Patient experience is increasingly central to strategic hospital operations
Most people don’t think of hospitals as customer-facing enterprises. But C-suites are waking up. The numbers from Sage Growth Partners are clear, almost half of healthcare executives surveyed have made patient experience their top strategic priority for 2025 to 2027. That’s up from just 14% in 2020. The shift is about survival in a system where patients have more choices, more financial responsibility, and more expectation.
This change isn’t happening in a vacuum. The organizations that leaned into virtual care and patient experience over the last two years saw stronger growth. That’s correlation and causation. Better experiences attract more patients, and more patients drive revenue. At the core is the idea that better care doesn’t just mean medical accuracy, it means clear communication, lower friction, and continuity across digital and in-person touchpoints.
Now, decision-makers are integrating patient experience directly into how they design operations. They’re no longer retrofitting patient satisfaction onto clinical excellence, they’re designing healthcare delivery with the patient at the center, right from the start. That’s a rational move in a market that increasingly rewards provider transparency, efficiency, and access.
If you’re not actively designing your systems, digital and physical, with the patient in mind, you’re giving ground to competitors who are.
Digital health and virtual care are pivotal in enhancing overall patient engagement and care delivery
Digital health isn’t a niche, it’s the infrastructure now. And patient engagement doesn’t happen without it. C-suite leaders understand this. 93% of respondents in the Sage Growth Partners survey said bringing virtual care into their models is important. A third of them said it’s critical. Across the board, they’re seeing digital tools improve how patients interact with clinicians and manage their own care.
But here’s the thing: most health systems still aren’t realizing a solid return on investment. Fewer than 30% are seeing significant ROI from their virtual services. That’s a signal, not a failure. Current platforms weren’t designed for modern engagement. Many are bolted onto legacy systems or limited by vendor capability. That friction hurts the patient experience and caps system performance.
Still, the belief in digital’s value is strong. 59% of organizations already offer virtual primary care and remote patient monitoring. 50% offer telestroke services. These aren’t tests anymore, these are core care delivery channels. Executives are optimistic because they’ve seen virtual expand access, reduce overhead, and shift delivery into patients’ homes, where outcomes often improve.
To move ahead, health systems need platforms that aren’t just compatible, they need systems that are purpose-built for digital-first care. That means less complexity, better interfaces, and deeper integration into clinical workflows. And let’s be practical, there’s no future in digital health without fixing the patient experience bottlenecks in current platforms.
Virtual care improves care access, satisfaction, and safety. But only when it’s frictionless. If your systems still introduce friction, then you’re not really digital, you’re analog with a video call feature. That doesn’t scale.
Enhanced patient experience drives brand loyalty and competitive market positioning
Healthcare is a competitive business, even if it doesn’t always look like one. Patients have more power over healthcare decisions than they did a few years ago. They’re paying more out of pocket, and they’re choosing where to go. That makes experience a deciding factor. And C-suite executives understand this, 70% say digital tools give them a stronger competitive position, and 60% believe those tools directly influence patient acquisition and retention.
This is about usability. Smooth access to scheduling, clean billing processes, responsiveness from care teams, these define the real patient experience. When done right, they drive loyalty. Some 64% of executives say that digital health solutions directly improve hospital or health system branding. That’s not about slogans. That’s function leading perception.
Administrative efficiency is a big part of this shift. Nobody wants to be held back by bad workflows or slow, outdated software. Executives are paying attention here, 75% say digital tools cut administrative inefficiencies, and 73% report better revenue collection. When the tech works, it improves not just how patients feel about care, but also how the business operates.
C-suite leaders should be looking at patient experience holistically. That means understanding how digital tools impact both the clinical and administrative sides of the organization. Brand strength, loyalty, and sustainable growth will reflect the quality of the patient’s end-to-end journey, not isolated touchpoints, but everything from onboarding to discharge.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to significantly transform digital care and patient experience strategies
AI is already shaping how high-performing health systems plan for the next phase of digital care delivery. Most healthcare executives get this. 81% say AI is essential for expanding home-based and remote patient monitoring. Another 71% see it as a major force for integrating virtual care into their delivery models. And nearly half, 49%—believe AI will directly improve patient experience.
