Flevy Management Insights Case Study
Customer Engagement Strategy for Healthcare Clinic in Pediatric Services
     David Tang    |    Customer-centric Organization


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TLDR A mid-sized healthcare clinic experienced declining patient retention and acquisition due to competition and inefficiencies. Implementing a Digital Patient Engagement Platform and expanding Telehealth Services resulted in a 15% increase in retention and a 20% rise in new patients, underscoring the need for tech and personalized care to meet consumer expectations.

Reading time: 9 minutes

Consider this scenario: A mid-sized healthcare clinic specializing in pediatric services is striving to maintain its position as a customer-centric organization in a highly competitive market.

The clinic is confronting a 20% decline in patient retention rates coupled with a 15% drop in new patient acquisition over the past two years. External challenges include increasing competition from both local and online telehealth services and changing consumer expectations towards healthcare provision. Internally, the clinic faces inefficiencies in patient engagement and service personalization. The primary strategic objective of the organization is to enhance patient engagement and service personalization to improve patient retention and acquisition.



This healthcare clinic, with a focus on pediatric services, has reached a critical juncture where declining patient retention and acquisition rates threaten its market position. It appears that these challenges may stem from inadequate patient engagement strategies and lagging service personalization, aspects critical in today’s healthcare market where customer expectations are evolving rapidly.

Competitive Landscape

The pediatric healthcare services industry is witnessing a transformative shift towards digital health solutions, intensifying the competitive landscape. The emergence of telehealth as a mainstream service offering has recalibrated patient expectations and service delivery models.

Analyzing the primary forces driving the industry:

  • Internal Rivalry: High, exacerbated by the advent of telehealth services and large healthcare networks expanding into pediatric care.
  • Supplier Power: Moderate, with healthcare technology vendors playing a pivotal role in service delivery.
  • Buyer Power: Increasing, as patients and families demand more personalized and accessible healthcare solutions.
  • Threat of New Entrants: High, especially from technology-driven healthcare startups focusing on pediatrics.
  • Threat of Substitutes: Moderate to high, with alternative healthcare models and wellness programs gaining traction.

Emergent industry trends point towards a significant shift:

  • Increasing adoption of telehealth services, offering both opportunities for expansion and risks related to technology integration and patient data security.
  • Greater focus on personalized care plans, necessitating investments in data analytics and patient engagement technologies.
  • Shift towards preventative care models, presenting opportunities to develop new service offerings but requiring changes in clinic operations and patient education efforts.

A PEST analysis reveals that technological advancements and regulatory changes around telehealth are key external factors shaping the industry, alongside evolving social attitudes towards pediatric healthcare.

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Internal Assessment

The clinic possesses a strong reputation for quality care but is challenged by outdated patient engagement processes and a lack of personalized service offerings.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths include a dedicated pediatric care team and a loyal patient base. Opportunities lie in leveraging technology for better patient engagement and expanding service offerings. Weaknesses are seen in the clinic’s slow adoption of digital health technologies and personalized care strategies. Threats include increasing competition from telehealth services and shifting consumer expectations.

Core Competencies Analysis

Core competencies lie in pediatric healthcare expertise and a committed care team. However, there’s a critical need to develop competencies in digital patient engagement and data-driven personalization to remain competitive.

Gap Analysis

There’s a significant gap between the clinic's current state of patient engagement and the industry benchmark set by digital-first healthcare providers. Bridging this gap requires strategic investments in technology and process innovation.

Strategic Initiatives

  • Develop a Digital Patient Engagement Platform: Aimed at enhancing patient interaction through a user-friendly digital interface, facilitating appointment scheduling, reminders, and telehealth consultations. This initiative expects to increase patient retention by improving access and convenience. Investment in software development and integration with existing clinic systems is required.
  • Implement a Personalized Care Program: Utilizing data analytics to tailor healthcare plans to individual patient needs, aiming to improve patient satisfaction and health outcomes. The value creation comes from increased patient loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals. Resources needed include analytics tools and training for staff on personalized care approaches.
  • Expand Telehealth Services: By offering a broader range of telehealth services, the clinic can attract new patients seeking convenient healthcare options. This initiative is expected to open new revenue streams and meet the growing demand for remote care. It requires investment in telehealth technology and marketing.

Customer-centric Organization Implementation KPIs

KPIS are crucial throughout the implementation process. They provide quantifiable checkpoints to validate the alignment of operational activities with our strategic goals, ensuring that execution is not just activity-driven, but results-oriented. Further, these KPIs act as early indicators of progress or deviation, enabling agile decision-making and course correction if needed.


Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement.
     – H. James Harrington

  • Patient Retention Rate: A critical measure of success for the digital engagement and personalized care initiatives.
  • New Patient Acquisition Rate: Indicative of the effectiveness of telehealth services expansion and overall market positioning.
  • Customer Satisfaction Scores: Essential for gauging patient perceptions and experiences with the new digital platform and personalized care programs.

These KPIs offer insights into the strategic initiatives' impact on clinic performance, highlighting areas of success and opportunities for further improvement.

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Customer-centric Organization Deliverables

These are a selection of deliverables across all the strategic initiatives.

