by Pete Lauria
We don’t go to the doctor just to get a prescription. We go because we’re worried. Confused. In pain. Healthcare is one of the most emotional experiences we have as humans, but too often, it feels cold, rushed, and transactional.
That gap between what patients need emotionally and what they experience is one of the biggest blind spots in the healthcare industry. And it’s costing organizations dearly.
Where Healthcare Falls Short
I work with businesses across industries to help them build stronger emotional connections with their customers. When I look at healthcare, I see repeated breakdowns that erode trust and satisfaction:
- Rigid, impersonal intake processes. Filling out forms on a clipboard for 20 minutes doesn’t say “we care.”
- Lack of communication. Patients are left in the dark about delays, procedures, or what happens next.
- Overburdened staff. Burned-out employees often don’t have the bandwidth to connect beyond the bare minimum.
According to a Kyruus survey, 34% of patients who had a negative experience said they were less likely to seek medical care in the future. Another survey by The Beryl Institute showed that 77% of patients said the overall patient experience influences their healthcare decisions.
Experience isn’t just “nice to have” – it’s make or break.
How to Start Fixing It
The good news? Emotional connection is teachable, scalable, and highly impactful when done right. Here are three areas where providers can start making immediate improvements:
- Train for empathy. Every patient interaction is a moment to make someone feel seen and heard. That starts with how staff are trained and supported.
- Communicate like a human. Automated messages, status updates, and even signage can be rewritten to feel warmer, clearer, and more patient-centered.
- Design with feeling in mind. From the waiting room layout to follow-up calls, design experiences that lower anxiety and build trust.
If healthcare leaders want to improve outcomes, retention, and reputation, the emotional side of care can’t be an afterthought. It has to be part of the strategy.
Here’s what the best organizations are doing:
- Mapping out the patient journey and identifying high-stress moments
- Empowering frontline staff to personalize interactions
- Measuring emotional metrics, not just operational ones
Case in Point: How One Hospital System Turned Things Around
A large regional health system in the Midwest was seeing patient satisfaction scores plateau, despite investments in new technology and facility upgrades. After evaluating their patient experience holistically, they brought in cross-functional teams to redesign key emotional moments, especially during check-in, procedure prep, and discharge.
They re-trained staff with empathy-centered techniques, updated all patient communications for clarity and tone, and created “care touchpoints” to check in emotionally at critical stages. In under a year, their patient satisfaction scores rose by 28%, and they saw a 15% increase in returning patients.
Emotional connection made the difference.
I help businesses build systems around these ideas, so emotional connection isn’t left to chance.
If you’re in healthcare and you’re ready to close the gap between what your patients are feeling and what you’re delivering, reach out. I’d love to help. The opportunity is too important to ignore.
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