AI’s strengths are being applied in smart ways, predictive insights, task automation, and real-time data flagging. These boost system intelligence without increasing burden. AI augments clinical workflow, supports faster decision-making, and reduces manual tasks that tend to slow down patient-focused delivery. It also lets administrative systems work smarter, reducing wasted hours and missed revenue.
But implementation still deserves attention. AI won’t work if your current systems can’t support it. Compatibility issues with legacy platforms, poor data structure, and lack of integration will block AI’s effectiveness. Executives planning for AI need a data strategy that spans departments, from IT infrastructure to billing and clinical operations.
C-suite leaders don’t need to wait for AI to be perfect. They need to choose use cases that solve friction today. Home care, virtual monitoring, clinical escalation protocols, those are the areas where AI adds real value right now. Start there, get results, and scale from a foundation that’s already producing returns.
C-suite executives are actively rethinking virtual care platforms to address current ROI challenges and drive future innovation
A lot of health systems went fast on virtual care. Now they’re asking the right questions about performance. Fewer than 30% of executives say they’ve seen significant ROI from their current virtual services. That’s a signal that the tools in use today aren’t scaled right or integrated well enough to deliver sustained value. It doesn’t mean the strategy is wrong, it means the execution needs focus.
As expected, part of the issue is platform fit. About 20% of executives say they know they’ll need to invest in a new virtual care platform in the next one to three years. Another 56% aren’t sure yet, which tells us most organizations are in the evaluation phase. The decision ahead isn’t just about choosing the right vendor, it’s about building a system that’s flexible, interoperable, and able to scale with demand.
The need to integrate with the EHR, improve user experience, and support new services is already top-of-mind. Add to that the push to embed AI and increase automation, and you’ve got a landscape where many current systems are outdated before they’ve delivered full value. This isn’t about replacing software for the sake of it. It’s about aligning your tech with the outcomes you’re actually targeting, shorter hospital stays, lower readmissions, better patient experience, stronger margins.
Moving forward, the leadership mandate is clear. Systems must be re-evaluated with the same scrutiny you apply to any major capital expenditure. Focus needs to shift from quick deployment to long-term enablement. A virtual care platform without ROI is a sunk cost. But one that improves clinical performance, reduces inefficiencies, and helps patients engage more effectively is a measurable strategic asset.
If the patient experience is going to drive future growth, as most executives believe, then the infrastructure supporting that experience cannot remain fragmented or outdated. It has to evolve alongside the strategies it’s meant to support. ROI won’t come from wishful thinking; it’ll come from building systems that remove friction, improve care, and scale with purpose.
Key executive takeaways
- Patient experience is now a high-stakes strategic priority: Nearly half of healthcare executives have placed patient experience at the top of their agenda for 2025–2027. Leaders should align operational planning with patient-first strategies to stay competitive and meet higher consumer expectations.
- Digital care is foundational: Virtual care and digital tools are seen as critical for boosting engagement and care outcomes, yet most systems aren’t seeing strong ROI. Executives should invest in scalable, integrated platforms that improve both usability and clinical impact.
- Experience drives loyalty and market share: As patients make more independent care decisions, 70% of execs report digital tools improve competitive positioning. Leaders should connect patient experience efforts directly to acquisition, retention, and brand performance metrics.
- AI is a core enabler of next-gen care delivery: With 81% of execs backing AI for remote care and 49% seeing its impact on patient experience, there’s momentum around automation. Organizations should fast-track AI into areas like remote monitoring, workflow optimization, and patient-facing interfaces.
- Virtual platforms need to evolve to deliver real ROI: The majority of current virtual investments aren’t producing strong returns due to integration and infrastructure issues. Decision-makers should reevaluate core systems and prioritize platforms designed for long-term performance, interoperability, and AI-readiness.
