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Improving the Patient Experience in Healthcare: The Role of Care Management

Creating a positive patient experience is critical for providers who want more engaged, healthier patients. For example, patients who have higher-quality consultations with their provider are more likely to adhere to their prescribed medications. 

To improve the patient experience, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recommends providers focus on factors like open, clear communication, coordinated care, and health education. Care management programs, like Medicare Chronic Care Management or Advanced Primary Care Management, can help with all of these factors.

By offering patients regular check-ins between appointments and a 24/7 care line, Chronic Care Management and Advanced Primary Care Management open the doors for stronger connections between patients and their providers. Let’s explore how care management programs can help you build stronger connections with your patients and give them an excellent patient experience during and between appointments. 

Why Improving Patient Experience in Healthcare Is Critical 

A positive experience with their medical practice helps patients receive the right treatment, encourages medication adherence, and engages people in their own care. One study found that medication adherence improved when patients had a longer consultation with their provider and could raise more concerns about the medication.

This heightened communication led to improved patient outcomes, since patients were more likely to take their prescribed medication for chronic conditions. The same study found that communication between providers and patients helped providers avoid medical error by encouraging them to absorb all relevant health information before making decisions. 

Clear communication and a positive patient experience also motivated patients to take a greater role in their care by proactively managing their health conditions. Given how critical a positive patient experience can be, all providers and practices should look for strategies to improve their performance. 

Five Key Areas for Improving Patient Experience 

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, suggests five areas practices can focus on to improve the healthcare experience for their patients:

• Access to Care and Information 
• Communications with Patients
• Coordination of Care
• Customer Service
• Health Promotion/Education

AHRQ points out that these areas correlate to several questions on CAHPS surveys, so organizations who use those assessments can improve their CAHPS performance while better serving their patients. 

Each of the five areas AHRQ points out can be addressed during office visits. But care management programs also give providers the ability to address these areas of patient experience between visits, improving the patient experience holistically, not only during limited appointment times.  

1. Access to Care and Information 

The first principle of a positive patient experience, Access to Care, means ensuring patients can easily book appointments and find their health information. Practices can achieve this goal by giving patients multiple options for scheduling appointments, including phone or digital options. They can also grant patients access to their health records through online portals and offer patients printed or digital health information in a variety of languages and formats. 

How Care Management Can Help

Care management programs, like Chronic Care Management and Advanced Primary Care Management, can increase patients’ access to care. While many practices give patients the option to schedule appointments online or by calling their practice, care managers can help schedule appointments for patients who are frustrated with the online process or waiting on the telephone.

Both Chronic Care Management and Advanced Primary Care Management require a 24/7 care line. This allows patients to reach out to their care manager even when their provider’s office is closed. If the patient is having concerning symptoms, a triage nurse can evaluate them on the care line and determine whether they need to schedule an appointment when their provider’s office opens or visit urgent care or the ER. 

Care managers can also assist with consolidating health information from multiple providers into one set of health records that patients can access from a single portal. Finally, care management programs are well-positioned to offer patients educational information on managing their conditions in multiple formats. 

For example, ChartSpan, a care management organization, can send patients clinician-reviewed videos, articles, and checklists. Printed materials are also available for patients who aren’t comfortable with text or email. 

2. Communication with Patients

The Communication with Patients principle emphasizes the importance of sharing clear information and involving patients in decision-making about their health. During office visits, providers and office staff can communicate with patients in their preferred language or ensure a translator is available and use accessible language to describe health conditions.

They can also allow patients to bring family members or friends to appointments, if the patient has given those people permission to receive their health information. Critically, communication with patients also includes engaging patients and their loved ones in decision-making about treatment options and healthcare goals, where possible. Providers should share information about the benefits and disadvantages of different treatments and let the patient share which one best fits their needs. 

How Care Management Can Help

Care management programs should be offered in multiple languages, so patients can speak to a care manager or view educational materials in the language they are most comfortable in. Additionally, care managers can help patients find translators in their local area for in-person visits or calls to their provider.

If a patient still has questions about their health after an appointment, their care manager can walk them through the notes or test results they received and any information their provider has shared. The patient and their care manager will then work together to update their care plan and care goals, keeping the patient engaged in their healthcare and the decision-making process. 

