Voice of the Patient

Can you imagine having a farmers supply store in downtown San Francisco? It seems highly unlikely to me. There would be few sales. Having such a store there is an example of a business out of touch with its market. To be successful, businesses must supply the right product or services to the right customer in the right place and at the right time.

Should healthcare providers worry about such? Do they need to focus on the customer, the patient? While location is important for providers, does the delivery of services matter? After all, healthcare providers provide a service that is universally needed.

It so happens that the way services are provided makes a difference. With the right services provided in the right way providers will reap many benefits, including patient loyalty, better outcomes for the patient and better income for the practice. I believe that we can all agree that better patient engagement is one of the key factors to better health outcomes. But there is more than engagement between patient and clinicians that drives outcomes for patients and that improves loyalty.

In a recent survey members of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) stated that several services helped improve patient satisfaction and engagement. Among them were flexible hours so that patients could have better access to clinicians, variety of communication styles, help with cost containment and management, and care management. Members stated that patients wanted other ways to communicate with physicians and staff, such as electronic patient portals and secure email. Since many more patients have high deductible policies they appreciate help in managing their copays and deductibles. Letting a patient know before services are provided what their costs will be and helping with making arrangements for paying their share if need be puts them much more at ease. Patients also like help in changing their lifestyles if chronic conditions make it necessary.

I am not advocating that providers supply everything that patients want, even if saying 'No' to a request can be difficult. My own physician has said 'No' to some of my requests because it makes good financial sense to do so for the practice; his group is part of an ACO. For instance, recently when I asked if I could be tested for allergies to see which bees and wasps I was allergic to, he said 'No'. My reactions to stings was not severe yet and I should carry an epi pen with me when I am outside in the summer and spring in case I was stung and began to have a reaction. There are many instances when physicians should deny patient requests. For instance, recent research shows that 84% of physicians still prescribe antibiotics for runny and stuffy noses in spite of the fact that research shows this is the wrong thing to do, as it builds up antibiotic resistant bacteria.

It is important that medical providers find out what their patients want that will lead to better outcomes for all. It would be a waste of time and resources to provide services from a list such as those from the MGMA survey above if patients do not want some of those services. Perhaps almost all of the patients in your practice have easy access to services; they do not need more flexible hours. How, then, can you find out what your patients want that you are willing to provide?

There are several good ways to find out from your patients what new services they want or what services you provide that could be improved. Working with a team made up of various office and clinical staff, providers can use focus groups, advisory groups, surveys and patient feedback to staff to find ways to satisfy their patients. It is necessary to use teams to develop and implement these strategies to get patient input so as to get a good variety of ideas and questions.

A focus group is a good way to get ideas to improve your practice which you can then test to see if the suggestions are good. You can conduct a focus group using your own staff as leaders or you can hire a professional to help with this. A professional will definitely get better results but you can certainly conduct one yourself if you follow a few simple steps. One, have a goal for the focus group, such as, "How can our group help improve our services so as you (the patients) believe your needs are better met?" Then, your staff team can help create a set of questions and inquires that can be used while conducting the session. Then, choose a moderator to move the session along and a recorder to write down the response of the patients. Finally, invite some of your patients to be a part of the focus group. I would use no more than 8 or 9 in the session. You may want to provide a reward for their participation.

Another way to find out your patients needs is to create a survey. Your team should help develop the questions for the survey. You may have your patients fill out the survey when they come in for a visit. If you want a broader group of responders, you may take time to do a phone survey of your patients. One member of the MGMA reported recently that his group has staff members call several patients each day over a period of time to collect responses to a survey.

Another effective way to get some insights is to collect feedback from patients during their encounters with your staff. Patients will sometimes let members of your staff know what could be better at your practice. Staff should be trained to write down these suggestions or have the patient write down the suggestion and hand it back to the staff. These suggestions can then be reviewed later at a staff meeting so that the suggestions can be further explored and the staff member who collected the suggestion can add further details. Such suggestions can be used in focus groups or in future surveys.

Changing your services, adding more services, will help satisfy your patients which will lead to better outcomes and improve patient loyalty. Loyalty is important as it is easier to treat a returning patient than a new one; it is also more cost effective to treat returning patients as it generally takes less time to treat them. Further, loyal patients will recommend you to their family and friends as well as provide good feedback on sites that measure patient satisfaction and on social media web sites. Using some of the tools that I described will help you find out what your patients want.

Donald Bryant helps healthcare providers meet their challenges. Go to http://www.bryantsstatisticalconsulting.com to get the free article "7 Challenges in Healthcare and How to Solve Them" with tips you can
use to start improving patient health, improving the bottom line, finding more time to get things done and to learn more about Lean Healthcare.



 By Donald Bryant


Article Source: Voice of the Patient