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Successful medical business owners and entrepreneurs can offer their professional services in a wide variety of specialties, but they all have at least one thing in common: the commitment to deliver a superior patient experience, none at all. Making patient satisfaction a top priority in their practice is what many leading business and medical entrepreneurs describe as a true win-win situation and an essential ingredient in the secret sauce that led their clinics and medical practices to good to excellent. Here are four reasons why experienced healthcare professionals put the improvement of the customer experience at the top of the list of key performance indicators and are directly related to the financial success of your organization:
1. Satisfied patients are informed patients
Regardless of whether patients come for a facelift, knee replacement, laser resurfacing, rotator cuff repair, or other procedure or treatment, they will return home only with your care instructions. make sure they know you consider them vital. part of the care team.
Take the time to thoroughly educate patients and / or caregivers about post-treatment instructions and pain control, because proper follow-up of these indications can have a real effect on the end result and patient comfort level. . Failure to follow the instructions could even result in additional injury or infection to the treated area. Take the time to verbally explain the necessary care, demonstrate several times where it is useful, answer questions, and also provide written instructions and / or a link to video instructions if there are several complicated steps. Not rushing with this information or delegating it to support staff is another way to show that you care about your patient’s health and comfort.
Related: Show them that you care and they’ll keep coming back
2. Satisfied patients are safer patients
Let patients know that you will be asked for their comments on all aspects of the healing process at the next visit and urge them to report any complications immediately in the meantime. This approach helps patients understand that they are your ally when it comes to managing their care and gives them a greater sense of control and awareness, making them more likely to observe all prescribed subsequent care processes, including care. of wounds, proper use of painkillers, other medications. and infection control procedures.
After a procedure, consider giving patients your contact information so they can text or call when they have questions or concerns. (Alternatively, an out-of-hours contact number is much higher than a number that goes directly to your voicemail or an email address connected to an outgoing mailbox only.) Offer access to you it’s especially awesome, because most people respect and recognize the value of your personal time and realize that this is very unusual. So you probably won’t get many text messages or calls at odd hours, but you do will you get great patient satisfaction and trust by demonstrating the degree to which you are truly invested in the well-being of your patients. And you do Receive a text message or a call; you may find that your previous intervention could prevent a minor issue from becoming a major issue. In the process of going further to improve the patient experience, the actual and perceived quality and safety of your operation increases significantly.
3. Satisfied patients value streamlined service
Your dedication to providing patients with the utmost skill and personalized care can be extended to the rest of the office staff. Set an example and inspire your entire team to follow suit. An office culture where excellence is the daily norm fosters efficiency and quality and a safe and cheerful environment where rotation and absenteeism are minimal. A commitment to best practices can help reduce the chance of mistakes.
Great technology is an extension of your great service, so keep patients happy with the tools they expect more and more. Secure online portals allow busy patients to do everything quickly and easily 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from scheduling and confirming virtual or face-to-face appointments to sending messages to their doctor, paying bills, view lab results and chart history, request immunization forms and records, and more. However, don’t forget the basics, such as fast incoming calls and callbacks, two service points that patients are increasingly missing.
Related: How AI can enable and support both caregivers and patients
4. Satisfied patients share their story
Satisfied patients reduce the likelihood of demands when they feel cared for and when their realistic expectations have been described and understood. Patients are then less motivated to sue or file malpractice claims. Patients coming out of their procedures with the expected positive result amidst the unconditional support of you and your team are a walking and talking ad. They will access social media to share their experience with family and friends and will often leave testimonials about the unique quality of your high-tech but high-touch services on your website and / or on a third-party review site. These revisions can be spread like wildfire, giving rise to the best kind of references: personal uns. When this phenomenon occurs (which is increasingly likely given the interconnection between client networks based on who they “follow” and “like”), the exposure of your professional services can become truly exponential.
Related: Why the 21st Century Healing Act is an innovators dream