In this episode of NRC Health’s Patient No Longer podcast, we discuss how the pandemic served as a catalyst for expanding the scope of experience teams, focusing not just on patient experiences but also on care team experiences and what this means for today’s CXO.

Beyond patient experience: The CXO’s perspective on healthcare innovation, hosted by Ryan Donohue, thought-leader, author, and strategic advisor with NRC Health

Jennifer Baron, Chief Experience Officer, NRC Health

When it comes to the “X” in CXO, for Jennifer it’s about the importance of the role in health systems today.

“The CXO’s role is to really see the people behind the processes, and to teach other leaders in the organization the art of seeing people and the experiences that they’re having,” Jennifer says. “I don’t believe there’s another role within the health system whose full-time job is to look beyond the actual deliverable and understand the actions, the touch points, the experiences that people have had while they’re navigating through that journey.” 

She adds that COVID was a catalyst for the growing role, in part because experience teams had to lean into organizations in ways they hadn’t before.  

“Prior to COVID, a lot of experience teams and even CXOs were really focused holistically on patient experiences,” says Jennifer. “And as COVID kind of rolled along, we realized as an industry that it was really all-hands-on-deck, take care of our care teams.”

In addition, she adds that CXOs were pulled into more operational conversations than prior to COVID, taking the role in some new directions.  

The relationship between the CEO and CXO can be likened to that between a pilot and copilot. 

“The CEO has to obviously be driving the organization in a certain way in order for a CXO to be truly effective in their role,” says Jennifer.  

She adds that it’s crucial to establish accountability across the organization to ensure that the CXO and the experience team have the right tools at their fingertips. 

“A CEO who is also diving into the feedback data is really understanding where the organization sits today, and looking at data as a predictor for where the organization needs to go in the future,” Jennifer says. “Cultures are changing very quickly right now, and so it’s really important for the CXO and the CEO to be partners in understanding and designing those experiences together.” 

What does the future of the CXO look like? Jennifer says that when we look at the next 12 to 18 months, AI is the next big wave. 

“I think AI will change a lot of the workflows that our care-team members currently have,” she says. “But I think what the experience teams will then have to shift toward is supporting and coaching and skill-building with care providers, some of whom, for their entire careers, have been embedded in these current workflows that now might shift because AI can take some of that off of their plate.”

Listen to the full episode with Jennifer Baron, or catch the episode on YouTube.