Patient Experience Manager Career Guide
How to Become a Patient Experience Manager
Patients often experience difficulty before, during, and after receiving the treatment they need. Treatment complications and costs, ongoing anxiety, and other concerns can all prevent the peace of mind that each patient deserves when visiting a healthcare organization. Patient experience managers help to ease these and other concerns, promoting an informed, stress-free experience for all patients.
As a patient experience manager, you’ll help healthcare organizations address patient needs as they arise. You’ll take the time to communicate with patients and accurately assess their tangible and intangible needs. Often in tandem with other organizational departments, you’ll take steps to help satisfy these needs and answer any questions a patient might have along the way.
If you’re looking to put a knowledge of treatment modalities to use, while advocating for high levels of patient care in a healthcare environment, the role of a patient experience manager can offer a rewarding career option.
What Is a Patient Experience Manager?
A patient experience manager helps to satisfy a full range of patient needs. They can inform the patient’s understanding of treatment programs, help patients prepare for therapy, and even communicate with care providers to brief them on a patient’s concerns, hesitations, or treatment needs.
Depending on the size of the healthcare organization, a patient experience manager can also sometimes be known as a patient experience director, patient experience liaison, or patient experience officer. No matter the title, the duties of a patient experience manager are still focused on improving patient outcomes.
The role of a patient experience manager is a specialized career option. As a result, you’ll likely need to obtain both an undergraduate and a master’s degree before employers will consider you for hire. Some employers also prefer that applicants gain at least a few years of experience in a healthcare organization, preferably in a patient experience role.
What Does a Patient Experience Manager Do?
Each day, a patient experience manager will handle a variety of different responsibilities. On some days, patient experience managers might spend time communicating directly with patients and their care providers. On other days, they might spend hours creating treatment plans, reporting on patient progress, or implementing patient-related programs across a healthcare organization.
The exact responsibilities of a patient experience manager can include:
- Managing all aspects of a patient’s experience, both concerning their treatment and their overall stay at your healthcare facility.
- Communicating with patients to determine their needs and identify a path toward treatment and progress.
- Empathizing with patient concerns on their path toward recovery, and helping them take steps to replace anxiety with peace of mind.
- Corresponding with care providers like doctors and nurses, to familiarize them with individual patient needs and preferences.
- Implementing patient-focused programs in a healthcare environment.
- Generating and delivering reports on patient progress, setbacks, and overall status.
- Working with other healthcare team members to address patient needs as part of their daily processes.
These and other responsibilities make a patient experience manager a valuable asset in virtually any healthcare setting as they work to directly improve patient mood and care quality.
What Education Does a Patient Experience Manager Need?
In order to move into this management position at a healthcare facility, there are some specific educational requirements you’ll need to meet. After you complete your undergraduate degree in a field such as health and human services, you’ll need to obtain a master’s degree in healthcare administration or an MBA in healthcare management.
In these types of degree programs, you'll learn about the business aspects of healthcare and discover how to work within that healthcare setting to provide the best possible experience. Communication, strategy, budgeting, and more are all part of these degree programs. They will leave you with the skills and experience you need to be successful in a role as a patient experience manager. When determining the right healthcare leadership degree for you, consider your desired role.
Health and Human Services – B.S.
An online health degree program for students who are committed...
An online health degree program for students who...
An online health degree program for students who are committed to making a difference for patients in a variety of ways.
- Time: 95% of students finish similar programs faster than the traditional 4 years.
- Tuition and fees: $3,650 per 6-month term, plus a one-time Health Professions Student Fee of $350.
Sample careers and jobs this degree will prepare you for:
- Care coordinator
- Patient advocate
- Health services coordinator
- Patient educator
- Community health educator
This degree allows you to work inside the healthcare industry, while also directly working with patients who need help.
College of Health Professions
MBA Healthcare Management
Prepare for a career leading private or public healthcare...
Prepare for a career leading private or public...
Prepare for a career leading private or public healthcare organizations.
- Time: Graduates can finish within 12 months.
- Tuition: $4,530 per 6-month term.
Some careers and jobs this business degree will prepare you for:
- President and CEO
- Vice president
- Administrative director
- Chief financial officer
- Other executive-level roles
Healthcare is big business in today's complex economy. Steer your career with this specialty MBA.
Compare online business degrees
This program is not the only online business degree WGU offers that is designed to create leaders in the field of healthcare. Compare our health leadership degrees by clicking the button below.