3. Coordination of Care

Coordination of care between primary care providers, specialists, hospitals, and home care providers ensures all providers have the information needed to make healthcare decisions. It also ensures patients don’t suffer through repetitive tests, negative medication interactions, or contradictory care instructions. 

By giving all providers and patients the same, comprehensive health information, care coordination improves patient outcomes while controlling costs and increasing patient satisfaction. Medicare introduced care coordination programs, like APCM and CCM, precisely to address this need for clear, consistent coordination among patients and their providers.

How Care Management Can Help

Advanced Primary Care Management and Chronic Care Management offer patients a care manager as their central point of care. The care manager gathers records from a patient’s providers and from the patient themselves so all health information is assembled in a single location. They can then send notifications to the patient’s provider of any changes in the patient’s care plan or their medications.

Advanced Primary Care Management goes a step farther than Chronic Care Management by requiring that care managers coordinate care when patients leave the hospital or the ER. To offer APCM, providers must either receive discharge notifications or engage a care management organization that receives discharge notifications. 

The care manager must reach out to patients who have been discharged and encourage them to schedule an appointment with their primary care provider. The coordinator should also check on any resources the patient might need, such as transportation or food delivery, and update the patient’s care plan to reflect new medications and changes in their health. 

These efforts increase communication between hospitals, primary care providers, specialty providers, and care managers, so patients receive coordinated, holistic care. 

4. Customer Service

Healthcare organizations have embraced traditional customer service metrics, like Net Promoter Score, to determine how well they’re performing. Evaluating the customer service you offer and working to improve it can increase patient loyalty and engagement.

To improve these areas, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality suggests focusing on setting clear standards for customer service throughout your practice. These standards should be shared between front-desk staff, medical assistants, nurses and providers. AHRQ also suggests drafting a policy for how to address negative customer experiences. Good care management providers will have customer service policies and standards in place as well. 

How Care Management Can Help

An effective care management program can greatly improve customer service at your practice. In addition to accessing care 24/7 through the care line, patients will receive regular check-ins from a care manager. This consistent care between appointments gives patients multiple opportunities to express dissatisfaction or confusion over their care and to have those needs addressed.

For example, at ChartSpan we train care managers in customer service and how to provide a positive experience on the phone or via text. As of September 2025, the ChartSpan care management program has an NPS score of 75.75, 45 points higher than the average multi-specialty clinic score of 30.1 (according to a survey by the Advisory Board of Primary Care Physician Consumer Loyalty.) 

Reliable care management organizations will also have auditing processes in place to distinguish between positive and negative customer interactions and to address negative interactions. ChartSpan audits 100% of patient calls for quality and addresses calls with imperfect quality scores through ongoing coaching, so care managers understand how to improve the patient experience in the future. 

5. Health Promotion and Education

Health promotion and education is about giving patients the information they need to proactively manage their own health. Practices can address this aspect of patient experience by involving patients in decision-making, providing them with accessible information, and encouraging engagement with other patients with similar conditions. 

Providers and practice staff have the opportunity to share educational material and local resources with patients during in-person visits. But care management can expand these opportunities for health education to the periods in between visits. 

How Care Management Can Help

Because care managers reach out to patients multiple times per year, they have multiple opportunities to share educational materials. Patients can learn about their condition via videos, checklists, articles, or suggested shopping lists and recipes, in a variety of languages and written at an accessible reading level. 

Patients also have the opportunity for self-management through their care plan. In tandem with their provider, they can decide which nutrition, exercise, sleep, or stress management goals fit their lifestyle and create achievable goals in collaboration with their care manager. 

Additionally, care managers can direct patients to resources in their local area, such as support groups for people facing similar chronic illnesses or health concerns. These groups can offer additional support for patients and encourage them not to give up on managing their conditions and living a vibrant life. 

Improve the Patient Experience at Your Healthcare Practice

Improving patient experience can lead to greater treatment adherence, better health outcomes for patients, greater retention, and more patient loyalty for practices. Medicare care management programs improve communication, access to care, care coordination, health education, and customer service, all areas that contribute to a positive patient experience. 

If you’d like to learn more about how care management can improve the patient experience, check out this true story of how ChartSpan helped a rheumatology practice better serve their patients through Chronic Care Management.