If our updates don't provide valuable information, mark us as spam. When they do, tell your friends

Evidence Over Everything

Customers vs Users

Change the Conversation

Importance of Research

Finding & Understanding Your Customers

Pharma

Better Ways To Generate Evidence

Edward O'Neil

You’ve Got Data. Now What? 

In today’s ever-evolving, consumer-focused world, patients seeking medical care have more provider options than ever before.

This means all healthcare providers need a renewed focus on cultivating a phenomenal patient journey if they want to retain as many patients as possible. But what is a patient journey?

A patient journey is the full sequence of events an individual patient goes through when engaging with the healthcare system.

This journey includes every touchpoint of patient engagement throughout their healthcare experience, whether it be at a hospital, clinic, outpatient office or any other medical facility.

And it doesn’t end there. The true patient journey extends even after they’re discharged or receive treatment.

What is the Purpose of a Patient Journey Analysis?

For any healthcare professionals, it’s of extreme importance to analyze the effect you have on your patients’ journey.

In today’s consumer-facing healthcare marketplace, patients have more options than ever when it comes to choosing their healthcare professionals, and if you’re not providing an experience that meets with patient expectations, your patient retention will suffer.

81% of consumers are unsatisfied with their health care experience

, meaning the health system has some major catching up to do compared to other market sectors.

Through analyzing your current role in the patient journey, engaging with consumers and taking steps to increase individual patient satisfaction, you can create drastically improved patient experiences and provide an increased level of service.

What are the Stages of the Patient Journey?

As a healthcare professional, you might only take up one small part of the patient journey, but the effect you have within your role can have an incredible effect on the journey as a whole.

Here are all the various stages of the patient journey, from start to finish:


The patient has determined they may have a medical issue that warrants professional treatment and they research their treatment options. This can include online research of their symptoms, filtering their search for a hospital, doctor or clinic and consulting friends and family.




The patient reaches out for initial contact with the health system.




The patient goes through intake at a medical facility, is seen by a healthcare professional and has their condition assessed.




The healthcare professional renders a treatment plan consisting of on-site and follow-up care as required.




The patient, on the advice of their healthcare professional, makes alterations to their lifestyle or daily routine to facilitate proactive healing with the goal of reducing further readmissions and improving their wellbeing.




The patient continues to manage their condition between follow-up clinical visits.



The healthcare system maintains patient engagement with the healthcare professional and the patient so that the patient has the requisite access to maintain their health.

, these are all the steps you must be aware of in order to optimize your role in the overall patient journey and improve care.

What Can You Do to Create Improved Patient Experiences?

The most effective thing you can do to improve your patients’ journeys, as a healthcare professional, is to personalize each and every one of your patient engagements.

Put yourself in your patients’ shoes. Imagine there’s something medically wrong with you — maybe you’re in pain or terribly uncomfortable. These discomforts and symptoms are making you scared and anxious because you may not even know what condition you have, or if it can even be treated.

This medical problem is a highly personal issue to the patient and as such, the best response needs to be highly personalized.

Here are some best practice tips you can employ in the pursuit of improving your patient experience.

Personalize How You Communicate with Patients

Gather data related to your individual patients that goes beyond what’s in their medical record, especially where their communication preferences are concerned. Depending on their age, background or personal preferences, different people prefer different methods of communicating with their healthcare professionals.

Millennials and Generation Zs often prefer to receive communication via text or chat, with appointment reminders the week and day before a scheduled health system appointment.

Older generations tend to prefer phone calls and direct messages

It’s all about seeing your patients as unique people with unique preferences, then catering to those preferences. Doing so will increase patient satisfaction across the board.

People are indeed like snowflakes—they are many and varied. Over time, as you continue to practice as a healthcare professional, you’ll begin to notice predominant trends across the range of your patients.

Noticing these predominant trends and creating patient personas will allow you to develop swifter and more streamlined personalization techniques in the pursuit of heightening your patient engagement.

