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In 2016 we wrote about what healthcare could learn from Starbucks.
At the time, the idea felt almost aspirational. Starbucks had transformed routine transactions into something so easy and seamless, overhauling the traditional way customers expect to order and pick up their coffee. Healthcare, by contrast, struggled to deliver an experience patients looked forward to, even when the care itself was excellent.
The argument was not that healthcare should feel casual or transactional, it was that patients, like all consumers, respond to convenience, clarity, and respect for their time. And whether healthcare liked it or not, those expectations were already shaping how patients chose their providers.
In the years since, most of the industry has come to agree with that premise. Patient experience matters. Engagement matters. Access matters.
What proved harder was execution.
Starbucks kept removing friction
Starbucks did not stop evolving once it built loyalty. It kept refining how customers moved through the experience.
Ordering no longer requires standing in line. Payment often happens before a customer walks through the door. Baristas spend less time processing transactions and more time focusing on service. The experience feels predictable, even at scale.
Starbucks did not achieve this by asking customers to be more patient. It achieved it by redesigning the system so patience was no longer required.
This distinction matters.
Healthcare faces different constraints, but patients now expect the same kind of progress. Not luxury. Not shortcuts. Just fewer unnecessary steps between need and resolution.
Patient experience now begins before the visit
In healthcare today, experience no longer starts at check-in. It starts when a patient tries to contact a practice for the first time.
Calling a medical office remains one of the most common entry points into care. Yet phones have quickly become one of the biggest sources of frustration. Calls wind through phone trees. Voicemail fills up. Hold times stretch. Front desk teams do their best, but demand keeps rising.
When access feels difficult, trust erodes early. Long before a provider enters the room, a patient has already formed an opinion.
This is the modern equivalent of standing in a long line.
The front desk became the bottleneck
In retail, checkout used to be the limiting factor. No matter how good the product, long lines defined the experience.
Healthcare faces a similar problem. The front desk and phone system now function as the checkout counter for care. Much of the work flowing through these channels is predictable and repeatable: scheduling requests, after-hours questions, referral checks, refill requests.
Yet these tasks still depend heavily on people answering phones in real time, creating phone stress.
As patient volume increases and staffing grows tighter, that model becomes harder to sustain. The result is not just operational strain and staff burnout, but a degraded patient experience.
Technology finally caught up to the idea
Back in 2016, many of the right ideas existed. The tools simply did not.
Patient portals promised engagement but often added friction. Phone systems handled volume but not nuance. Practices were told to improve experience without being given realistic ways to do so.
That gap has narrowed.
Today, healthcare has access to tools that actually remove friction instead of shifting it elsewhere. Secure text messaging meets patients where they already communicate. AI agents handle routine requests consistently. Intelligent routing ensures issues reach the right team.
These tools do not replace staff. They protect staff time, reduce burnout, and create space for better care.
AI agents are the mobile ordering of healthcare
Best handled by automation
- Scheduling and rescheduling
- After-hours intake and routing
- Status checks and common questions
- Prescription refill requests
Best handled by staff
- Clinical decisions and triage
- Sensitive conversations
- Complex or unusual requests
- Situations that require judgment and empathy
In this way, AI agents play the same role mobile ordering played for Starbucks.
They handle the routine, manual work that once created long lines. They answer common questions, manage scheduling changes, collect information, and route requests based on intent. The line does not disappear entirely, but far fewer people have to stand in it.
With AI voice and text agents, patients receive faster responses and clearer next steps. Sophisticated purpose-built agents complete routine work while routing to the right staff member when judgment, empathy, and clinical expertise are required.
The experience becomes more predictable. More convenient. More scalable.
Consistency matters as much as speed
Starbucks earned loyalty not simply because of speed, but also reliability. Ordering was predictable, quick and easy. Healthcare often breaks down in quieter ways. Messages lose context. Requests move between teams without clear ownership. Follow-ups take longer than expected. Patients are left unsure of what happens next, even when everyone involved is well intentioned.
When communication has structure and accountability, experience becomes more consistent. And in healthcare, consistency is often what patients trust most.
Patient experience is no longer abstract
In 2026, patient experience is no longer something discussed in theory or deferred to marketing language. It shows up in daily operations, in small moments that either build confidence or quietly erode it.
Patients experience care through access. Through how easily they can reach someone, how clearly they are guided, and how confident they feel that their request will be handled. These moments shape trust just as much as what happens in the exam room.
Starbucks did not build loyalty by asking customers to accept friction. It paid attention to where the experience broke down and redesigned those systems. The result was not just speed, but confidence in what would happen next.
Healthcare now finds itself at a similar moment.
Final thoughts
In 2016 we asked whether healthcare could learn from consumer brands. Now, we should be asking ourselves what else can healthcare learn from consumer brands?
What has changed is the distance between intention and execution. The tools that once felt out of reach are now available, and the pressure to use them well is no longer abstract.
In the age of AI, healthcare has a chance to change its approach to the patient experience. Patient experience no longer lives only in philosophy. It lives in access, response, and follow-through. And like Starbucks learned years ago, when experience gets easier, trust follows.
FAQs
What does patient experience mean in healthcare today?
Patient experience shows up long before a visit begins. It is shaped by access, responsiveness, and follow-through – the small moments that help patients feel confident they will be taken care of.
Why compare healthcare to Starbucks?
The comparison is not about simplifying care. It is about reducing friction. Starbucks focused on consistency, clarity, and respect for time. Healthcare faces different challenges, but patients respond to those same principles.
Has technology changed patient expectations?
Yes. As everyday services became easier to access, expectations shifted. Patients now expect healthcare communication to feel just as clear and reliable as the tools they use elsewhere in their lives.
What role do AI agents play in patient communication?
AI agents help manage routine communication and create clearer pathways for patients, while leaving complex and sensitive interactions in human hands.
Where do practices typically see the most improvement first?
Access points like after-hours calls, scheduling requests, and follow-up communication are often where changes are felt most quickly.
Which AI agents will help me improve my call center and patient experience?
The best AI agents to start with are the ones that remove the most repetitive call volume without changing how your team works. For most practices, that means beginning with an AI voice assistant layered on top of the existing phone flow to answer routine calls, capture patient information, and route urgent or complex issues to staff.
About Nia powered by OhMD
Nia, OhMD’s voice AI and text assistant, helps handle routine patient requests such as scheduling, after-hours calls, and common questions while involving staff whenever a conversation requires judgment or empathy. Instead of replacing the front desk, it supports the team by reducing hold times, voicemail, and phone tag, and by keeping both AI and human conversations organized in one place across phone, text, and web.
The goal is simple: faster responses for patients and clearer next steps, without losing the human connection that defines good care.
Talk to an AI expert
Learn more about AI-powered patient communication and explore how automated intake works.
