August 20, 2025 – Duration 00:27:17

S5. Ep.4 Empathy in Action: RedSalud’s innovative approach to CX strategy

When RedSalud, Chile's largest private healthcare provider, recognized the need to offer remote assistance during the pandemic while maintaining empathy and clinical quality, they embarked on a digital transformation that fundamentally changed how they serve patients. In this episode of Level Up CX Tech, we sit down with Juan Neme, Experience and Digital Services Manager at RedSalud, to explore how they reimagined patient access and affordability while maintaining clinical quality, the pivotal role digital channels play, and how intentional design and empathy are shaping patient interactions today.

Transcript

• 00:00 Greg Thomas

  I’m Greg Thomas from Genesys, and welcome to Level Up CX Tech, where we delve into the most pressing issues, opportunities and challenges in customer experience right now, and how you can use CX technology to see real business value.

• 00:14 Michael Logan

  And I’m Michael Logan, and to dive in a little deeper around the value around CX strategies, we’ve invited Juan from RedSalud to talk a little bit more about their migration to Genesys Cloud.

• 00:27 Greg Thomas

  Juan, thank you so much for being here. And to start us off, can you tell us a little bit about RedSalud as an organization and your role there?

• 00:37 Juan Neme

  Thanks for having me. I’m the Experience and Digital Services manager at RedSalud, which is the biggest healthcare provider in Chile. Privately speaking. We have centers all over the country, which is a long country down south, in South America. If you’ve ever visited, you’ve probably seen us everywhere. And we have complex clinic and ambulatory centers, outpatient centers, I think it’s called in English. We have around 60 locations.

• 01:19 Greg Thomas

  So you’re responsible for the patient experience and for digital services at RedSalud. Can you give us a sense of that operation please?

• 01:31 Juan Neme

  For us, it works in a three phase process. We normally care a lot about the problems of our patients, so the first step is knowing what they want, what they need, whether there’s something wrong with our services or the experience itself. After that, then you have to decide which processes you need. So normally what happens is that my team goes from understanding the problem to a diagnosis of our processes. Then we deliver the technology. So what we do is once we understand what is wrong with the processes, then we think about which technology pieces you need to add to it to automate or make it seamless for our patients.

• 02:25 Michael Logan

  What are the patient’s goals at RedSalud? What do you want to accomplish for the organization? What do you want to accomplish or enable for patients in that process?

• 02:39 Juan Neme

  Good question. For us, healthcare is not like an easy industry to be in because our patients are not clients. They are not customers that really want to come to us. Our goals normally go from access. So people are capable to go and see their healthcare needs in a way that it’s easy for them. So you need to provide access and that’s where digitalization comes really handy… We need to have cost efficient processes. So when our patients go to the doctor it’s a seamless, frictionless process. Without losing quality and experience in the process.

• 04:20 Greg Thomas

  You had talked to us in a previous conversation about how you think about translating RedSalud’s values—access, quality, affordability—into how patients interact with your systems. You mentioned over half of your interactions are now digital. How has this shift affected how you operate as a patient services team?

• 05:01 Juan Neme

  It was really a big deal. At first it was a necessity. Because of the pandemic we needed to provide remote assistance to our patients… One of the things we’ve been understanding lately is our digital experience is something you can design to provide the values of the company as well… There’s a downside too—when things go wrong digitally, we need a seamless switch to an agent. That’s where the contact center becomes critical.

• 07:28 Greg Thomas

  When you first moved to digital channels out of necessity during the pandemic, how did you decide where to start?

• 08:05 Juan Neme

  You start with the problem—something easy, but meaningful. We began with scheduling MRIs and ultrasounds. They were simple enough and had low clinical risk… Eventually, patients wanted more. They didn’t just want to schedule one exam—they wanted a fully digital journey. That guided our expansion.

• 10:16 Michael Logan

  What are the benefits you’ve seen, and how do you measure success from these digital initiatives?