Some categories that make up these patient personas include:

Household, family, hereditary medical history, etc.

 Gender, age, income, urbanicity, frequented online platforms, etc.

 Ethnicity, tech-level competence, culture, interests, eating habits, travel habits, work-related stress levels, activities for de-stressing, politics, idiosyncrasies, etc.

Their primary and secondary health goals, life goals.

Getting to know all of these areas of focus can help you shape your patient personas over time.

Getting the Right Help in Mapping Your Patients’ Journey

Here at Normative, we understand how important the patient journey is to marketing your healthcare product effectively.

If you want to see your product and business reach their maximum potential, 

What is a Patient Journey?

Generally speaking, the patient experience refers to the overall experience a patient would have when seeking and being treated with medical care. Naturally, when trying to define the patient experience, it will mean something different to each individual care provider, based on their role within the overall healthcare system.

But, when asking “what is the patient experience?” you can look to established organizations who’ve concerned themselves with answering that very question. For instance, the 

 is an organization committed to constantly improving customer service in healthcare, and they define that patient experience as:

“The sum of all interactions, shaped by an organization’s culture, that influence patient perceptions across the continuum of care.”

In essence, the patient experience can be thought of as the totality of a patient’s interaction with their health care system from start to finish.

What is Patient Experience? vs What is Patient Satisfaction?

Quite often, these two terms are used interchangeably, but they mean two distinctly different things.

Patient satisfaction tends to refer to a patient’s expectations during their care experiences and care delivery. If the expectations they had going into receiving their health services are met, then they are likely to have a high degree of patient satisfaction.

Understandably, patient satisfaction is more difficult to meet consistently, because every patient has preferences that are unique to them as individuals, and quite often venture into the territory of bias and personal opinion.

One invaluable tool that health care providers often use to measure their patient’s experience is through use of the 

Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) surveys

CAHPS surveys ask patients to give feedback on their experiences across a range of health care services. These services and touchpoints can include rating their experiences with doctors, nursing staff, hospitals, clinics, surgical procedures and ambulatory services, just to name a few.

For every CAHPS survey filled out, health care providers can examine the results with the aim of taking that constructive feedback to facilitate quality improvement and the overall quality of their patient-centered care.

What Makes a Positive Patient Experience?

Here are 8 generally accepted methods of categorically improving the patient experience during a health care encounter:

Have a User-Friendly & Informative Website


In today’s modern era, most people research doctors, hospitals and clinics before going, even if they have a referral. That’s why it’s so important for every health service to have an informative and easy-to-use website that contains details about your practice, physician credentials, accepted insurance, frequently asked questions as well as hours and location.

Clean, comfortable and inviting. Those are three words that should best describe any health care office.

Patients are often concerned, worried, afraid or in pain, and providing an office with an atmosphere of warm calm can do a lot to improve their experience. Try to aim for creating a pleasing environment filled with positivity, entertainment amenities like magazines and toys for kids.

3. Facilitate Easy Appointment Booking & Clear Communication

Traditionally, phone calls and speaking with receptionists are how most clinics and doctor’s offices used to operate. But, more and more people prefer using online methods to easily book, cancel, and reschedule appointments. So, use online methods to accommodate your patients, and keep phone lines open during lunch hours as well.

4. Follow Up with Confirmations & Reminders

A simple matter, to be sure. Simply provide reminders and confirmation notices with your patients via phone, email or texting options (according to your patient’s preferences) this will help the patient feel taken care of, and reduce no-show appointments.

This can be quite hard to do, as wait times are notoriously difficult to manage. But, the vast majority of patients are likely to switch health care providers if wait times are frequently too long.

Every patient has a deep desire to feel like their health is in good hands; that they can trust their health care provider and generally get a good feeling from them. That’s why it’s so important to put aside the day’s frustrations or bad moods when meeting a new patient for the first time. A smile and a friendly handshake can go a long way.

