An aging population, economic trends, public pressure and reform legislation are driving hospitals to be more transparent and engaged in population health. Hospital leaders are being forced to develop and implement strategies that enhance the patient experience while maintaining low cost and high efficiency. For example, value-based purchasing may penalize hospitals for low scores on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey.
To avoid financial penalties, many hospitals are setting improved patient satisfaction outcomes as a goal in their strategic plan. Jim Sellers, senior vice president of marketing services at Buxton, an analytics company, explains how hospital leaders should adopt a retailer's perspective to meet patient satisfaction goals.
Inside a retailer's mind
The best retailers work tirelessly to make their consumers' shopping experience fun, easy and memorable, all the while providing high quality service and goods at fair prices, according to Mr. Sellers. While hospitals excel at providing medical care — fulfilling the service and goods goals of retailers — they often fail to provide a memorable, easy and fun experience.
Hospitals are usually not associated with fun — no one likes to go to the hospital — but developing patient-friendly services can help improve the patient's overall experience, from before they enter the facility to when they go home. "Healthcare executives who start thinking, acting and delivering more like retail executives, and who can motivate their employees to provide a great patient experience, will win the patient satisfaction game," Mr. Sellers says. "Great medical services and outcomes are the price of entry. Great patient satisfaction will be the differentiator."
To think like a retailer, hospitals should consider the experience of healthcare from the patient's perspective. Surveying the hospital's target population to determine the areas most important to satisfaction can help guide the hospital's improvement initiatives, according to Mr. Sellers. For example, if many patients cite the billing department as a source of frustration, the hospital should examine the department's processes and look for ways to eliminate frustrations in ways that are affordable and improve satisfaction. After implementing initiatives, hospitals should measure patients' satisfaction again to assess whether their efforts were successful in improving their experience.
Opportunities to improve
Areas where hospital leaders can improve patient satisfaction by adopting a retailer perspective encompass every patient interaction, including scheduling, registration, the call center, the waiting room and billing. For example, hospitals can streamline their scheduling process to make it easier for patients to schedule an appointment. Reducing wait times can also boost patients' satisfaction and increase the hospital's efficiency. Prompt, cheerful and happy greetings at the registration window can make a big difference in the patient experience. "Performance on these simple examples — simple to state, not simple to execute — will distinguish tomorrow's winners from losers," Mr. Sellers says.
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To avoid financial penalties, many hospitals are setting improved patient satisfaction outcomes as a goal in their strategic plan. Jim Sellers, senior vice president of marketing services at Buxton, an analytics company, explains how hospital leaders should adopt a retailer's perspective to meet patient satisfaction goals.
Inside a retailer's mind
The best retailers work tirelessly to make their consumers' shopping experience fun, easy and memorable, all the while providing high quality service and goods at fair prices, according to Mr. Sellers. While hospitals excel at providing medical care — fulfilling the service and goods goals of retailers — they often fail to provide a memorable, easy and fun experience.
Hospitals are usually not associated with fun — no one likes to go to the hospital — but developing patient-friendly services can help improve the patient's overall experience, from before they enter the facility to when they go home. "Healthcare executives who start thinking, acting and delivering more like retail executives, and who can motivate their employees to provide a great patient experience, will win the patient satisfaction game," Mr. Sellers says. "Great medical services and outcomes are the price of entry. Great patient satisfaction will be the differentiator."
To think like a retailer, hospitals should consider the experience of healthcare from the patient's perspective. Surveying the hospital's target population to determine the areas most important to satisfaction can help guide the hospital's improvement initiatives, according to Mr. Sellers. For example, if many patients cite the billing department as a source of frustration, the hospital should examine the department's processes and look for ways to eliminate frustrations in ways that are affordable and improve satisfaction. After implementing initiatives, hospitals should measure patients' satisfaction again to assess whether their efforts were successful in improving their experience.
Opportunities to improve
Areas where hospital leaders can improve patient satisfaction by adopting a retailer perspective encompass every patient interaction, including scheduling, registration, the call center, the waiting room and billing. For example, hospitals can streamline their scheduling process to make it easier for patients to schedule an appointment. Reducing wait times can also boost patients' satisfaction and increase the hospital's efficiency. Prompt, cheerful and happy greetings at the registration window can make a big difference in the patient experience. "Performance on these simple examples — simple to state, not simple to execute — will distinguish tomorrow's winners from losers," Mr. Sellers says.
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