By Adam Tanner, Senior Director, Product Management

In healthcare, the pursuit of exceptional patient care is paramount. However, a fundamental yet often overlooked component in delivering the highest-quality care is the experience of healthcare employees. 

As someone who has spent more than 15 years working at the intersection of human resources technology and healthcare, I’ve seen firsthand how closely employee engagement ties to patient outcomes. An engaged, empowered workforce isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s critical for creating an environment where care can truly thrive. A well-supported team is the foundation for delivering compassionate care and demonstrating the power of Human Understanding. 

Now, since joining NRC Health, I’ve learned that the path to optimal patient outcomes begins with not just an engaged and empowered workforce, but also an organization that understands the value of such a workforce. Healthcare environments are inherently high-pressure: long shifts, emotional demands, and systemic challenges like staffing shortages make the work incredibly taxing. Accordingly, a well-supported and satisfied workforce is not merely beneficial—it is essential for enhancing the quality of care delivered to patients and crucial to demonstrating the power of Human Understanding. 

Employee Experience (EX) in healthcare is sometimes overlooked in favor of more patient-centered priorities, but the connection between employee satisfaction and patient outcomes is undeniable. Research consistently shows that when healthcare professionals are engaged and feel valued, they are more likely to deliver high-quality care. That’s because when employees feel supported, they are more motivated, energized, and willing to go the extra mile. As healthcare organizations continue to face mounting pressures, creating an environment that places equal value on both employee and patient experience is essential. 

Engaged employees who feel heard and valued are more likely to provide compassionate, attentive care. And it’s not just about the basics, like compensation and benefits; it’s also about how they show up for patients every day. When employees feel supported, it translates into a better experience for everyone, especially patients.  

At NRC Health, we’ve developed a comprehensive suite of employee-experience solutions to make this happen. We offer lifecycle surveys, predictive analytics, and detailed insights reports that tackle the biggest challenges healthcare systems face. By breaking down silos between departments, these tools help organizations connect employee and patient experience data, allowing them to refine operations and drive better outcomes. 

But for this to work, hospitals and health systems need to understand the true value of employee feedback. It’s not enough to just throw a survey out there and make responding to it mandatory. It’s also crucial to create a culture where employees feel encouraged, not obligated, to make their voice heard at all times. 

This is where NRC Health’s partnership with customer and employee experience management leader Medallia, and Huey, our new AI-powered experience management solution, come in. Together, these tools expand our capabilities, giving healthcare organizations the ability to listen to both employees and patients, understand their journeys, and make meaningful improvements based on that feedback.

In our pursuit of improving healthcare environments, I believe AI-powered solutions play an essential role in supporting both employees and patients. Empathy is key to a positive employee experience, especially in healthcare, which is such a demanding field. But while empathy is the foundation, AI tools like Huey and those from Medallia are critical for making sense of the data we gather from employee surveys.  

NRC Health’s partnership with Medallia helps us address these challenges. We’ve built an industry leading solution when it comes to managing employee experiences in alignment with patient experiences. It offers powerful tools for engagement, pulse, and lifecycle surveys, plus advanced continuous listening and integrated analytics. This allows organizations to get a clearer picture of what employees and patients are saying—and more importantly, act on that feedback.  

And then there’s Huey, which helps organizations take analyzing data a step further.  

It’s more than just a tool; Huey acts as a trusted partner in managing healthcare experiences. Huey works exclusively with your data—enriched with NRC Health’s expertise—and ensures that it stays secure, private, and only used within your organization, as opposed to contributing to global AI models like other AI solutions do. 

Together, these solutions represent a leap forward in how healthcare organizations listen to, learn from, and act on feedback. These AI-powered tools equip healthcare leaders with the insights they need to create a workplace culture rooted in empathy, trust, and continuous improvement, paving the way for better outcomes for both employees and patients. Ultimately this technology, supported by empathy-driven leadership, fosters a culture of transparency, recognition, and trust—values that are critical for delivering exceptional patient care. 

The key takeaway here is simple: the success of a healthcare organization is directly linked to how it supports its employees. Prioritizing employee well-being isn’t optional—it’s essential. When organizations recognize the connection between employee satisfaction and patient outcomes, they create environments where both employees and patients can thrive.

Investing in employee experience is an investment in better care. It’s about building a workforce that’s engaged, compassionate, and empowered to perform at their best every day. In healthcare’s ever-evolving landscape, NRC Health’s partnerships and innovations, including tools like Huey, provide a roadmap for organizations to tackle today’s challenges while preparing for tomorrow’s demands. 

Want to follow the Human Understanding movement? Check out NRC Health on social media.