7. Strike a Balance Between Being Personable & Professional

Patients don’t want to be treated like a number, but they also don’t want their health care provider to appear unprofessional. Try to strike that perfect balance and it’s likely to increase your patient’s experience.

Your patients likely don’t have much in the way of medical knowledge but might be too shy to ask questions that are important to them and their health. As a health care provider, it’s important to foster a patient-caregiver relationship where they feel safe to ask all the questions they want.

What are the Benefits of Improved Patient Experience?

Aside from clinical outcomes, focusing on the patient experience should be the very next matter of importance for any professional health care provider.

Ensuring an overwhelmingly positive patient experience has proven to have enormous benefits to a patient’s well being and outlook. It’s proven to provide them with reduced fear, anguish and confusion. Furthermore, organizations with a great focus on patient experience in healthcare tend to have better safety records, technical quality and staff engagement.

Here at Normative, we understand the importance of a customer-first approach. Especially when it comes to healthcare products.

If you’re interested in seeing your healthcare business succeed, 

What is Patient Experience?

Ever since the early 2000s, business leaders and innovators around the world have been espousing the benefits of digital transformation.

digital transformation is the process of integrating digital technologies into every aspect of a business

, regardless of what type of business it is.

This can include but is not limited to, the digitization of record-keeping, accounting, customer management, shipping, communications, data storage and all internal business processes.

Although many businesses incorporate some element of digital technology into their business’ operation model, many found that the recent pandemic left them woefully unprepared for an increasingly digital business landscape.

“71% of IT professionals have seen an increase in security threats and attacks since the start of the pandemic

63% of leaders said that the pandemic prompted them to embrace digital transformation much sooner than planned”

While many businesses have lots of catching up to do, and the benefits tend to vary according to industry, here are a few of the more general benefits of digital transformation that businesses can expect to see upon adoption:

Benefits of Digital Transformation for Employees


By using all the various communication technologies that exist in our day and age, employees find it easier than ever to stay connected. From Microsoft teams to Zoom video conferencing and everything between, working together from remote locations on a day-to-day basis is a mainstay of our modern era

By migrating all company and customer data to the cloud, employees have almost immediate access to any data or piece of information they need, decreasing the hours wasted looking for the right file.

By making smart use of customer self-service technologies and customer management automation, you improve both sides of customer engagement. Employees need to deal with unsatisfied customers directly less, and clients take some matters into their own hands.

Benefits of Digital Transformation in Retail

When done in person, the upsell often falls on deaf ears. Or even worse, causes the customer to walk out. But with online retail, upsell opportunities can be seamless, unassuming and far more effective.

Thanks to the advent of machine learning and AI, online retail has broken new ground when it comes to understanding and catering to buyer preferences. When it’s all put together, digital transformation in retail is capable of creating a very effective, very unified customer experience that few other mediums can match.

Benefits of Digital Transformation in Banking

1. Staying Compliant with Laws & Regulations

Thanks to digital platforms like the many financial management systems currently in the marketplace, modern features like cloud-based payroll, automatic auditing and data standardization have made it easier than ever to stay compliant and avoid exorbitant non-compliance penalties.

With digital transformation comes data cohesion and accessibility. Modern technology makes it possible for real-time data to be generated, collected and made available in a matter of moments, allowing upper management to respond to changing trends and conditions with increased speed.

By adopting a modern, cloud-based Human Capital Management system (HCM) banks can maintain their competitive advantage through a variety of digital means. Primarily, today’s HCM systems provide a host of convenient tools and metrics like employee performance reporting, succession planning, self-serve HR functions and more.

But perhaps most impressive is the ability of modern HCM systems to help with workforce planning initiatives. In this way embracing digital transformation can help banks align their talent needs to overall organizational goals.