• 10:35 Juan Neme

  Experience is hard to measure, but you need to relate results to money to keep stakeholders engaged. For us, digitalization improved access, increased our patient base, and repeat bookings. We saw unique patient numbers grow and booking frequency increase. And yes, we translated that to money—it helped protect our budget and justify investment.

• 12:53 Greg Thomas

  So that’s the money side of it—the cost to serve and delivering on the business needs. But you also talked about wanting these journeys to feel frictionless and empathetic, and to reflect your company’s values. Some healthcare interactions are transactional, others are emotional. How do you think about meeting patients in the right channels and showing empathy?

• 13:58 Juan Neme

  That’s a hard one. We have three main digital channels: a public scheduling system on our website, a private platform called MiRedSalud, and WhatsApp. I treat them like employees—they each have a job description. For example, we won’t post sensitive info on the public website, even if it’s not illegal. For private conversations, we use MiRedSalud. WhatsApp feels private, even though it’s not password protected. You need to match the job to the channel. If you tell a cancer patient there’s no help, you better do that in a way that’s sensitive. It’s not just about the law—it’s about respect and trust.

• 16:24 Greg Thomas

  Right.

• 16:24 Juan Neme

  If you’re delivering exam results, that should be in a secure, login-based platform. That’s how we maintain good CX across different digital channels. And UX plays a role too—you have to design processes that feel intuitive and supportive.

• 16:53 Greg Thomas

  I love the way you described each channel as having a job description. CX leaders often think about omnichannel delivery, but there needs to be intentionality. What is the purpose of each channel, and why does it exist?

• 17:26 Juan Neme

  It’s really easy to get lost. Some folks push for high “contactability”—how many people reply on each channel. But you need to ask: Is this the right message for this channel? Patients understand each channel has a purpose. If you misuse it, they’ll block you. Just like we all ignore emails from retailers who over-message us, patients will disengage if we violate those expectations.

• 18:55 Michael Logan

  That’s true—we all get email overload. Let me shift gears slightly. Have you seen how this digital transformation has affected your staff—especially advisors? Any changes in their satisfaction?

• 19:22 Juan Neme

  We haven’t measured advisor satisfaction directly, but we’ve seen big improvements in scheduling system satisfaction. And operational staff noticed the benefits, especially during high-demand periods like flu vaccine season. During COVID, we didn’t have a system in place, and people flooded our locations. With digital scheduling, we could communicate vaccine availability clearly. It helped manage expectations and reduced pressure on our frontline teams.

• 22:00 Michael Logan

  Absolutely. That’s a great example of responding with empathy during high-stress situations.

• 22:15 Greg Thomas

  So Juan, what comes next? What are the next goals for this digital patient experience journey you’re on?

• 22:30 Juan Neme

  AI, of course. But not as a goal—more like a tool. I’ve been to global events, and people are increasingly talking about CX in the context of AI. We’re starting to solve problems that used to seem impossible. AI changes how we think about processes. We want to use it for cost-efficient, high-quality experiences. We also want consistency—across our 60+ locations. That’s a major challenge. Different cities, different circumstances, but we want the same brand experience everywhere.

• 24:52 Michael Logan

  I think your challenges are very relatable to others listening—especially as we all explore what AI can really do. What advice would you have for people watching? What have you learned about testing and failing your way toward better CX?

• 25:11 Juan Neme

  I like to say I’m a failure—in a good way. I fail a lot, every day. When you’re working on digital services and CX, don’t ask “how can I do this?”—ask “how can I fail fast and learn from it?” Try things. Run experiments. Control risk, but move quickly. The organizations that learn fastest win. Your customers will feel it, and they’ll value that. Don’t over-analyze. Test, fail, learn—and improve.

• 26:47 Greg Thomas

  I love that. Well said. Juan, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing your experience and strategies. Thank you to the audience for tuning in. If you liked this podcast, please subscribe to get the next episode in your feed. And visit Genesys.com to learn more about how you can level up your CX. Until next time, thanks for listening to Level Up CX Tech.