Rethinking the use of tech to improve the patient experience
Why better access and operational efficiency can go hand in hand with making life easier for those receiving care.
For patients, a great healthcare experience often starts before they ever see a clinician.
Consider a working parent who wakes up with worsening symptoms, tries to schedule an appointment during a short lunch break, is asked to repeat insurance information and then waits days for a referral update. None of those steps are the clinical visit itself, but each one shapes how supported or frustrated the patient feels.
It begins when patients try to find an appointment, understand their costs, complete paperwork, get questions answered or follow up after a visit. When those steps are simple, timely and clear, patients feel respected. When they are confusing or slow, trust can weaken, even when the clinical care itself is excellent.
The good news is that better access and operational efficiency are not competing priorities. In fact, they reinforce each other.
Helping patients out
Health systems that make it easier for patients to get the right care at the right time also reduce unnecessary phone calls, rework, delays, no-shows and staff burden.
Those reductions can produce measurable results. Automated reminders have been shown to reduce no-shows by as much as 25 percent. Online self-scheduling has a similar effect: one hospital study found it reduced unused appointment rates from 22.7 percent to 10.3 percent.
Digital intake can meaningfully shorten new-patient check-in time, with industry data finding a drop from 25 minutes to five to seven minutes. It also reduces manual data-entry errors: one study found electronic forms cut error rates from 32 percent to 1 percent, compared with paper forms. This also saves substantial front-desk time.
A smoother experience for patients can create a healthier, more sustainable operating model for care teams.
Access is more than getting an appointment
Patient access includes every step that helps someone connect with care; these include scheduling, referrals, registration, insurance verification, digital forms, cost estimates, reminders, transportation guidance and follow-up instructions. Each step may seem small on its own, but together they shape how patients feel about their health system.
Recent research shows why this matters. Experian Health reported that 56 percent of patients say they need help from their provider to understand what their insurance covers, and 29 percent say paying for healthcare is getting worse.
Press Ganey’s 2025 patient experience research also found that patients who feel “very safe” are far more likely to recommend their hospital, with likelihood-to-recommend scores of 85.3, compared with 34.6 when patients do not report that same strong sense of safety.
Trust is built in the everyday moments
Trust in healthcare is not built only during major medical decisions; it is built in everyday moments. It happens when a patient can schedule without waiting on hold, when instructions are easy to understand, when a referral does not disappear, when cost information is clear, and when the care team appears coordinated.
Patients notice when teams work together. Press Ganey identifies teamwork, communication, safety and consistency as major drivers of patient experience and trust.
When patients feel that their care team is aligned, they are less likely to feel responsible for carrying information from one department to another. That creates confidence and confidence is central to loyalty.
Operational efficiency should feel human
Efficiency in healthcare should not mean rushing patients or removing personal connection. Done well, operational efficiency removes friction so clinicians and staff can spend more time on the work that matters most. These include listening, explaining, coordinating care and helping patients feel supported.
For example, online scheduling can help patients book care when it is convenient for them. Automated reminders can reduce missed appointments. Digital intake can shorten check-in time. Centralized scheduling can make provider availability easier to see. Referral tracking can help ensure patients do not fall through the cracks.
These improvements reduce frustration for patients while also helping staff work more efficiently.
Best practices for better access and operations
Measure what patients actually experience. Track appointment wait times, referral completion, no-show rates, abandoned calls, digital adoption and patient feedback, not just internal productivity.
Make scheduling simpler. Offer online self-scheduling where appropriate, use centralized visibility into provider availability and make it easy to reschedule or join waitlists.
Communicate clearly and early. Provide plain-language instructions, reminders, cost expectations and next steps before the patient has to ask.
Reduce repeated paperwork. Use digital intake and shared information across departments so patients do not have to provide the same details over and over again.
Strengthen referral management. Track referrals from order to appointment so patients receive timely follow-up and clinicians know whether care was completed.
Design for equity and accessibility. Support patients who may face language, transportation, digital, financial or health literacy barriers.
Support staff with better tools. Give teams accurate data, standardized workflows and automation for repetitive tasks so they can focus on helping patients.
These practices align with broader industry guidance. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has emphasized reducing administrative burden, integrating the patient and caregiver voice, improving care transitions and using technology to accelerate best practices.
What this means for patients
For patients, better access should feel like less waiting, fewer surprises, clearer answers and more confidence. It should mean knowing where to go, what to bring, what care will cost, what happens next and who to contact if something changes.
For health systems, the same improvements can reduce inefficiency. Fewer duplicate calls, fewer scheduling errors, fewer missed appointments, fewer incomplete referrals and fewer avoidable delays all create capacity. That capacity can be reinvested into better care, better communication, and better support for both patients and staff.
Rethinking the patient experience means recognizing that access, trust and operational efficiency are deeply connected. Patients want care that is easy to reach, easy to understand and easy to navigate. Staff want systems that help them do their best work without unnecessary friction. Health systems need sustainable operations that can meet growing demand.
When health systems improve access with empathy, transparency and smart operational design, everyone benefits. Patients feel more confident. Care teams feel more supported. Organizations become more responsive. And trust – the foundation of every strong healthcare relationship – has more room to grow.
Jake McCarley is is co-founder and CEO of Alluvium Health, a company offering services focused on helping health systems make smarter decisions about access, capacity and network performance.