From Hospital to Hospitality: How Compassion Is Transforming Care—and What Every Business Can Learn

University Hospitals has been serving Northeast Ohio communities for nearly 160 years. Through the Spanish flu, economic booms and busts and a once-in-a-generation pandemic, we’ve remained focused on delivering high-quality care.

But we’re not the same organization we were even five years ago. Today, we’re leading one of the most meaningful transformations in our history: moving from a traditional hospital mindset to a hospitality mindset. Our goal is simple but powerful — to treat every interaction, whether at the bedside, on the phone, or at the front door, as a chance to deliver a 5-star experience.

This may sound like a soft skill, but in truth, compassion is one of the most powerful tools we have — not only to improve health outcomes but to build loyalty, trust, and high-performing organizations. And these lessons extend well beyond healthcare.

Why Compassion Works

Compassion has long been seen as a virtue in healthcare, but the science now shows it’s essential.

In Compassionomics, physicians Stephen Trzeciak and Anthony Mazzarelli summarize over 250 studies proving that compassionate care leads to better outcomes: improved satisfaction, fewer complications, and even reduced pain. When we feel genuinely cared for, our bodies begin to heal.

The same holds true in every industry. Whether you’re in retail, hospitality, finance, or tech, people want to feel like more than a transaction. When they do, they return, refer others, and stick with your brand.

Compassion isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s good business.

Reimagining the Experience

We’ve taken these insights and put them into practice, launching a systemwide effort to elevate the patient and customer experience.

Thousands of our employees are being trained in communication, emotional intelligence, and service recovery techniques. In our operating rooms, “compassion pauses” give care teams a moment to connect with each other and with patients before surgery. The practice is simple, costs nothing, and the impact is already tangible — one patient called it “the best medical experience of my life.”

Everyday gestures matter, too.

Darlene, a Patient Representative at our UH Mentor Health Center, greets returning patients by name, decorates for the holidays, and makes kids feel welcome with scavenger hunts. Her background as a teacher helps her remember families, stories — even favorite sports teams. “They’re more than a patient,” she says. “We care about who they are.”

And there’s Cindy, a cashier in our main campus cafeteria, who sees herself as a healer of spirits. She offers a warm smile and a kind word, often at moments when patients or families need it most.

In our Central Scheduling department, personalized greetings and more intentional listening have led to measurable results — a six percentage-point improvement in caller sentiment in just a few months.

None of these actions require a major investment. But together, they’re creating a culture rooted in humanity — one that earns trust and builds loyalty over time.

Lessons for All Leaders

While our work is unfolding within a health system, the insights apply to any organization that serves people — customers, clients, users, or members.

Compassion is a force multiplier. It builds trust, deepens loyalty, and fosters resilience.

Leaders are often focused on numbers — margin, volume, efficiency. But in the long run, it’s the human experience that determines whether people come back, refer others, and speak well of your organization.

Designing for Trust

Our vision is to create what we call “lifetime trust” — earning confidence not just once, but over time, across every touchpoint.

That means we’re being intentional. We’re designing systems that make it easier to be kind. We’re recognizing that high performance and high compassion go hand in hand.

This isn’t a one-time campaign or checklist. It’s a cultural shift. It requires humility, curiosity, and a commitment to doing the hard work — not just to meet expectations, but to exceed them.

The payoff? Stronger teams. Happier customers. Better results. And, just as important, a more human way of doing business.

Bringing Humanity Back to Business

If you’re a leader — whether you run a restaurant, factory, startup, or financial firm — the question isn’t if compassion matters. It’s: how are you making it matter in your organization?

Train for empathy, not just efficiency. Create systems that reward meaningful connection. And listen carefully to what your customers, clients, and teams are saying — not just in surveys, but in tone, silence, and body language.

The best businesses — the ones that last — are those that remember we’re not just solving problems. We’re serving people.

At University Hospitals, that’s what we’re working toward every day: transforming care from hospital to hospitality. Turning service into connection. Transactions into trust.

Because in the end, what truly sets us apart isn’t just what we do — it’s how we make people feel.