Patient Satisfaction Surveys
By Deborah Wilkins | Posted January 11, 2014
With so much uncertainty in the healthcare marketplace and the difficult economic times in which physicians find themselves practicing today, many physician groups are looking for ways to improve profitability. It is interesting, however, that when economic conditions look up, efforts to improve the profitability of the practice seems to become less of a priority. It is incumbent upon physician leaders and management to strive for better profitability consistently. If a practice is well run during the good times, it will be better positioned to weather fluctuations in bad times.
Patient satisfaction is considered by most to be a fundamental component of the successful practice. Without high patient satisfaction, a practice can fail. With it, the practice stands a better change of flourishing. There are a number of indicators of well run practices, not the least of which is how well they are doing financially. Quality of life for the shareholder(s) is another key element; patient satisfaction is arguably the most basic factor underlying practice performance.
While patient opinion is purely subjective and, like any human opinion, difficult to measure precisely, its potential value as a guide in practice management, and most particularly as an indicator of potential problems within a practice makes an attempt to objectively measure patient satisfaction a worthwhile exercise for any practice.
First and foremost, patients want superb clinical care and physicians provide that care.
Both physicians and management alike question whether patients really know how to judge that care. Does a well-trained physician with significant expertise in his field lead to patient satisfaction? Can a particularly well educated, well-trained doctor overcome a practice that is poorly managed? Patients are satisfied or not in ways that are very similar to any individual seeking service, whether it be from a restaurant, a hotel, a store. Patients want their needs met, they want to be treated respectfully, and they want to be charged a reasonable fee for the service provided. They expect their time to be considered. They come to physician practices with pre-conceived notions about what that experience will be like. In the case of patients who continue to obtain their care from you, you can probably deduce that their expectations have been met. In the case of patients who do not return, expectations were likely not met.
Practitioners should made a conscious decision to be proactive in building patient/brand loyalty, increasing revenues-per-patient, and attracting more new patients through increased referrals by exceeding patient expectations in your base. To do that, physicians will first need to determine exactly what their patients expect. The best place to start is to conduct a baseline patient satisfaction survey to determine if the practice is already doing really well in meeting expectations or just barely getting by. Such surveys provide important information from a point-of-view that physicians and staff simply cannot have and they can also offer an even more valuable secondary benefit – improved patient relations. Patients appreciate being included in your process improvement efforts and they like being heard.
Take the time to carefully format your questionnaire or contact Medical Practice Advisory Group to automate the process for you and benchmark your practice against better performers. Keep it simple. Limit the survey to a single page if at all possible. Include a cover letter from the managing physician outlining your efforts and why you are conducting the survey. Ask for feedback about the amenities and your staff, wait times, availability of appointments, the billing process, and the like. Repeat the survey in six months’ time after you begin the process improvement so that you can chart your progress. Make the results known to your staff and include them in your efforts to keep and win back dissatisfied patients. Never rest on your laurels, continue conducting surveys on a regular basis even when you think you have all the deficiencies identified and addressed.
About the Author
Deborah A. Wilkins
Medical Practice Advisory Group, LLC
www.mdpracticeadvisorygroup.com
dawilkins@mdpracticeadvice.com
919-321-1656