Turning Patient Experience Into Meaningful Change

In this episode of Humanizing Healthcare, Chris Malone talks with Steve Meth, Vice President and Chief Patient Experience Officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine, about how healthcare organizations can listen more effectively to patients and families and turn those insights into meaningful improvements in care.

Steve’s path to patient experience began with seeing firsthand what can happen when communication, coordination and trust break down. Those experiences ultimately led him from law into healthcare, where he has spent his career working to prevent harm and strengthen connections among patients, families and clinicians.

Steve shares how Johns Hopkins Medicine is taking a long-term approach to patient experience, including simulation-based learning that helps clinicians practice difficult patient encounters, virtual patient and family advisors who broaden the voices represented in improvement efforts, and post-discharge calls that help identify potential care issues while bringing patients’ actual voices into the organization.

The conversation also explores how patient experience, patient safety and employee engagement reinforce one another; how technology can support stronger relationships; and why sustainable improvement requires patience, data, listening and a willingness to keep learning.

Key Takeaways

02:49 How Steve Meth Found His Path Into Patient Experience

06:43 Why Sustainable Change Requires Long-Term Thinking

10:52 Building a Long-Term Patient Experience Strategy at Johns Hopkins

13:25 Why Clinicians Need Coaches, Too

18:18 Expanding Who Gets Heard Through Patient and Family Advisors

20:26 Using AI to Turn Patient Feedback Into Action

20:52 The Power of Calling Patients After Discharge