Harvard Business Review extols benefits of providers using design thinking to improve patient experiences

In the U.S., approximately 3.6 million people miss or put off medical appointments due to transportation issues every year, leading to annual costs for providers in the billions of dollars, coupled with operational challenges such as difficulties rescheduling clinical staff and interference with patient care and treatment. To better understand the reasons behind missed appointments, some hospitals are working to better understand and improve the patient experience and to lower costs. One approach being explored is design thinking, "a creative, human-centered problem-solving approach that leverages empathy, collective idea generation, rapid prototyping, and continuous testing to tackle complex challenges." Design thinkers work to understand patients and their experiences before developing solutions, and this understanding guides the rest of the process. Design thinking also involves continuously testing and refining ideas, meaning that feedback is sought early and often, especially from patients. The approach remains underused in addressing challenges such as patient transportation, communication issues between clinicians and patients, and differential treatment of patients due to implicit bias, and the authors contend that healthcare leaders who embrace design thinking can leverage a deeper understanding of patients to solve such problems, achieving better clinical outcomes, improved patient experience, and lower costs along the way.