Building a Business Case for Healthcare Digital Experience

The Cost of Not Optimizing Security and Digital Experience

Cybersecurity costs are rising. In 2024 alone, The OCR reported 720 incidents, impacting 186 million people.²  The average cost of a healthcare data breach is $9.3 million per incident, or $408 per stolen record.³  In addition there’s a cost of lost productivity, reputational damage, regulatory fines and the increasing cost of cyber insurance.

Meanwhile, traditional engagement methods like phone calls require more resources. A single phone interaction can cost up to 80 times more than a digital engagement.⁴  Also, in an Accenture survey⁵, 52% of healthcare consumers agreed that a bad digital experience with a provider ruins the entire experience with that provider.⁶  Patient acquisition costs more than retention.

What’s Inside the Ebook?

Strategic Cost Reduction Starts With Smarter Engagement

Healthcare organizations are under pressure to do more with less. An optimized digital experience helps your organization gain efficiencies like:

• Freeing up staff time for higher-value tasks
• Improve consumer satisfaction and retention
• Lowering cybersecurity costs through proactive risk management

And when consumers engage more with your digital tools, they’re more likely to manage their health proactively, leading to better health outcomes and lower medical costs.

Revisit, Reassess and Realign for Ongoing Success

Maybe you don’t feel the need to build a business case. It’s easy for healthcare organizations to feel confident once a digital strategy is in place, especially if initial metrics looked strong. But the reality is that consumer expectations, security threats and cost structures evolve rapidly. What worked last year may not deliver the same ROI today. That’s why it’s critical to revisit your objectives, goals and financial assumptions regularly.

Start by reviewing engagement metrics, security incident report and cost trends. Has portal utilization grown as expected? Are cybersecurity costs stable or increasing? Even small shifts can erode ROI over time. A periodic reassessment ensures your balance between digital experience and security remains optimized and that no hidden friction is driving consumers away.

Examples of reassessment benefits include:

• Identifying new cost-saving opportunities such as automating appointment scheduling or prescription refills
• Adopting emerging identity verification solutions for healthcare that may help you further optimize the balance between security and digital experience
• Improving retention strategies by analyzing churn data linked to poor digital experiences
• Enhancing patient engagement through new portal features

By taking a proactive approach, you are continuously improving your operations, optimizing ROI and possibly increasing retention, lower risk exposure and improving consumer trust.

The Right Security to Support Digital Experience

Many believe that security and experience are at odds. However, today, identity verification solutions for healthcare can deliver near-frictionless authentication while protecting sensitive data. Passive technologies like behavioral biometrics, device ID and IP analysis (digital identity) allow you to verify users without them realizing it.

The ebook explores how to match these solutions to your organization’s risk profile, so you can stop cybercriminals at your digital front door while welcoming trusted consumers with a smooth, secure experience.

Why You Need a Business Case for Digital Transformation

Digital transformation doesn’t happen by accident. It requires buy-in from leadership, alignment across departments and a clear understanding of the costs and benefits. That’s why a strong business case is essential.

Whether you’re a digital experience leader, a data security strategist or a healthcare executive, this ebook gives you the tools to:

• Speak the language of ROI and strategic value
• Justify investment in digital tools and security infrastructure
• Build consensus across your organization
• Drive measurable improvements in engagement, retention and outcomes

Ready to Build Your Digital Experience Business Case?

Key Takeaways:

• There is a cost to not prioritizing both digital experience and security. It's important for you to look at costs closely. 
• Insufficient security costs. The cost of a data breach is manifold: fines, remediation costs and customer retention. After a breach, some payers have experienced lower enrollments. Cost estimates for acquiring a new customer range from 5-25 times the cost of retaining an existing customer.⁴ No matter 5 or 25 times, it’s too high.
• A positive digital experience can affect health outcomes. Some studies have found that health portal use is associated with improved outcomes for patient with chronic diseases.⁵
• A positive digital experience can improve operational efficiencies. The cost of a live chat or phone call is 80x more expensive than mobile app or website costs.⁶ A positive digital experience encourages users to be online not on a call.
• Stakeholders expect you to produce numbers and ROI for a digital experience investment. Step 4 of building a business case is to determine your ROI. Download this ebook to learn how to make your case in just 5 steps.

References:

1. Top Website Statistics for 2023 – Forbes Advisor   7 Eye-Opening Website Statistics [Updated for 2023] (sweor.com)
2. 25+ Alarming Largest Healthcare Data Breaches Statistics 2023 (techjury.net)
3. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2799961
4. Customer Acquisition vs Retention Cost – Statistics & Trend, Business Dasher, https://www.businessdasher.com/customer-acquisition-vs-retention-cost/
5. Using Patient Portals to Improve Patient Outcomes: Systematic Review, PubMed Central, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6940868/
6. Gartner Says Only 9% of Customers Report Solving Their Issues Completely via Self-Service, Gartner, https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-09-25-gartner-says-only-9--of-customers-report-solving-thei