The global healthcare sector has entered a period of profound structural recalibration. Industry analysts call it a "gathering storm" of financial constraint and operational volatility.

But if you work in the C-suite, the contact center, or on the front lines of patient experience, you don't need an analyst to tell you that.

You feel it every day.

Margins are compressing. Workforce shortages are chronic. And the patients? They aren't just patients anymore. They are consumers with rising expectations and decreasing patience for friction.

For the last decade, we've been operating from a specific playbook:

That playbook is broken.

It's not just obsolete. It's dangerous to your organization's financial health. Because here's what the old playbook misses entirely:

Hospital survival requires profitability. That's not cynical. It's reality. Without healthy margins, you can't invest in care, retain staff, or serve your community.

Profitability requires patients who do two things:

Patients do both when they trust you.

Trust isn't soft. Trust isn't a "nice-to-have."

Trust is the mechanism that drives retention, adherence, and margins.

The data backs this up. According to Deloitte research, hospitals with consistently excellent patient experience ratings achieve an average net margin of 4.7%, compared to just 1.8% for lower-rated facilities.

That's a 2.6x profitability advantage.

And for a $2 billion health system, a.

But here's what most executives miss:

Trust isn't built through amenities, patient portals, or satisfaction surveys. Trust is built when patients feel seen, heard, and understood.

That's operational. That's measurable. And that's where the contact center becomes your highest-leverage intervention point.

It's peak season, so volume's about to spike. Most teams either hire temps (expensive) or burn out their people (worse). See what smarter teams do: let AI handle predictable volume so your humans stay great.

Check your options

This isn't just professional for me. It's personal.

My aunt Shadidi was a force of nature. Strong, independent, fiercely protective of her family. She was also deeply distrustful of the healthcare system.

When she started experiencing symptoms that could have been treated if caught early, she didn't call anyone. She didn't schedule an appointment. She didn't reach out for help.

By the time her condition became impossible to ignore, it was too late.

Fear and distrust cost her life.

My father-in-law is facing cancer right now. We're having conversations about funeral plans. Not because treatment isn't available. Because he doesn't trust the system enough to pursue it.

I've navigated the system myself through five surgeries. I've experienced what it feels like to be a case number instead of a person. To repeat my story three times before anyone helps. To feel invisible.

These experiences aren't unique to my family. Millions of patients, especially in Black and brown communities, don't trust the healthcare system. Generations of being dismissed, undertreated, and harmed have taught them that the system isn't built for them.

This is why I spent 20+ years in healthcare CX. This is why I write this newsletter. This is why I consult with health systems on patient experience transformation.

Because trust isn't just the right thing to build. It's the profitable thing to build.

Over the coming weeks and months, we're going to explore six pillars that will define the winners of the next decade. Each one is unified by a single question: Does this build patient trust?

We will stop looking at call centers as costs to be cut. Instead, we will build Patient Experience Hubs where trust is either built or broken with every interaction. A single abandoned call can represent $45,000 per day in lost revenue. But more importantly, it represents a patient who chose a competitor because your system wasn't there when they needed you.

"Satisfaction" is a lagging indicator that fails to predict trust. We're moving toward Longitudinal Loyalty and Share of Wallet. A loyal patient is worth three times more than a satisfied one. They stay loyal because they trust you, not because you scored well on a survey.

Inequity is expensive. It costs the U.S. healthcare system $320 billion annually. Organizations that embrace cultural competency as a competitive advantage (not a compliance checkbox) will outperform. They'll capture underserved markets, reduce costly readmissions, and build the trust that marginalized communities have every reason to withhold.

95% of enterprise AI projects fail. Why? They automate tasks without thinking about trust. The winning approach: use AI to remove the administrative friction that prevents clinicians and agents from being fully present. Automation that saves 66 minutes per day restores human connection. It doesn't replace it.

Patients are tired of "surviving the process." Trust is built through proactivity. Reaching out before they have to chase you. Solving problems before they know they have them. This is Anticipatory Care, and it requires connected systems that enable consistency across every touchpoint.

Finally, we'll prove the value. We'll use Value on Investment (VOI) frameworks that speak the CFO's language. Proving that "soft" experience initiatives deliver "hard" financial returns. Because trust isn't soft. It's the most important line item on your P&L.

If you're a CFO: Stop treating patient experience as a "soft" metric. The 4.7% margin advantage is real, and 93% of it comes from operational efficiency and market loyalty, not VBP bonuses. Build a VOI business case that quantifies staff retention savings, malpractice cost avoidance, and the $40 million revenue lift from a 1% increase in loyal patients.

If you're a CEO or COO: Patient experience is now the top strategic priority for C-suites nationwide. But prioritization without operationalization is just aspiration. Ensure your governance model protects efficiency gains from being consumed by volume pressures. And ensure your contact center is architected as a revenue engine, not a cost center.

If you're a VP of Patient Experience: The data is on your side. Use the Trust Thesis to translate satisfaction scores into financial language your CFO understands: cost avoidance, capacity gains, and market loyalty. You're not asking for budget. You're proposing investment with measurable returns.

If you're in Contact Center Operations: You're sitting on the highest-leverage intervention point in the organization. Every call is an opportunity to build or break trust. Frame your operational improvements (FCR, AHT, agent empowerment) as trust-building investments, not cost-cutting measures. That changes the conversation entirely.

Every week, I'll break down one of these pillars with data, frameworks, and practical applications you can bring to your next leadership meeting.

But if you want to go deeper right now, I've put together an executive report that lays out the strategic blueprint:

If you're a healthcare executive who sees the contact center as more than a cost center. If you're ready to build the trust-building infrastructure your organization needs to thrive. I'd love to talk.

I work with mid-sized health systems ($250M-$1B revenue) to implement the Patient Experience Hub model: a proven framework for transforming contact center operations while delivering 20-30% cost reduction and measurable improvements in patient retention.

Book a complimentary discovery session and let's assess whether your contact center is building trust or breaking it.

The gathering storm is real. But storms also clear away what's broken and make room for something better.

The old playbook treated patients as transactions. The new playbook builds trust.

The old playbook measured satisfaction. The new playbook measures loyalty.

The old playbook saw equity as compliance. The new playbook sees it as competitive advantage.

The old playbook cut contact center costs. The new playbook invests in trust-building infrastructure.

If you focus on the people, the numbers will come.

That's my freaky flag. That's what I believe. And that's what we're going to explore together in 2026.

Next week: Issue #38 explores "Beyond HCAHPS: Why Your $2M Survey Investment Is Missing $40M in Loyalty Signals." Why satisfaction surveys fail to predict the loyalty that actually drives margins.

What's one thing in your organization that's building trust? And one thing that's breaking it? Hit reply and let me know. I read every response.

Let's get to work.

— Ebony