More than 266 million Americans now shop online, indicating an increase of at least 30 million users since the onset of the pandemic. We've since observed the same trend in the healthcare space: it forced us to understand how crucial digital channels are to patients seeking care. But healthcare organizations aren't progressing as quickly as we might have thought to address this increase in patient activity and expectations.
Why? Well, it would be much easier to find the right provider to treat a unique condition if individuals could search anywhere online (via a search engine, a healthcare website, an app, etc.) and get the right information on the first try. The challenge is that healthcare organizations are selling providers, their specialties, and the provider time (appointment slots) — but no one team within an organization actually owns this information.
Outside of healthcare, other industries have faced very similar problems. For example, over the years:
How did CVS know whether a certain product was in stock?
How did Amazon know if a product was available for online purchase?
How did Delta Airlines know that a plane was fully booked?
How did Capital One know how much money was available in a single ATM?
All of these companies and industries have been forced to adopt sophisticated inventory systems to better answer users questions. As inventory tracking became more agile, precise and digitized, all of these organizations were able to gain a better understanding of product availability, which has ultimately led to a better customer experience. No longer would an organization disappoint a consumer because the company had no idea whether or not an item was available.
The growth and sophistication that took place within these other industries was all about tracking that inventory. In order to track the inventory, the organizations needed to know what they had available to sell. They also needed to understand whether the inventory was available (in real-time) to sell.
In healthcare, there are many parallels. What is a healthcare organization selling? Providers, what they specialize in, and their appointment availability. How does a healthcare organization know whether the provider is available? Well, that's a bigger question than we can answer in one blog post. But let's start here:
Verticals outside of healthcare had to overcome a lot of technical deficits to make converting a customer easier. The healthcare industry is now confronted with the exact same challenges – except the main difference between these other industries and healthcare is that those industries largely don't have "human inventory" with agency over their schedules. So, what can a healthcare organization do to start thinking about how closely related they are to other industries — and tracking available inventory?