Understanding how to leverage data to optimize the patient experience has become critical to medical service providers around the world. The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) is responsible for providing over 9 million American veterans with lifelong healthcare services at 170 VA medical centers across the country. Just like any other healthcare provider, the VA is constantly looking to improve the patient experience for its veterans, and one way the department has done that is by enhancing the VA’s feedback capabilities to ensure there is more data available on the patient experience.

IDGA’s VA Healthcare Summit is now in its 19th year and is committed to supporting the VA’s mission, including efforts to improve the patient experience through data. One of the presentations at last year’s event was a panel discussion on patient experience optimization that included Donna Richardson the Customer Experience (CX) Outcomes Supervisor, Tools & Implementation (T&I) Directorate, in the Veterans Experience Office (VEO) as well as Don Prisby, President of Northpoint Advocates. Before the panel discussion, IDGA sat down with Prisby to discuss the value in gathering veteran feedback.

Beyond looking into the uses of data in the patient experience, the 2024 conference also discussed electronic health record systems, digital and mobile healthcare access, and the latest drugs and medical devices improving veteran care.