Creating a great patient experience starts with identity intelligence

Improving the patient experience is receiving more attention than ever. Patient frustration with manual, time-consuming and outdated workflows that hinder their ability to access and share their complete, accurate medical records has given rise to new calls to “eliminate the clipboard.” The slogans of these rallies bring renewed awareness to the critical need for trusted identities at every touchpoint across the care journey.

As the care delivery ecosystem between joint venture partners, surgery centers, clinics, lab providers, and virtual care becomes increasingly complex, it is clear that a superior patient experience can only be achieved through a comprehensive approach that enables unprecedented identity intelligence.

fulfill mission

To “kill the clipboard,” we must work together across the care continuum to build on-premises and network-trusted identity data management capabilities that can unify patient data across disparate data silos at the database layer as well as front-end digital and physical access layers.

This requires unprecedented identity intelligence:

• Extraordinary identity resolution accuracy
• Rich native attributes
• Digital identity verification
• situational governance

In the past, these solutions were patched together across multiple systems. Today, however, next-generation master data management (MDM) solutions built specifically for healthcare are expected to offer a comprehensive platform approach.

Let identity matter

Next-generation MDM solutions unify and contextualize information across systems. Every consumer, patient, provider and relationship should be presented with a single, trusted view. Its impact spans five key dimensions:

1. Unity of patients, consumers and providers – Advanced identity resolution combined with digital identity verification unifies data across systems of record (EHR), experience systems (CRM, portals) and insights systems (cloud data platform, data warehouse) to the correct individual, reducing duplicate charts and ensuring care teams view the entire history and provide patients with a consistent identity at every touchpoint.
2. Providers and Organizations Master – Connecting providers to facilities, networks, and patients helps ensure referrals are not lost, increase the speed of certification, and keep directories current so patients know which specialists, labs, or care sites are truly in-network.
3. Relationship Management – Capture and maintain data about caregivers, families and families, reflecting real-world care networks. This background helps clinicians and staff understand family dynamics, coordinate caregivers, and more effectively support populations such as pediatric or geriatric care.
4. Consumer experience empowerment—— By unifying clinical and non-clinical data, organizations can personalize interactions—from remembering patients’ communication preferences to preventing the frustration of being treated like a stranger at every visit.
5. The Data Foundation for Artificial Intelligence and Analytics – Trusted, unified data prevents repeated errors, ensures predictive models correctly identify the right patients, and enables targeted interventions that address clinical and social factors that impact health outcomes.

Together, these dimensions elevate identity from an access function to enterprise infrastructure—the foundation for continuity, accuracy, and personalization.

Turn identity into strategic value

Healthcare competition is more intense than ever. Patients bypass traditional entry points like the emergency room or primary care referral and instead choose urgent care, telemedicine or a retail clinic, as well as conduct their own online research for a specialist. Growth is no longer guaranteed simply by building facilities and achieving optimal results.

This shift makes identity a growth strategy beyond operational benefits of improved care outcomes and compliance. To deliver truly personalized care, leaders must make MDM a business priority. It starts with identity resolution and enrichment, progresses to contextual data governance, and leverages digital identity verification in high-value workflows, such as provider password resets and secure patient digital front door access.

When organizations truly have identity intelligence, they can also combine rich data, such as SDOH and other consumer and behavioral information, with existing data to create a more comprehensive and trustworthy view of the patient. This provides opportunities to use artificial intelligence and advanced insights to drive strategic intervention. Let's say a patient was scheduled for a $70,000 surgery but never showed up because transportation was disrupted. Anticipating this risk and offering a $50 rideshare credit can protect revenue and ensure care is delivered on time. But this vision is only possible when the data is unified, rich, and trustworthy.

Leadership Imperative

Organizations that embrace an unprecedented identity intelligence journey will transform identity into a source of trust, insight and enterprise value, positioning themselves to lead the next era of connected, data-driven healthcare.

Image: marchmeena29, Getty Images

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