I recently sat down with Theresa Rich, senior healthcare strategist at Perficient, to discuss how she works to provide value to our healthcare clients. We discussed what makes her work important and the things she values about her colleagues. I loved learning about why she decided to return to healthcare consulting after several years of working in big tech, and I’m sure you will too.
Theresa, thank you for joining me today. I’d love to start with hearing a little about the daily requirements of your role. How do you impact the people we serve in this role?
I’m a senior healthcare strategist on the healthcare consumer experience team.
In a nutshell, this means I help healthcare organizations—hospitals, systems, etc.—develop strategies to provide better digital experiences for their patients, providers, and other customers.
Theresa volunteering at a therapeutic riding program
In my work, there’s a great deal of variety and opportunity to connect directly with the people we serve. For example, I frequently interview patients and physicians to learn about their expectations, motivations, challenges, and fears as they navigate their personal experiences within the healthcare system. These research insights inform the creation of detailed personas and journey maps, which then inform:
- Design
- Information architecture
- Content optimization
- Technology implementations
- And even aspects of operational and clinical workflows and processes
A typical day involves quite a few meetings, but they’re a necessary part of leading and working on collaborative teams and projects. I also tend to work on projects that involve complementary capabilities from other parts of the business, so there’s always an opportunity to partner and connect with people across the company.
EXPLORE NOW: Perficient Giving, Employee Resource Group
Why did you choose a career at Perficient? What about your job motivates you in your everyday work?
A former employer of mine was a client of Perficient’s. This made me aware of and impressed by the talent, dedication, and integrity with which they operated. It’s a great feeling to be part of an organization that provides such high levels of service and quality.
There’s nothing like a global pandemic to make you seriously evaluate your life choices. After several years in big tech, I was eager to return to my healthcare roots. And this role was a perfect fit.
I stay because I feel proud of what we do, and I love working with compassionate and creative people.
LEARN MORE: Perficient Promises to Challenge, Champion, and Celebrate Our People.
What do you value most about your team at Perficient? Why is the work this team does important?
The leadership on my team at Perficient is phenomenal. It was one of my deciding factors in joining Perficient. Each member of our team has worked directly in healthcare in some capacity. Given how challenging the industry is, it’s a safe assumption that no one accidentally ends up in healthcare consulting! We’re in this domain because we’re passionate about it. We see a profound need for change, and we want to be part of it.
My role gives me the opportunity to help companies put themselves in their patients’ shoes.
This, in turn, helps us develop solutions that make difficult life situations—like finding a pediatric cancer specialist, navigating a scary diagnosis, or figuring out how to pay those medical bills—just a little bit simpler, and hopefully a bit more human.
How should diversity and inclusion be promoted in an organization? How does our global digital consultancy measure up to these standards?
To me, embracing diversity and inclusion isn’t about social media posts and hashtags (though those can be useful for raising awareness and, ideally, a path towards action.) Rather, it’s about openness and thoughtfulness across all personal and professional interactions.
It’s imperative that we challenge ourselves to consider potential implicit biases and ways of thinking.
At Perficient, I’ve noticed leadership takes an active role in crafting an inclusive environment, which naturally enables a healthier corporate culture. This also helps us effectively serve the diverse needs of our clients.
READ MORE: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) in Healthcare
Healthcare Leaders Turn to Us
Our healthcare practice is comprised of experts who understand the unique challenges facing the industry. The 10 largest health systems and 10 largest health insurers in the U.S. have counted on us to support their end-to-end digital success. Modern Healthcare has also recognized us as the fifth-largest healthcare IT consulting firm.
We bring pragmatic, strategically-grounded know-how to our clients’ initiatives. And our work gets attention – not only by industry groups that recognize and award our work but also by top technology partners that know our teams will reliably deliver complex, game-changing implementations. Most importantly, our clients demonstrate their trust in us by partnering with us again and again. We are incredibly proud of our 90% repeat business rate because it represents the trust and collaborative culture that we work so hard to build every day within our teams and with every client.
With more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Perficient is a trusted, end-to-end, global digital consultancy.
It’s no secret our success is because of our people. No matter the technology or time zone, our colleagues are committed to delivering innovative, end-to-end digital solutions for the world’s biggest brands, and we bring a collaborative spirit to every interaction. We’re always seeking the best and brightest to work with us. Join our team and experience a culture that challenges, champions, and celebrates our people.
Learn more about what it’s like to work at Perficient at our Careers page.
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