Alliança Saúde Service Journey
About Grupo Alliança
Alliança Saúde is a healthcare group made up of 15 leading brands specializing in diagnostic imaging, laboratory tests, genetic testing, nuclear medicine, and vaccinations. With a presence in 13 Brazilian states, the group operates 116 service units.
In 2022, the company entered a new phase following its acquisition by entrepreneur Nelson Tanure, who assumed majority control. In this new chapter, growth, efficiency, and digital transformation became the company’s main pillars.
As part of this digital shift, a strong focus on digital platforms and the enhancement of digital product experiences has become essential — reducing dependency on third-party providers and improving the overall user experience.
Project Objective
Conduct an in-depth analysis to map all touchpoints along the patient journey. Based on this analysis, I designed improvements grounded in both qualitative and quantitative data. The goal was not only to deliver the best possible user experience but also to identify and leverage business opportunities that would lead to a significant increase in company revenue. This approach enabled a holistic understanding of patients' pain points and needs, paving the way for more effective and integrated solutions.
What Was Done
Phase 1 – External Contextual Analysis: Desk research, benchmarking, internal data analysis
Phase 2 – Internal Contextual Analysis: Interviews with stakeholders and CDB unit representatives
Phase 3 – User Perspective Exploration: Quantitative survey, internal data analysis (NPS), in-depth interviews
Phase 4 – Results Analysis and Delivery of Research Outputs
Phase 1 - External Context Analysis
Understanding the Market Landscape
The analysis of the healthcare market began with an exploration of industry trends and innovative outlooks. Research was conducted on key market players—particularly laboratories and medical clinics—focusing on their use of digital resources such as apps and online services. Following this external analysis, an internal review was carried out by examining documented data collected over the years.
Desk Research:
The desk research focused on analyzing the external context, investigating key trends in the healthcare field and the sector’s outlook for change and innovation. Based on the reviewed content, a summary of the main actionable insights was developed to help guide the identification of future opportunities to be proposed at the end of the project.
Main findings:
-
AI-guided health assistant that optimizes hospital management and patient care.
-
Digital journals powered by AI
-
Simplified wellness tracking
-
Digital coaching and personal goal settings
-
Agility and democratization in health diagnosis
-
Genetic analysis based on artificial intelligence
-
Digital experience for older adults
-
Living with purpose: The public is exploring new ways to live more purposefully, focusing on what truly matters and changing their lifestyles according to their priorities.
-
Optimized interaction between business and customer is a reality and generates value through enhanced shopping experiences.
-
Self-care and individual awareness as a bias for prevention.
-
AI as a process accelerator.
-
Technology that brings health closer - monitoring, telemedicine, among others.
-
Formation of partnerships that use AI as process accelerators and clinical data analysis.
-
Personalized experiences focused on awareness of lifestyle habits and self-care.
Benchmark
Based on extensive research of references stored in the internal repository, focused on the main market competitors, the following were identified:
-
The value proposition of the main market competitors;
-
Understanding of the distinct functionalities and features;
Main findings:
-
The help channel is present throughout the experience journey and is used as support for problem-solving and inquiries.
-
The complete menu, containing the main guidelines for the experience journey, offers users a sense of easy navigation, reference, and security.
-
The health history feature serves more as additional information and a chronological line of exams rather than a diagnostic level.
-
The 360° digital journey presents itself as an agile and secure solution for all participants in the journey (doctor, patient, pharmacy, health plan, pharmaceutical industry) - specific to Memed.
-
The diagnostic experience based on AI is intriguing and sparks curiosity, although it still does not convey the dignity and security of a formal medical consultation.
-
In times of fake news, information grounded in knowledge and formal medical validation is what conveys security.
-
Among laboratories and clinics, the service proposal is the same, differing in terms of: brand value proposition; digital experience journey; level of complexity of the service journey (online and offline); resources and functionalities available in the digital journey.
-
Partnerships aimed at adding value to the digital service, such as Gympass in Sami.
