Sutter Health Patient Experience Blueprint
The Problem
While planning for multiple new primary care sites, Sutter Health needed to define an ideal adult patient experience—one that considers various points of interaction and accommodates personal preferences through patient-driven choices.
Aligning the approach across physical space, digital platforms, and service touchpoints enables Sutter to create signature experiences that set them apart from other healthcare systems. More importantly, this alignment sets the stage for improved health outcomes by enhancing access to care and fostering understanding of treatment plans and follow-up care.
THE SOLUTION
Project Components
Research to discover pain points and insights into why they exist among current primary care patients
Workshop facilitation with representatives across the organization for ideation and alignment
A high-level service blueprint that breaks the journey down into phases with solutions for typical pain points
Narrative stories that portray how solutions work across journeys for different personas
A socialization plan to begin operationalizing the blueprint and invite feedback and additions, including a live web tool
Interviews with patients helped the team create a framework for our solutions centered around what we heard were top needs.
Our patient journey was broken into four major phases, from before they even make an appointment, all the way until after the fact. For each phase, we pinpointed touchpoints where experience design could make an impact, based on emotional pain points we’d heard during interviews with patients. Then, we broke these down into multiple impactful solution areas.
For every solution area, we intentionally were not overly prescriptive with how the solution should be implemented. After visiting several existing clinics, we recognized that staff at individual locations were best suited to make these choices based on their knowledge of the unique site and patients. Instead, we provided ideas based on patient “why”, which could be taken and customized as needed.
Today, the Patient Experience Blueprint is actively being implemented, spanning teams from architecture and interior design to support staff training, to shape how patients will experience care at future sites.
