Any one that has ever been to a large hospital medical center - or worked at one - understands intuitively the very real and negative impact of poor wayfinding on Patient Experience. Patients and Visitors are already stressed, and the added frustration of getting lost only creates more of it.

We have heard from our clients over and over how a large percentage of the comments in HCAHPS surveys are about problems patients and visitors had with parking, finding their way, not being able to find their car after their appointment is done - and on and on. We also know that over 40% of patients and visitors that enter a hospital get lost! So it is a real problem with big impact.

Patient Experience itself is often perceived as a qualitative area that does not translate into direct cost vs. benefit analysis, however. But that is changing. Healthcare networks across the nation have started to realize in recent years that Patient Experience can and does have a very direct impact on the bottom line.

This study by Accenture provides some great data points and analysis on that. The study concluded, for example, that "hospitals that offer a superior patient experience can expect to achieve 50% higher margins - better than they can achieve by cost cutting alone.

• Read the Accenture study: Patient engagement: Why happy patients mean healthy margins

There are many other streams of ROI that Digital Wayfinding can deliver, including reducing missed and late appointments and improved staff productivity. We will have more to say on that in our next blog. But it is powerful to see how big an impact something as 'fuzzy' as Patient Experience alone can have on the bottom line!