Banner Health’s Digital Front Door Creates Seamless Patient Experience
View from the C-Suite, with Alexandra Morehouse, Chief Marketing Officer, Banner Health
// By Sheryl S. Jackson //
When it comes to the use of technology to enhance the customer experience, Amazon is widely recognized as the company that is constantly raising the bar for everyone else.
“Health care has lagged behind other areas such as financial services or retail in the use of technology to provide a single, consistent customer experience,” says Alexandra Morehouse, chief marketing officer at Banner Health, a nonprofit health system based in Phoenix, Arizona that operates 28 hospitals and several specialized facilities across six states.
Alexandra Morehouse, chief marketing officer at Banner Health
Morehouse’s background in the financial sector prior to entering health care gave her the tools and experience needed to lead Banner Health’s digital transformation. “The actual work needed to fully integrate systems is the same in health care as it is for retail or financial businesses, but there are a few differences that must be considered during design and implementation,” she says.
The transformation began in 2018 with the introduction of the Banner Health Digital Front Door, a customer engagement platform that connects back-end data from multiple enterprise systems to create a seamless patient experience. This experience includes initial contacts via online services, call center, or walk-in visits.
Now in the third year of its three-year digital transformation initiative, Banner Health has incorporated lessons learned from Amazon and other customer experience leaders in retail, technology, and financial industries.
Since the introduction of the comprehensive patient engagement platform two years ago and a focus on better managing the health system’s online presence, Banner Health has seen a significant increase in contacts through Google My Business — increasing from 17 million to 90 million in 24 months — as well as click-throughs from a Google search to the website — an increase of more than 136 percent in one year.