Satisfied patients not only have better health outcomes, they are also more loyal. Feedback tools, in combination with artificial intelligence and early warning systems for patient experience missteps, are the gamechangers that can help to increase satisfaction.
We have explained what patient experience is and why it is increasingly important to focus on it in the blog post Patient-Focused Care: Customer Experience in the Healthcare Sector. In this post, we want to explain the top three ways in which patient satisfaction can be significantly and quickly improved.
- Improvements in service elements thanks to real-time feedback
By implementing a customer or patient experience program, your patients get the opportunity to give feedback immediately after their visit. How long was the wait? Did the patients always feel comfortable during the visit? Or did the patients get the impression that their health concerns were not being heard or taken seriously? All of this can be discovered quickly with the help of a Voice of Customer program. After an in-person or virtual visit, the patients answer a few questions on their device, and the medical practices’ staff is made aware immediately of the areas where there is potential for improvement.
One practice found out, for example, that it was difficult to get through to a live person by telephone during office hours because the receptionists and office assistants were often very busy. As result, many patients came to the practice without an appointment causing long wait times. To solve the problem, a student intern was hired to answer phone calls and make appointments. This not only significantly shortened the wait times, but also increased patient satisfaction considerably.
- Trend identification through data analysis and Artificial Intelligence
As part of a patient experience program, there is the option of asking patients' wishes using open commentary fields and recognizing new trends at an early stage. But don't worry, you don't have to laboriously read and analyze the comments yourself. Artificial intelligence does that for you! It assists you in finding out which services patients continue to want at your practice and what other services they would like added.
An Austrian private practice found out that patients were satisfied with their care during the visit, but the submission of the doctor's bill for reimbursement from the health insurance carrier was tedious. Without further ado, the practice did the submission for its patients - they only had to sign a form after the appointment. Some other practices introduced new systems such as online appointment bookings based on patient recommendations, as well as new services such as acupuncture or nutition counseling.
- Rapid resolution of individual customer issues via a notification system
Disgruntled patients tend to find a new doctor or health network. This can be avoided by installing an aptly named Alert System in a Voice of Customer program. If a patient gives a bad rating, they have the option of entering their contact information in order to receive a call or email about the service issue directly from the manager. In this way, problems can be solved collaboratively with patients and solutions can be implemented quickly.
