The Trust Algorithm™
The Trust Algorithm™ measures the five operational signals of patient trust: Accessibility, Resolution, Continuity, Proactivity, and Recovery. Together they predict retention, outcomes, and revenue before survey scores arrive. Trust here is a number you can manage, not a feeling you hope shows up on a survey.
Why is trust the foundation of the operational workflow?
Because every operational touchpoint is a trust decision. A call that gets answered or doesn't. A bill that explains itself or starts an argument. Patients experience your scheduling, your phones, and your billing as one relationship, and they decide whether to stay based on how those moments treat them.
Most operational workflows were built to process transactions efficiently, then measured on speed. A workflow built to earn trust looks different: it optimizes for the patient reaching you, being resolved the first time, feeling known, hearing from you first, and being won back when something goes wrong. Those five behaviors are the signals, and every one of them can be designed on purpose.
This is also why AI deployed without trust infrastructure amplifies existing problems. The phone gets answered faster, but it's still the wrong answer. The portal sends more reminders, but patients still don't feel known. Technology in this layer should make the human moments more dependable, not stand in for them.
What does patient experience return?
Hard dollars, with research behind the mechanism. A 2023 BMC Health Services Research study found better patient experience in one year was associated with higher revenue and lower costs the next. The levers below are where that return actually moves.
The five signals
Each signal is a question your operations answer for the patient every day, and each becomes measurable through KPIs we define with formulas, data sources, and targets your team can build from systems you already run.
Accessibility
Can patients reach you on their terms? The 2am test: if someone needs you right now, does the door open?
Measured by: patient effort, speed to answer, abandoned calls, after-hours coverage.
Resolution
Do patients leave interactions with confidence? Closing a ticket is not the same as rebuilding the relationship.
Measured by: first-contact resolution, patient-confirmed resolution, transfers per issue.
Continuity
Do patients feel known? Or does every handoff, from scheduling to the visit to the bill, start the relationship over?
Measured by: context transfer across handoffs, repeat-information rate, retention.
Proactivity
Does the system reach out before patients have to chase? This is where no-shows, care gaps, and referral leakage are prevented instead of managed.
Measured by: proactive contact rate, care gap outreach, discharge follow-up.
Recovery
When something goes wrong, does recovery build loyalty? Done right, a complaint becomes a reason to stay.
Measured by: service recovery rate, complaint-to-retention conversion.
The Trust Score
The five signals roll up to a single score. It tells you where you stand today compared to the industry, and gives you a perspective on where to start plugging the leaks.
Yours gets measured in the Patient Access & Experience Diagnostic.
Common questions
Does the Trust Algorithm™ replace satisfaction surveys?
No. Surveys are lagging indicators: they tell you what happened, months late, from the patients who chose to answer. The Trust Algorithm™ reads leading indicators in your operational data, so you can act while the patient is still yours.
How do you measure trust?
Through the five signals, each read from operational data you generate every day: whether calls get answered, whether issues resolve the first time, whether patients rebook, whether outreach happens before they chase, and whether recovery wins them back. The signals roll up to a single Trust Score that shows where you stand against the industry.
Do we need new systems to measure the five signals?
No. The Diagnostic measures your operations as they exist today, from the systems you already run. It may surface recommendations for investments, but you don't need to buy anything to find out where you stand.
Does this work for a small practice?
Yes. The five signals are the same whether the front door is a health system access center or a two-person front desk. The measurements scale down: the phones, the reminders, the rebook rate, the review response.
Are you building trust, or processing transactions?
Put a number on it. The free calculator shows the revenue at stake; the Diagnostic shows exactly where it's leaking.