Hospitals can gain insights to improve customer satisfaction and boost payments by closely examining online reviews from patients, according to Jason Considine, senior vice president of patient access, collections and engagement for Experian Health.
"Research shows that higher online ratings correlate with previously established metrics for evaluating hospitals, such as lower potentially preventable readmission rates. When it comes to overall satisfaction, healthcare customers are extremely perceptive, and they're unafraid to share their opinions — good and bad," he told Becker's Hospital Review.
He said it is up to hospitals to identify areas of improvement by looking at patient feedback on pain points they encounter.
"Those pain points could relate to more than just the bedside care received, and in fact, are often related to the financial experience — which has a significant impact on overall customer satisfaction," said Mr. Considine.
He also recommended hospitals use self-service portals to improve the financial experience for patients.
"A mobile-optimized, self-service portal is a key solution, as it allows healthcare customers to access things such as e-payment, eligibility, estimates and billing information," he said.
If you would like to share your RCM best practices, please email Kelly Gooch at kgooch@beckershealthcare.com to be featured in the "RCM tip of the day" series.
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