-
The care lines demonstrate a path of interest for connection and continuous follow-up by the user, as in cases of pregnancy, weight loss and nutrition, chronic treatments, mental well-being, physical exercise, etc.
-
Informative reports in easy and explanatory language, directed towards the specialties indicated to address the specific cause.
-
Health agenda - periodic follow-up based on exams and the user's "technical sheet."
-
Connection with laboratories via QR code for automatic loading of results.
-
Possibility to save data in the cloud and not lose any health records - possibility to associate with the SUS card.
-
Gamification of the experience - Health score;
Analysis of internal data:
-
The design team's research repository provided a solid foundation for a deep understanding of the service. The information already collected not only guided the research but was also crucial for building a CSD matrix (Certainties, Assumptions, Doubts). The CSD matrix allowed the research to focus on aspects that needed further validation while confirming well-understood areas and recognizing uncertainties that needed to be explored.
Phase 2 - Internal Contextual Analysis
Conversation with stakeholders and representatives of the CDB units
After gaining knowledge in phase 1, we moved on to phase 2 with the aim of obtaining the perspective of stakeholders and representatives of the units regarding the patient journey, taking into account their viewpoints and specialties in the service.
-
During this process, pain points and opportunities in the patient journey were identified, which were visually represented in insight cards, pain and opportunity cards, as illustrated in the figure below. Each card contains a description, whether of pain, opportunity, or insight, along with evidence that validates the source, as well as tags indicating the related themes. All cards were arranged in a new layout of the service Blueprint.
Phase 3 - Exploring the user perspective
With the service stages already identified and the stakeholders' perceptions mapped, phase 3 focused on obtaining the patient's view of the service, especially in their laboratory journey, identifying challenges, opportunities, and actionable insights.
Strategy
The scenario for the research had some limitations. It was not feasible to visit the laboratory to understand the user's practical context. Additionally, due to the turnaround time for results, recruitment would be from friends and family. To lend more credibility to the findings, a triangulation model of research methods was suggested: analysis of internal data (NPS), quantitative questionnaire, and qualitative interviews.
1. Analysis of internal data
The NPS data was analyzed between the period of July 1 to 15 for the CDB Marselhesa unit, the largest operation of the Alliança group, located in the city of São Paulo.
The objective was to capture the main points of improvement brought by patients according to the evaluation of the Marselhesa unit. In the comments from the analyzed period, more than 300 patient reports about the unit were compiled.
With the NPS, the aspects of greatest impact and in need of exploration observed were: structure, communication, and patient wait time. Based on these three points, a questionnaire was developed to provide greater clarity on the aspects listed in the NPS and to validate generated hypotheses through quantitative data.
2. Quantitative Research
The questionnaire, containing 4 questions, was applied to a sample of 37,184 patients from the CDB Marselhesa unit who underwent tests between April 1 and July 15. The data was extracted from QlikSense, adhering to only one premise: having undergone tests at the CDB Marselhesa laboratory in the last 3 months.
With the aim of providing quantitative data on the main points of improvement from the patient's perspective regarding the three main areas identified in the NPS survey, which are: the laboratory's structure, communication and availability of information, as well as the waiting time for service. To make the questionnaire more precise, the questions were formulated based on hypotheses derived from the areas raised in the NPS.
-
19% of patients express dissatisfaction with the structure of the Unit, but it is not clear which specific aspects.
-
More than 35% of patients feel confused regarding communication in the unit; however, the exact aspects that generate this confusion are not identified.
-
70% of respondents have experienced long waits and show irritation because of it; however, we do not have information on what patients' expectations are regarding waiting time and how we could improve this experience.
3. In-depth interviews
The objective of the structured interview was to understand patients' expectations regarding care and the performance of tests, evaluate the perception of the service and the brand value of CDB, as well as identify possible improvements based on the patient experience.
-
The interview was conducted with 6 patients who had recently undergone tests or had done so repeatedly at CDB units in the metropolitan region of São Paulo. Some points to consider are: the interviews did not cover a diverse sample, encompassing different profiles and a variety of demographic aspects present in our patient base. (All interviewees signed the consent form.)
