery.?

Wondering how to design holistic experiences that still maintain personalized care AND maximize ROI? NRC Health has the answers. Read the Next-generation Human Understanding: A playbook for healthcare experience management from NRC Health.