College of Business
Master of Healthcare Administration
A master's focused on managing comprehensive, value-based care,...
A master's focused on managing comprehensive,...
A master's focused on managing comprehensive, value-based care, directly in line with innovations in health and healthcare.
- Time: 78% of grads finish within 18-24 months.
- Tuition and fees: $4,240 per 6-month term.
Examples of careers and jobs this degree will prepare you for:
- Managed care executive
- Director of integrated care management
- Health center manager/clinic manager
- Director of integrated facilities
Your rich experience in a health-related field can mean more when you bring a master's level of understanding to the problems that organizations need to solve.
Compare degrees
This program is not the only degree WGU offers designed to create leaders in the field of healthcare. Compare our health leadership degrees by clicking the button below.
College of Health Professions
Our Online University Degree Programs Start on the First of Every Month, All Year Long
No need to wait for spring or fall semester. It's back-to-school time at WGU year-round. Get started by talking to an Enrollment Counselor today, and you'll be on your way to realizing your dream of a bachelor's or master's degree—sooner than you might think!
What Skills Does a Patient Experience Manager Need?
As a patient experience manager, you will depend on a variety of skills each day. Whether coordinating a patient’s treatment plans or ensuring compliance with healthcare policies, you’ll depend on a developed skillset every time you step into a healthcare environment.
The skills a patient experience manager needs can include:
- Patient management. The ability to foster a safe, comfortable experience for all patients, as they receive treatment in a controlled healthcare setting.
- Interpersonal communication. The ability to correspond effectively with care providers, organizational executives, patients, patient family members, and other patient experience managers.
- Compliance. The ability to adhere to all local, state, and federal healthcare regulations during operations.
- Data reporting. The ability to relay useful data to executives and other company representatives in user-friendly reports that allow them to improve operations.
- Technological proficiency. The ability to fully use all required pieces of technology, including any computers, tablets, phones, medical devices, and online platforms.
- Empathy. The ability to share a patient’s concerns, answer patient questions and make care providers aware of any patient hesitations to treatment.
- Problem-solving. The ability to identify and solve issues that patients might face in a healthcare environment.
- Teamwork. The ability to work alongside other members of a healthcare organization to facilitate successful patient treatment programs.
These and other skills help patient experience managers to connect with and assist patients visiting a healthcare facility.
How Much Does a Patient Experience Manager Make?
$90,121
The exact income of a patient experience manager can vary based on several factors, including your employer, employer’s location, employer’s public or private healthcare funding, years of experience, and education. On average, the salary of a patient experience manager is $90,121, with a range of roughly $71,417 to $103,532 earned each year.
What Is the Projected Job Growth?
32%
The job outlook for patient experience managers is expected to remain positive over the next decade. From 2019 to 2029, employment for all medical and health services managers is forecasted to grow 32%, a growth rate much faster than the projected average across all occupations.
Where Do Patient Experience Managers Work?
Varies
Patient experience managers can work in a variety of locations. In larger healthcare settings, a patient experience manager might work with various members of a healthcare department to facilitate positive and comfortable patient stays. In smaller environments they might work in isolation or with fewer team members to accomplish similar goals.
As a patient experience manager, you might work in some of the following locations:
-Inpatient or partial hospitalization facilities
-Outpatient facilities
-Nursing homes or assisted living centers
-Hospitals
-Emergency or urgent care clinics
-Private physicians’ offices
Patient Experience Manager FAQs
How do you define patient experience?
Patient experience includes every interaction between a patient and a healthcare system including staff, doctors and nurses, administration and so on.
Who is responsible for patient experience?
While everyone in the health organization is responsible on some level for patient experience, the patient experience efforts of the organization may be lead by a patient experience manager or chief experience officer.
What does a patient experience manager do?
A patient experience manager is in charge of developing, managing and evaluating patient experience activities in hospitals, clinics, or other medical facilities with the goal of improving patient satisfaction at their facility.
How much does a patient experience manager make?
The salary of a patient experience manager ranges from about $71.417 - $103,532 with an average salary of $90,121.
How do you provide good patient experience?
There are many factors in patient experience, including quality care from an empathetic and pleasant staff, a fast and efficient scheduling process, short wait times, a well-cared for facility, and more. In order to provide a good patient experience, an organization must be sure to provide services in a way that benefits the patient and meets their needs and expectations. This is known as a patient first approach.