Benefits of Digital Transformation in Healthcare

Considering that not all medical appointments require in-person healthcare assistance, the use of telemedicine and video-based treatments has been a massive boon to the healthcare industry at large, for both patients and healthcare providers alike.

Never mind smartwatches, wearable technology for remote monitoring of patient vitals for emergency assistance or preventative care has become a mainstay in hospitals and care facilities all over the world. When doctors can access their patients’ metrics in real-time, wherever they are, it frees up healthcare practitioners to focus on more immediate emergencies while the patient gets to enjoy more freedom of movement.

Seeing Digital Transformation Benefits for Your Start-Up

No matter what business you’re in, embracing the benefits of digital transformation is proven to be the way of the future.

The tangible and immediate benefits are beyond worth the investment to upgrade and transform the way you do business.

 and see how Normative can help you digitally transform your business.

The Top 10 Benefits of Digital Transformation

In the realm of medical software, Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) is a relatively new area of technology that represents one of the leading edges of medical technology.

But, what is SaMD exactly? What are the benefits to patients, healthcare providers, start-up device manufacturers and investors looking to explore this new and exciting branch of digital health?

This article will answer all of those questions

 and provide you with what you need to know regarding the current state of Software as a Medical Device in today’s current marketplace.

When looking to answer the question “ what is SaMD?” the best source of information is the 

International Medical Device Regulators Forum

 (or IMDRF) who define Software as a Medical Device as:

“Software intended to be used for one or more medical purposes that performthesepurposes without beingpart of a hardwaremedical device.”

Or in other words, the software is the device itself.

Now, it is still possible for software that resides within an existing piece of hardware to be classified as SaMD, as long as the software in question is solely performing the medical purpose without the aid of the hardware.

What is SaMD? 5 Key Benefits of Software as a Medical Device

There are numerous benefits to embracing medical device software as a service. Not only for patients and healthcare providers but for device manufacturers and SaMD investors as well.

Wearable SaMD technology presents a wide range of applications that can improve the speed and quality of care medical practitioners are able to provide. The Apple Watch, for instance, 

needed the FDA to sign off on its EKG functionality

 before it could be sold to the mass market, as that function was accurate enough to be considered medically relevant.

If a doctor was able to monitor a patient’s vitals in real-time, minute fluctuations over time might be able to alert the doctor to prevailing health issues that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.



This would enable the healthcare provider to enhance their treatment plans and perhaps even increase the effectiveness of their preventative care.

Any medical expert will agree, data collected straight from the source is always more accurate. SaMD has the ability to rapidly gather data faster than any one individual is able to, meaning that valuable insights can be gleaned more quickly in pursuit of disease treatment.

With the collection of fast and accurate data comes the ability to analyze and produce data models that can be used as vital sources in clinical evaluation.

SaMD tools and software systems that gather, analyze and trend data can support clinicians in making swift and informed decisions.

For device manufacturers and investors, strict regulations are actually a very good thing. Because regulations on SaMD technology require manufacturers to put in a substantial amount of time and effort into development, it means that there will be a limited number of producers that actually follow through with final production, drastically reducing the field of competitors.

Because SaMD regulatory requirements impose such strict burdens on the design and performance of the technology, those that make it to market are thoroughly tested and developed.

For investors and SaMD companies, this is a huge benefit because the increased level of SaMD testing heightens the software’s confidence among medical practitioners who are more likely to be in favour of adopting any device that includes the SaMD.

What is SaMD? Making Sense of SaMD Regulations

Various regulatory bodies are responsible for imposing regulations on any newly manufactured SaMD. The requirements will vary from country to country, but in most cases, the regulatory requirements will be centered around maintaining the integrity of the software’s data.

For any device that collects and transmits personal health information, it would need to abide by and follow the strictures set out by the 

Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

There are also considerations to be made based on the type of function the SaMD provides. For instance, could a failure harm the patient in any way? If yes, that device will likely be subject to much stricter regulations than a device that merely monitors patient health information.