Pacient A
Pacient B
Pacient C
Phase 4 - Results and deliveries
In total, the results presented were:
-
150 pains
-
57 opportunities
-
16 insights
After analyzing the results, there is an imbalance between the concerns identified from the perspective of patients, stakeholders, and units. While the critical points for patients involve scheduling, technical assistance, and reception service, for stakeholders, the critical points are in scheduling, identification at the reception service, and delivery of results.
To prioritize the pains based on their consequences, evaluation criteria were established. With this knowledge, it is possible to identify which pains should be prioritized according to their importance to the business. The evaluation criteria included service quality, customer service quality, and efficiency. A pain that affected all three criteria was considered high level, one that affected two was medium level, and those that affected only one were low level.
In addition, to assist product teams in identifying areas for improvement, the impacts of each pain were highlighted. The evaluated impacts included response time, wait time, printing costs, operational efficiency, revenue, accessibility, patient experience, and service quality.
Among the 150 mapped pains, the most relevant themes perceived were:
-
service
-
cleaning
-
structure
-
communication
-
choice motivation
-
scheduling
With this perspective, it would also be possible for product teams to visualize which steps to prioritize for future improvements to be implemented.
Opportunities arose from the identified needs. During discussions with stakeholders, some ideas and proposals have already been presented. In the initial exploration phase, some promising possibilities for implementation in the CDB laboratories also emerged, aligned with their business proposal. Lastly, from the patients' perspective, it was also feasible to identify improvement opportunities focused on the experience.
Among the 57 mapped opportunities, the main proposed improvements include:
-
10 operational opportunities
-
5 improvements in the call center service process
-
3 improvements focused on process digitization
-
4 opportunities for agility and reduction in patient wait times
-
3 improvements in the value proposition of the Patient Portal
-
3 improvements in communication and signage within the laboratory premises
Among the most relevant opportunities that can be highlighted due to their high evaluation and impact on revenue, patient experience, and influence on service quality are:
1. Review of the CDB value proposition and brand identity. As a suggestion, the central message of the value proposition can be simplified and clarified so that it is understood by the target audience; education and content that explain the benefits and differentiators of the brand through blogs, webinars, e-books, etc.; collect feedback from patients to understand what they are not comprehending; use stories from the patients themselves and testimonials to illustrate the value proposition in a practical and real way; offer demonstrations and trials so that patients can directly experience the benefits of the service; use different communication channels (social media, email marketing, personalized customer service); ensure that the entire company team understands and knows how to communicate the value proposition; study the competition to understand how they communicate their value proposition.
2. Understanding the personas and their motivations for choice to guide and make marketing campaigns more efficient, create offers and personalized messages that resonate with the real needs and desires of patients, develop new products that meet patients' expectations, improve the patient experience at all touchpoints with the brand, ensure assertive communication aligned with the values and preferences of the personas, and increase loyalty and retention.
3. Proactive management and continuous analysis of evaluation channels such as Reclame Aqui with the aim of monitoring brand reputation, providing direct feedback to patients who use this channel to make their evaluations, resolving issues quickly and the opportunity to turn negative experiences into positive ones, demonstrating transparency and commitment in publicly addressing complaints, gaining insights for improvement, observing how competitors are evaluated on these channels and how they respond to complaints, and patient loyalty by effectively resolving their issues.
To simplify the visualization, research, and understanding of the teams that will analyze the research results, the content has been structured in a spreadsheet that contains all the information.
As a final deliverable, the updated Blueprint composed of all the pain points and opportunities mapped in the service journey has the patient as the central actor.
As next steps, the suggestion is to build a roadmap of projects and actions to be carried out for 2025, based on the material presented. For this, the mentioned teams, product, call center, operations, and units should be involved to participate in the prioritization dynamics focusing on the business objectives and priorities.
Tools and softwares used: Figma, Frombricks, Excel, Google Meet, Qliksense