The Forgotten Step that Improves Patient Experience
There is one step in the customer service process that can turn your patients from merely satisfied into evangelists for your practice. It’s the step that gets ignored the most – the ‘follow up’.
Most doctors and medical practices recognise the importance of lasting relationships and referrals, and progressive providers go beyond lip service in influencing the patient experience.
For example: You may have a patient going through a routine procedure, such as a vasectomy, or getting tonsils out. You could personally make a phone call to the patient the day after the procedure, enquiring how they felt, if they were taking it easy and reiterating important medical directions. When’s the last time your medical practitioner called you at home to ask “How are you doing?”
It’s these things that make the patient experience from go from normal to extraordinary.
Need more reasons? The follow-up step – in whatever form – is highly:
Effective – people don’t expect it, so when it occurs it’s impressive and reinforces their experience.
Engaging – A follow-up reinforces and builds the relationship, and encourages compliance with medical instructions.
Differentiating – it puts you ahead of the competition. The common stereotype is that doctors are “too busy to care” – this dispels negative expectation.
Inexpensive – A simple follow up doesn’t have a large price tag attached. Retaining a patient is less expensive than acquiring a new “customer”. Satisfied patients return and refer friends and family.
How to implement?
All you have to do is make a follow-up a specific step in your plan. A positive patient experience doesn’t happen by coincidence or because you hire nice people, it happens by design. Your Customer Service Procedure (or whatever you want to call it) needs to be a written procedure followed for every patient. Include a specific “after action” step.
Want to know more? Talk to a business advisor today on 07 5413 9300 or drop us an email.
Most doctors and medical practices recognise the importance of lasting relationships and referrals, and progressive providers go beyond lip service in influencing the patient experience.
For example: You may have a patient going through a routine procedure, such as a vasectomy, or getting tonsils out. You could personally make a phone call to the patient the day after the procedure, enquiring how they felt, if they were taking it easy and reiterating important medical directions. When’s the last time your medical practitioner called you at home to ask “How are you doing?”
It’s these things that make the patient experience from go from normal to extraordinary.
Need more reasons? The follow-up step – in whatever form – is highly:
Effective – people don’t expect it, so when it occurs it’s impressive and reinforces their experience.
Engaging – A follow-up reinforces and builds the relationship, and encourages compliance with medical instructions.
Differentiating – it puts you ahead of the competition. The common stereotype is that doctors are “too busy to care” – this dispels negative expectation.
Inexpensive – A simple follow up doesn’t have a large price tag attached. Retaining a patient is less expensive than acquiring a new “customer”. Satisfied patients return and refer friends and family.
How to implement?
All you have to do is make a follow-up a specific step in your plan. A positive patient experience doesn’t happen by coincidence or because you hire nice people, it happens by design. Your Customer Service Procedure (or whatever you want to call it) needs to be a written procedure followed for every patient. Include a specific “after action” step.
Want to know more? Talk to a business advisor today on 07 5413 9300 or drop us an email.