SaMD in the Market: Software as a Medical Device Examples

For SaMD in the marketplace, there are currently 3 prevailing trends in terms of the various types of applications we’re seeing from device manufacturers.

The primary application of SaMD in the wearable technology market would be for devices that can monitor patient information in real time and send instant alerts to healthcare providers.

Through a system of interconnected medical devices and healthcare facilities, SaMD would make it easier and faster to share data to help with swift and informed decision-making.

Recently, the need for remote healthcare and consultations has exploded, but the technology hasn’t quite caught up to the need yet. With the proper innovation of SaMD, telehealth could be utilized as a more robust system, capable of gathering more sensitive data at a distance,

What Does SaMD Mean for Start-Ups? Getting the Help You Need

If you’re planning on developing your own SaMD for the marketplace, why not make use of Normative’s extensive experience helping medical start-ups get off the ground.

 to see how we can help you successfully bring your SaMD to market.

Software as a Medical Device: What is SaMD?

The data is clear, improving the patient experience as a healthcare provider pays dividends.

Specifically, “hospitals with excellent HCAHPS ratings had a net margin of 

So, as a provider of a healthcare service, how do you improve your patient satisfaction and patient feedback to a degree where you’re earning substantially more profits? The answer is simple, you improve the patient experience by conducting 

This article will cover what patient journey mapping is, why it’s important, what the direct benefits are (for both and the patient) and 

how you can conduct patient journey mapping effectively.

Patient journey mapping is a method of visualizing the patient experience

, from start to finish, across every touchpointthat they engage with, within your healthcare system.

It’s a way of seeing your own healthcare management system from your patients’ point of view, allowing you to identify any areas for improvement and potential blind spots in your quality of service.

What is Patient Journey Mapping’s Importance?

The importance of patient journey mapping is that it gives you the opportunity (as a healthcare provider) to increase quality of care, patient satisfaction and overall patient retention.

By creating a patient experience blueprint, covering all areas of your healthcare system from pre-visit to post-visit, you are essentially creating a customer journey map that will allow you to address the widespread concerns that patients face and improve their satisfaction for the long term.

This mapping can drastically increase the level of patient care that you are providing. Effective patient journey mapping can help you:

blind spots in your administrative system

 that were contributing to poor patient retention

Once you become aware of these insights, you and your team can begin making plans for innovations and allocating budgetary resources in pursuit of this goal.

What is Patient Journey Mapping: 5 Major Benefits to Health Systems

The primary benefit of patient journey mapping is gaining a comprehensive overview of how your entire healthcare system is performing and the degree to which it’s meeting your patients’ expectations.

As a result, you’re likely to also see the following benefits:

1. Workflow & Patient Process Streamlining


By recognizing a need for increased patient communication tools and digital upgrades, you can implement or improve patient portals, your website, social media or mobile app to be more engaging or user-friendly.

By automating internal processes and providing easier access to necessary information via the cloud (like contact info and patient medical records), your staff will be spending less time on administrative tasks and can spend more time on improving interactions with patients.

After having completed your patient journey mapping, you may have noticed that gaps are present in your facility’s patient experience, creating areas where you may have previously lost them as patients to a different care provider.

Once you’ve identified the cause of these gaps (it could be based on technology, resources or repeated circumstances) you can work to close them.

Revealing touchpoints that are causing friction in your patients’ experiences is the first important step in eliminating them altogether. Patient journey mapping is the best way to highlight those pain points so you can begin addressing them.

Improved Communication Between You and Your Patients

Oftentimes, after conducting patient journey mapping for your healthcare service, many providers find that a lack of strong communication between your office and your patients is the leading cause of poor retention.

Patients frequently feel a heightened sense of anxiety and concern regarding their health and making sure you over-communicate their care, treatment plans and appointment schedules can go a long way to improving overall patient satisfaction.

Finding areas for improvement in technology systems or administrative processes is a common way of fostering improved communications.

