Tech Talk Interviews

How do you see the future of patient experience evolving in healthcare?

Sven: The future of experience in healthcare is most likely a lot less focused on hospital care because that's typically where the focus has been, primarily on the inpatient experience. The future is really across the entire continuum of care. A lot of it is in the outpatient arena because a lot of care is migrating from inpatient to outpatient as well.

It will be shaped by changing consumer expectations. That's just a natural evolution. Consumers are expecting similar experiences in healthcare like they have in every other part of their being, in retail, in banking, with airlines. That will require the integration of technology, and that's one of the big trends I believe will shape healthcare in the future with big implications on the experience.

You've done research into patient expectations. What did you discover?

Sven: When we talk about patient expectations, I think we've got to start with what they are. We've done some research around that with intensive focus groups with patients.

Patients want us to be their partner in their care. They don't want us to dictate their care. They want us to deliver a personalized experience, so there's personalized communication. It's personalized treatment based on their likes and dislikes and who they are as an individual.

They want us to set expectations and follow through on those expectations. There's always a gap in that or a perceived gap from patients. They want us to help them with the next step in the journey. They always feel well taken care of in the actual clinical setting, in the actual clinical encounter, but as soon as they step out of that, that's when things sort of fall apart. That's what patients need help with, and they expect the healthcare provider to help them through that journey.

Finally access, but that's not just access to appointments and having the right appointment at the right time with the right provider. It is also easy access to information, easy access to people when they need it. So often they feel that there's a wall there.

Those are the expectations that we have to live up to and make sure that we meet those expectations and hopefully exceed them. In a lot of those things, technology can play a big role. I believe when we do this right, it actually elevates the human experience. It doesn't really replace that human touch. It takes the work away from the patient but also from the provider. Hopefully it makes life easier for them so that we can invest more time in the care itself, which has been something that has eroded over time.

How specifically does technology support both providers and patients?

Sven: The role technology plays is twofold. One is to support the provider, make life easier for them, and the same on the patient side. Direct to consumer tools allow patients to do things that they don't need to depend on somebody else for. If I can manage a lot of things through functioning tools myself, then I don't have to call an office or do certain things that are just a nuisance in healthcare.

Obviously there are technologies also that can help with remote monitoring or allowing people to manage their care at home and not even have to see a provider.

What about on the provider side? What advances are you most excited about?

Sven: On the provider side, I think there are great benefits. One of the great advances I think is the ambient listening tools that are out there. We just signed a big contract with a company called Abridge where we have this ambient listening tool available for all physicians in our organization. That's thousands of them.

It automatically transcribes the encounter that we have, the interaction, into the clinical notes and organizes it really well for them. So far all the providers that I speak to are very happy with it. It takes some of the stress out of those encounters, and it also cuts down on what we call pajama time.

Can you explain that?

Sven: Often what physicians in particular do is they see patients all day long in the clinic. They get home, they have dinner, and then they go back on the computer and spend time until midnight just to finish the notes and to finish all the follow ups and respond to messages.

That's another thing, automatic message responses that are monitored, that are not just a free for all, but that respond to messages that are appropriate to respond to or even triage them so it's not always the provider that needs to answer that and use their precious time to do that. It can be a nurse, it can be some of the admin staff doing that.

How do you see this technology impacting the human element of healthcare?

Sven: All these technologies will help to take the burden off and to hopefully give time back. Not just hopefully, it will give time back, but hopefully we can invest that time back into the human interactions. Healthcare is a human to human business, and that's why I believe technology will not replace the human. It will replace functions. It will ultimately just make it easier and remove some of the friction that's there and the effort that people have to put into it.

What are the biggest challenges you're facing in implementing these innovations?

Sven: There's certainly a challenge in healthcare where innovation or progress moves at the speed of trust because ultimately it's a trust business. You have to make sure that the providers are comfortable with those tools, and that doesn't come overnight. That really takes using them, experiencing them. Same on the patient side. There is some hesitancy from patients in surveys that are being done in terms of trusting tools like that. In some cases, there could be up to 50% when we talk about direct patient care. That takes some time to make sure that gets implemented the right way.

The other one I would say is investments. Healthcare is under a lot of financial pressure right now, which would make the case for obviously innovation and for technology investments. But in general, with funding cuts and less revenue coming in, patient experience unfortunately is often one to go to cut back on. That's what my colleagues see in the industry, and it's shortsighted because you still have the people element as we discussed. We have to invest in people, have to train people, and then support them with technology. Those are big investments also that organizations have to make.

Are there other societal challenges impacting healthcare delivery?

Sven: Another challenge I would say is that society has changed over the last five years. People are less patient. There's just a different sense of getting along and being civil with each other. That has implications on healthcare and especially on burnout of employees and providers. It's a challenging environment for them.

How do you balance technological innovation with addressing these human challenges?

Sven: That's exactly why we can't see technology as a replacement for the human element. We need to use technology to reduce the administrative burden and the friction points, which gives our providers more capacity to handle the human interactions with patience and empathy. The technology should be freeing them up to be more present with patients, not replacing that presence. When we get that balance right, we address both the efficiency needs and the human needs simultaneously.

Conclusion

Gierlinger's vision for healthcare's future is clear: technology should amplify human connection, not replace it. By strategically deploying AI to eliminate administrative friction and empower both patients and providers, healthcare organizations can meet rising expectations while preserving the trust and empathy that remain at the heart of quality care.