Healthcare Marketing Is Stuck — and Patients Won’t Wait

By Chris Pace, VP of Healthcare Industry, SearchStax
October 8, 2025

The patient journey starts long before the waiting room — it begins with search. But many health systems are still using marketing models built for a slower, simpler era.

Healthcare leaders continue to rely on monolithic platforms, lengthy decision cycles, and siloed operations while patients expect fast, frictionless, and personalized digital experiences. As Chris Pace of SearchStax writes, “If you can’t deliver search-first digital experiences, your patients will find a system that can.”

Three urgent shifts define the new marketing reality:

• Agility: Marketing teams must move at the speed of patient demand, cutting through outdated systems that take months to update. Consumers expect the same immediacy they experience with retail, banking, or travel.
• Alignment: IT, access, and marketing can no longer measure success separately. Shared KPIs tied to patient convenience, loyalty, and satisfaction are the only metrics that matter.
• AI Integration: Artificial intelligence is already reshaping how patients search and decide. Health systems that use AI to deliver trusted, context-aware answers will earn loyalty — those that don’t will fall behind.

The message is clear: Agility, alignment, and AI are no longer optional. They are the core ingredients of modern patient engagement — and the only way to keep pace with a digital-first generation of healthcare consumers.