What is Patient Journey Mapping: Describing the 5 Stages

Actually creating a patient journey map requires a fair amount of leg work and input from multiple stakeholders (like patients and staff, for instance). It’s also a task that’s made much easier with the use of CRM systems or other healthcare management software, as many include patient journey mapping tools and already possess much of the required data.

However, you will also need to have a clear picture of all the various stages your patients go through when receiving your healthcare services.

Here are the 5 key stages of the patient journey that you should keep in mind when creating your patient journey map:


This is when the patient first becomes aware that they require some kind of medical care.




The patient has contacted your establishment and made an appointment.




The patient is assessed and receives treatment for their specific health issue.




On your professional advice, the patient makes adjustments to their life to mitigate the negative effects of their diagnosed condition.




The patient makes follow-up appointments, if required, to manage their health issue.

What is Patient Journey Mapping: Creating an Effective Patient Journey Map

If you’re having difficulty creating a truly effective patient journey map, we can help.

At Normative we’re experts at driving innovation and business growth, and we can help you and your healthcare team increase your patients’ satisfaction and patient retention.

 to see how we can provide invaluable insights into your business.

What is Patient Journey Mapping? The Ultimate Guide

There’s no dancing around the subject. Most people don’t like going to see the doctor. They almost hate having to go to the hospital and usually don’t look forward to visiting a pharmacy either.

While the predominant reasons for this patient reluctance vary from country to country, there’s no denying that, more often than not, 

People tend to find the experience of seeking medical help a rather anxiety-inducing experience, and a big reason for this is that most modern medical facilities haven’t created a healthcare system centered around patient experience design.

take a look at what the patient experience is, before learning why centering the design of your health system around the concept is a good idea.

The patient experience can be described as the sum of all experiences, from initial contact to continuing care, for any given patient navigating the healthcare system.

It includes each and every interaction, touchpoint and outcome for the patient—and is contributed to by every healthcare professional along that journey. The patient experience is also affected by the patient’s expectations, feelings and ultimate level of satisfaction.

You’ve Got Data. Now What?

Our thinking on Evidence Driven Innovation.

What is a Patient Journey?

What is Patient Experience?

The Top 10 Benefits of Digital Transformation

Software as a Medical Device: What is SaMD?

What is Patient Journey Mapping? The Ultimate Guide

What is Patient Experience Design?

Know Your Customer Before You Design for Them

You’ve Got Data. Now What?

Coming Together Without Falling Apart

Software Assessment Template & Checklist

5 Characteristics of Innovators That Drive Success

Minimum Viable Product Examples

Why do You Need Product Innovation Consulting?

Why You Need Innovation Strategy Consulting

How We Built a More Balanced Technology Team Using Data & Evidence

How Evidence Shapes Great Customer Journey Maps

The Ideas Have ‘Left the Building’

Your Ideas are Getting Shot Down Because You’re Not Answering the Right Questions

If our updates don't provide valuable information, mark us as spam. When they do, tell your friends

The Risks of User-Only-Centered Design

"I Have a Good Feeling" is a Broken Concept. There’s a Better Way

What Does Research Mean in the Context of Innovation?

In Our Relentless Focus on the User, We Have Forgotten About the Customer

Normative’s Guide to a Happy Distributed Work Culture

How To Create an Excellent Distributed Working Culture Through User Research

Real Innovation Starts With Customers, Not Companies

Three Ways To Gain a Deeper Understanding of Your Customer

Evidence is the Foundation of Successful Innovation

Product-Market Fit: The Market Always Wins

The big reveal is dead. Design conversations instead.

When things are disrupted

In Solidarity

What happens as we digitize the world’s transactable objects?

AI is risky business. What are the rules of engagement in an augmented world?

Want high quality results? Try a high fidelity prototype

How to Choose an Innovation Consulting Services Company

Start generating the evidence you need to achieve product-market fit