• by Tanya Gazdik , August 28, 2018

Maintaining consumer loyalty is a huge indicator of the future success of hospitals, specifically how to preserve and improve patient experiences, according to a study by NRC Health.

The survey reveals the top 100 hospitals in the United States based on consumer loyalty.

“On an individual level, assessing the health of their customer relationships against the seven aspects of the Loyalty Index illuminates opportunities for improvement throughout the totality of the customer experience with their brand,” Brian Wynne, NRC Health vice president and general manager, tells Marketing Daily.

The Consumer Loyalty Awards have created community around loyalty in healthcare, he adds. 

“This list brings to light over 100 case examples of organizations leading the charge in designing for consumer loyalty,” he says. “Healthcare marketers now have somewhere to look for validated inspiration on the ‘how’ of loyalty.”

While hospitals in the top 100 scored exceptionally high in categories like access (how easy it is for consumers to access their services) and motivation (how strongly consumers feel about using a particular hospital's services versus its competitors) scores in the patient engagement category remain  comparatively low. As patients increasingly view their healthcare through a consumer lens, hospitals must find ways to keep up with those expectations.

CHI Memorial Hospital Chattanooga earned the number one ranking on the inaugural consumer loyalty list. Ninety percent of hospitals in the top 100 are part of larger networks; however, only 11 systems had multiple hospitals in the top 100.

Regardless, the majority of the winners were primarily hospital-based or flagship facilities, meaning patients experienced a healthcare brand at the facility level, often without even being aware they were part of a larger network. With nearly 40% of consumers reporting it makes no difference whether a hospital is part of a healthcare system, it’s clear that consumers are less concerned with a hospital’s affiliation, so long as they receive premier treatment, according to the survey.

“We expected a lot of the more recognizable names to make our inaugural loyalty-based list, but we were pleasantly surprised to see a good mix of facilities represented across the country, including community hospitals in smaller markets,” Wynne says.

Among the 71% of provider organizations citing patient engagement as a top priority is McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, South Carolina. The facility earned the top honor for patient engagement.

To qualify for the awards, a hospital must receive at least 150 Top of Mind mentions on the Market Insights Internet-based survey, which measures the opinions, behaviors, and profiles of more than 300,000 consumers annually in more than 300 markets across the U.S.  Results are weighted to account for age, income, population, presence of children in the household, marital status, and ethnicity to ensure an accurate demographic distribution.