  • Digital Patient Engagement Platform Development Plan (PPT)
  • Personalized Care Program Framework (PPT)
  • Telehealth Services Expansion Roadmap (PPT)
  • Implementation Timeline and Milestones Document (PPT)

Explore more Customer-centric Organization deliverables

Develop a Digital Patient Engagement Platform

The implementation team utilized the Value Proposition Canvas (VPC) to ensure the digital patient engagement platform closely matched patient needs and expectations. The Value Proposition Canvas, developed by Alexander Osterwalder, is a tool that helps organizations ensure a product or service fits with customer wants and pain points. It was particularly useful for this initiative because it guided the development team in creating a platform that was both user-friendly and met the specific needs of pediatric patients and their families.

Following the insights gained from the VPC, the team took several steps to align the platform's development with patient expectations:

  • Conducted interviews and focus groups with patients and families to map out their jobs, pains, and gains in relation to managing pediatric healthcare.
  • Designed the user interface of the digital engagement platform to address the identified pains, such as difficulty in scheduling appointments and accessing medical records.
  • Developed features that directly responded to the gains patients and families sought, including telehealth consultations and medication tracking.

The implementation of the Value Proposition Canvas led to the development of a digital patient engagement platform that significantly improved patient satisfaction and engagement rates. The platform addressed key patient concerns and provided functionalities that were most in demand, resulting in increased usage and positive feedback from the clinic's patient community.

Implement a Personalized Care Program

For the personalized care program, the team applied the Jobs to be Done (JTBD) Framework. The JTBD Framework, popularized by Clayton Christensen, focuses on understanding the progress that a customer is trying to make in a particular circumstance. This framework was crucial because it helped the clinic to identify and understand the specific health and wellness outcomes that patients and their families were striving to achieve through pediatric care.

In applying the JTBD Framework, the clinic followed these steps:

  • Identified the primary "jobs" that pediatric patients and their families were hiring the clinic to do, including managing chronic conditions, ensuring developmental milestones were met, and providing acute care when needed.
  • Analyzed patient health records and feedback to design care programs that directly addressed these jobs, ensuring higher relevance and effectiveness of care.
  • Customized communication and care plans for patients based on the identified jobs, leading to more targeted and effective healthcare interventions.

The application of the JTBD Framework to the personalized care program resulted in a more tailored healthcare experience for patients and families. The clinic observed improved patient outcomes and higher levels of satisfaction, as care plans were closely aligned with the specific needs and goals of their pediatric patients.

Expand Telehealth Services

The clinic's expansion of telehealth services was guided by the Service-Dominant Logic (SDL) framework. SDL, introduced by Stephen Vargo and Robert Lusch, shifts the focus from goods to service, emphasizing the co-creation of value between the provider and the customer. This framework was invaluable for this initiative as it underscored the importance of integrating patient feedback into the development and refinement of telehealth services.

By embracing the principles of SDL, the clinic undertook the following actions:

  • Engaged with patients and families through surveys and virtual focus groups to understand their expectations and apprehensions regarding telehealth.
  • Designed the telehealth services to be highly interactive, allowing for real-time feedback and adjustments to care delivery based on patient input.
  • Implemented a continuous improvement process for telehealth services, where patient feedback directly informed service enhancements.

The adoption of Service-Dominant Logic for the expansion of telehealth services facilitated a patient-centric approach that significantly increased the adoption and satisfaction rates of these services. Patients appreciated the responsive and personalized nature of the telehealth offerings, leading to a substantial increase in the utilization of remote healthcare services by the clinic's pediatric patients.

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Key Findings and Results

Here is a summary of the key results of this case study:

  • Increased patient retention by 15% following the development and implementation of the Digital Patient Engagement Platform.
  • Improved new patient acquisition rates by 20% with the expansion of Telehealth Services.
  • Enhanced customer satisfaction scores by 30% after implementing the Personalized Care Program.
  • Received positive feedback from 85% of patients and families on the user-friendliness and functionality of the Digital Patient Engagement Platform.
  • Reported a 25% increase in the utilization of Telehealth Services, indicating a successful adoption among the clinic's patient base.

The strategic initiatives undertaken by the clinic have yielded significant improvements in patient retention, acquisition, and satisfaction, demonstrating the effectiveness of leveraging technology and personalized care in a competitive healthcare landscape. The development of the Digital Patient Engagement Platform and the expansion of Telehealth Services have directly addressed the clinic's challenges related to patient engagement and service personalization. The successful implementation of these strategies, as evidenced by the quantifiable results in retention, acquisition, and satisfaction rates, underscores the clinic's ability to adapt to changing market demands and consumer expectations. However, the results were not without their shortcomings. The expected increase in patient retention was targeted at 20%, but only achieved a 15% increase, suggesting that there may be additional underlying issues affecting retention that were not fully addressed by the implemented initiatives. Additionally, while the utilization of Telehealth Services increased, the clinic must continue to monitor and enhance these services to maintain competitiveness and address any potential issues with service delivery or patient data security.

Given the results and the areas identified for improvement, the next steps should focus on further enhancing the Digital Patient Engagement Platform and Telehealth Services, with an emphasis on incorporating advanced data analytics for predictive personalization and patient care optimization. Additionally, exploring partnerships with technology providers could introduce innovative solutions to further improve patient engagement and service delivery. Continuous feedback mechanisms should be strengthened to ensure that patient and family needs are promptly addressed, and service modifications are made in real-time. Finally, conducting a comprehensive review of the clinic's overall patient experience journey could reveal additional opportunities for enhancing patient satisfaction and loyalty.

Source: Customer Engagement Strategy for Healthcare Clinic in Pediatric Services, Flevy Management Insights, 2024

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