First impressions are made long before anyone walks through the door
- Matthias Spuehler
- Jul 3
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 20
Why a Digital Front Door is much more than a digital patient portal
Three years ago, we first wrote about why we believe the Digital Front Door will become a central concept in digital healthcare.
At the time, the focus was primarily on one question:
What is a Digital Front Door?
Today, we want to take this idea one step further.
Our experience from numerous projects has shown that the digital door itself is not what matters most. What matters is the experience, and that experience begins even before the first login.
For us, the Digital Front Door is the first visible component of a digital growth platform for healthcare organisations.
The first impression matters
Whether digital or physical, anyone entering an Apple Store, a Digitec store or a modern flagship store immediately notices that the first impression is formed before they even step inside.
Large glass façades create transparency.
Visitors can see immediately:
Which products are available
Which services are offered
How the store is organised
Where they need to go next
The entrance has long been part of the overall customer experience.
Experiences like these now shape our expectations in almost every area of life. These expectations are not formed within healthcare. They are formed wherever people use digital services.
The Digital Front Door begins before the first login
Patients, or customers depending on your perspective, naturally bring these expectations into healthcare:
They want to understand the available services
Find the right point of contact
Book appointments easily
Receive the right information at the right time
Interact with their healthcare organisation with as few barriers as possible
This is precisely what we see as the role of a Digital Front Door.
Today, patients often no longer begin their journey on a healthcare organisation’s website. It frequently starts with an online search, an AI assistant or a recommendation from someone they trust.
This makes a digital entry point that provides orientation and intuitively guides people through their next steps all the more important.
More than a portal
Many digital services begin when patients sign in or verify their identity.
A Digital Front Door broadens this perspective.
It connects all digital touchpoints to create one intuitive, integrated experience.
The result is a digital entry point that reaches people wherever they are and guides them step by step through the channel of their choice, whether via an app, the web or on-site terminals. Naturally, it is multilingual and inclusive.
This can include:
Discovering information and services
Booking appointments online
Digital preparation and patient intake
Self check-in and navigation
Communication during treatment
Follow-up and continuity of care
Involving relatives and carers
Step by step, this creates a seamless digital entry point.
A Digital Front Door grows with the organisation
Patient expectations change. New digital possibilities emerge.
Organisations continuously develop their processes.
This is why we do not see a Digital Front Door as a one-off project.
Instead, it provides the foundation for a digital growth platform for healthcare organisations.
A Digital Front Door grows together with the organisation. Proven standard functionality can be used immediately. Additional modules, new partner solutions and individual requirements can be added wherever they create the greatest value.
A flexible approach delivers the greatest value when it focuses on tangible benefits and responds to specific needs:
Standardise where it simplifies processes
Individualise where it strengthens the organisation
Our Experience
Our experience from numerous projects has shown:
The most successful digitalisation projects rarely begin with the biggest solution.
They begin with a clear vision and a first step that creates tangible value for patients and employees.
They combine a long-term vision with a pragmatic first step.
This is how a Digital Front Door takes shape, step by step, and grows with the organisation’s requirements.
Conclusion
First impressions are made long before anyone walks through the door.
In healthcare, they are often formed during the very first digital interaction.
A Digital Front Door provides orientation, simplifies access and lays the foundation for a seamless patient journey.
We see this as a crucial component of a digital growth platform for healthcare organisations.
Patient expectations are no longer formed within healthcare. They are shaped wherever people experience digital services.
The task of a modern healthcare organisation is therefore not to reinvent every digital development. What matters is applying the right principles for success to its own processes and to the needs of its patients.
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