Joan Kelly, distinguished chief experience officer, joins Press Ganey as partner and strategic consultant

09 November 2021

 Press Ganey recently announced the appointment of Joan Kelly as a Partner in its growing Strategic Consulting Group. Kelly comes to Press Ganey with more than 15 years of dedicated expertise in consumer experience for the health and wellness space, most recently from Yale New Haven Health System serving as chief experience officer.  

Prior to Yale New Haven Health, Kelly served as chief patient experience officer at NYU Langone Health System, where she was the architect of the Perfect Experience. Every Patient. Every Time. model designed to drive the institution not only through operational changes, but also toward the highest level of “patient centeredness,” focusing on behavior changes that impact patient experience and satisfaction.

Joan’s dedication, compassion and ability to inspire change make her a true trailblazer in consumer and patient experience. Her expertise working at two of the nation’s leading health systems will be invaluable to organizations needing support in service re-engineering and cultivating cultural change. Joan will be working with closely with clients, including both providers and payers, as we launch our new design and innovation solutions to rethink and transform how care is delivered.

Charles Hagood
Partner, Strategic Consultant, Press Ganey

Kelly also has led large-scale transformation across multi-faceted organizations including Humana, Virgin, Harvard University, NASA, U.S. Department of Defense and Walt Disney Company.

“There are deep parallels between healthcare and other sectors. By applying principles from top-performing organizations that consistently deliver exceptional experiences, I look forward to helping health systems drive sustainable change and remove friction from processes,” said Kelly. “Finding a physician, scheduling a procedure and paying a bill are completely different encounters, but to the patient, it’s one experience. We have to understand the evolution as an entire journey and how needs and behaviors differ at each touchpoint—only then can you build what’s right.”   

In addition to her consulting work, Kelly serves on The Joint Commission’s Patient and Family Advisory Council and recently completed her doctoral dissertation, The COVID-19 Hospitalized Patient Experience, through the University of Pennsylvania, where she also received her MSEd. Additionally, she completed her MBA at the Simmons School of Management and was previously an adjunct associate professor at NYU Wagner School of Public Service.

To learn more about Kelly and Press Ganey’s strategic consulting services, visit Press Ganey.com.