HIMSS26, The “Last Mile” Problem: Why Digital Transformation Fails at the Parking Lot

Health systems across the US are investing heavily in digital “front door” strategies designed to make health care access easier for patients. Online scheduling, telehealth platforms, and patient portals have transformed how patients interact with providers before they arrive for care. Yet many organizations still struggle with what some experts call the “last mile” problem: helping patients navigate complex hospital campuses upon arrival.

Confusing parking structures, multiple entrances, and unclear directions can lead to late arrivals, missed appointments, and unnecessary stress. In this interview, Katie Logan, chief strategy officer of Gozio, discusses why digital transformation must extend beyond scheduling tools to include navigation and wayfinding solutions.

ICT: Health systems spend millions on digital front doors. Why are we still losing patients in parking garages and hallways?

Katie Logan: Health systems across the country are building impressive digital front doors as consumers demand more convenient, frictionless health care experiences. Investments in single hubs for things like appointment scheduling, easy access to lab results, and telehealth visits are great steps in the right direction, but all too often, we see these strategies fall short once patients arrive on campus.

Health care systems are complex, and without clear guidance, patients are left to navigate the maze of multiple garages, towers, entrances, and elevators between them and their appointment. This confusion isn’t just an inconvenience; it causes late or missed arrivals, spikes in patients’ anxiety, and sets a negative tone for the rest of the care experience. If your digital front door doesn’t guide patients from their home to the exact point of care, that gap becomes where positive patient experience is won or lost.

ICT: If patients cannot find their clinic after they arrive, is that a convenience issue or a revenue and equity issue?

KL: Simply put, it’s both. From a consumer perspective, it’s definitely a convenience issue, but when patients arrive late or miss their appointments altogether, health care organizations face compounding financial challenges. Consider navigation-related delays across thousands of appointments per year—that equates to significant revenue losses that most health systems haven’t begun to quantify. Beyond that, wayfinding challenges disproportionately affect patients with mobility limitations, limited English proficiency, older adults, and first-time visitors. How you guide people through your campus is one of the earliest signals of your commitment to equity.

ICT: When you say wayfinding reduces no-shows and late arrivals, how much of that is behavior change versus operational design failure?

KL: Patients want to attend their appointments; many may have waited for weeks or months to see their provider. Viewing wayfinding challenges from the standpoint of patient adherence is short-sighted. When you address your navigation infrastructure, late arrivals and no-shows drop, not because patients suddenly became more responsible, but because you eliminated unnecessary friction. Health systems that integrate wayfinding into their mobile apps can further help patients by keeping appointment reminders, directions, and check-in instructions all in one place.

ICT: Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) often focuses on EHRs and analytics. At HIMSS 2026, how do you convince health system leaders that parking lot navigation is as strategic as predictive modeling?

KL: Wayfinding and predictive modeling are not competing priorities, and one without the other is an incomplete strategy. We talk a lot about data that helps clinicians and operators make better decisions, but wayfinding is one of the few digital investments that patients actually use. And because they’re using it during some of the most stressful moments in their health care journey, it’s a high-impact offering. If your predictive models identify high-risk patients, but those patients can’t navigate your campus once they arrive, the insights your analytics team surfaced never translate into better outcomes. The last mile has to be part of your strategy.

ICT: Do you have anything else you would like to add?

KL: Health systems are taking different paths toward their digital front-door strategy. Some are going all in on the standard patient portal as the foundation, while others are investing in their own branded apps. Both are valid, but regardless of the direction a health system chooses, wayfinding needs to be part of the equation. It’s not a standalone feature or a nice-to-have add-on; it’s something every patient will use and helps set the tone for the rest of the care visit.