ASC Management
Building Good Word of Mouth
Your patients should be your best advertisement.

BY MYRIAM ASSOULINE, B.SC.N., M.H.A.

For the most part, privatized ambulatory surgical center (ASC) patients make their own decisions about who their caretakers will be. That means that good word of mouth (WOM) is essential; it's free advertising that can generate as much as 75% of your patient referrals.

To create satisfied patients, you need to do two things: Impress them with the caliber of your medical care and make that care convenient.

PROVIDING FIRST-RATE CARE

The first concern most patients will have is the quality of care your ASC provides. To win them over:

Produce excellent results. This is crucial for refractive and cosmetic ASCs because of the elective nature of the surgeries. To ensure excellent outcomes:

• Keep your skills updated. Don't rest on your laurels.
• Employ experienced surgeons and highly skilled employees.
• Use state-of-the-art technology for testing and surgery.
• Use first-quality surgical supplies.

Provide first-rate post-op care and follow-up. This means:

• providing additional information when required
• returning patient calls within an acceptable time frame
• sending patients thank-you letters
• making follow-up phone calls to see how patients are doing.

Make sure your staff is knowledgeable, friendly and offers personalized service. Once you've hired highly qualified, knowledgeable, resourceful, friendly staff members, make sure they:

• look professional
• wear name tags
• introduce themselves to patients
• smile
• know patient names and are familiar with their cases.

Keep patients informed. The more your patients know about procedure, candidacy, risks, complications and expected results, the more likely they are to trust you and be satisfied with their care. This information can be shared orally by the staff, through written materials available on-site, via mailings or on your Web site.

Create a comfortable environment. Make your ASC aesthetically appealing. A clean, pleasant and comfortable environment gives patients a sense of security and alleviates anxiety. Also, provide a television and reading material to keep patients occupied while they wait.

Ask patients to complete feedback forms. This makes it possible to change things your patients are unhappy about.

CONVENIENCE COUNTS

The flip side of providing first-rate medical care is making it easy for your pa-tients to take advantage of your services:

Choose a good location. Your ASC should be accessible to most types of transportation and have adequate parking space.

Minimize patient wait time. Too much wait time will quickly undermine your WOM. For me, more than 1 hour of wait time isn't acceptable unless unusual circumstances warrant it.

To minimize wait times, make sure you have adequate levels of staffing, optimum patient scheduling and efficiently organized patient flow -- and take your start times seriously.

Offer competitive pricing. Like it or not, patients are going to shop around. To maintain economic viability you have to find a way to offer a competitive price without compromising on quality.

Offer flexible scheduling. Your ASC's hours should accommodate the needs of your patient population, including evening and weekend hours if required. If it's easier for patients to come to you than your competitors, you'll get the business.

WINNING THEM OVER

Patients don't make decisions lightly about who will treat their eyes, and they're more likely to trust a positive review from a friend or relative than an advertising message.

So, see how well your ASC stacks up in terms of these 10 strategies. Remember: Good word of mouth is your best advertising investment.

Myriam Assouline, B.Sc.N., M.H.A., is a healthcare consultant. You can e-mail her at massouline@aol.com.