Provide a STRESS-FREE Patient Experience
Make it easy for patients to want to come back.
By Myriam Assouline, B.SC.N., M.H.A.

What is superior customer service?

It's having adequate change available at the reception desk so that patients can feed the parking meters if the need arises.

It's having enough phone lines and staff so that patients don't get busy signals or, at best, voicemail.

It's knowing the right way to treat patients who are going to have to wait a while to see you.

In ophthalmology, we talk about wanting good outcomes, but customer service is in itself an outcome. It's an outcome that results from the way you and your staff act and interact with each and every one of your patients. These actions reflect the mindset you and your team have adopted in serving your patients. The surgical or medical services that you render are only part of creating good patient outcomes. Scheduling appointments at times that are convenient to your patients, offering educational information that helps patients understand their eye problems, and providing clear directions to your office are important services, as well.

Why talk about customer service when we're speaking about patients? Because patients are in some ways "customers" who have the potential to refer other customers to you. Happy patients can contribute to the growth of your practice. Remember, about three quarters of new patients in a refractive or cosmetic practice are acquired through word of mouth.

The reality is that you aren't the only one who can meet your patients' eyecare needs. Ultimately, what will differentiate your practice from the rest will be your patients' assessment of the level of customer service they receive.

One might argue that pricing has an impact on satisfaction levels. It does. However, if your price is competitive, and you couple that with great customer service, you'll have very happy patients. If you're in the more expensive price range, and you provide great customer service, patients will still be extremely satisfied. That's because they'll attribute their positive experience to the higher cost. They'll rationalize that they got their money's worth. The overall impact and ramifications of great customer service should never be underestimated.

Here, I'll provide you with strategies and examples that will enable you to deliver great customer service to all of your patients. But before you can successfully use these ideas, you must memorize, internalize, and then indoctrinate your staff with this mission: Our goal is to deliver a stress-free experience to every customer from beginning to end, and more.

Once you've adopted this goal as your mission, you can implement the following 10 key guiding principles, which will assist you in accomplishing your aim. You should apply these principles in dealings with both your patients and your employees. I mention employees because happy employees result in happy patients.

1. Know who your patients are. You should know the demographic data pertaining to your overall patient population in terms of age, gender, languages spoken, where they reside, and the types of jobs your working patients have. This information will guide you in your decision-making process. For example, if the majority of your patients are elderly, you may decide to install a ramp for wheelchair access. If you have parents coming to your clinic with young children, you can mount a folding diaper-changing table on your bathroom wall.

2. Know who your employees are. Know your staff's strengths and weaknesses. Understand what generation they belong to, their skill levels and where they are in their careers. With this information, you can match the right person with the right job.

3. Treat people with respect. People like to feel that they are important and respected. The way patients are treated or not treated can result in a perception of lack of respect.

4. Listen and observe. Charles Reade, the author, once said: "If you wish to please people, you must begin by understanding them." The ability to understand people starts with the act of listening. The answers are always out there if we make a concerted effort to obtain the information.

5. Exceed expectations. Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, said: "Exceed your customers' expectations. If you do, they'll come back over and over again." Example: A patient comes unaccompanied at your ASC to have surgery. Her vision is extremely blurry postoperatively. One of your staff members offers to escort the patient down the stairs and across the street to her hotel. Your practice just scored major points, and people will hear about it.

6. Accommodate. It's not easy for people to juggle everything that they have to do. Teach your team to be flexible and accommodating in any way that can benefit your patients. For example, extend your clinic hours to later in the evening or earlier in the morning once a week.

7. Predict patients' needs. Patients may have to wait a while to see you. Provide them with magazines, a television, toys for the kids and coffee. If patients are going to need to purchase post-op drops, either obtain free samples for them to get started, or sell them the drops directly at the same price that they would pay at a pharmacy (make sure this practice is legal in your state).

8. Build trusting relationships. If you and your team build trusting relationships with patients, they'll feel less anxious about having surgical or diagnostic procedures performed. Providing your customers with accurate information and realistic expectations increases the level of trust that they have in you. The greater the trust, the less stress they experience.

9. Value other people's time. Keep patients' wait times to a minimum. People can accept a wait if it's reasonable. If the wait is going to be longer than half an hour, let the patients know as they arrive. It's also considerate to give them periodic updates regarding the delay as they wait. They'll feel reassured that they haven't been forgotten.

10. Obtain feedback and suggestions: Create a feedback form for remarks and suggestions. Consider this free information that you can act upon.

With the overall mission and 10 guiding principles in mind, you and your staff can formulate strategies that cover every step of a patient's experience. Here are some everyday examples of stress-free services that you can provide relatively inexpensively that will please your patients:

When patients call your ASC for information, or to book an appointment:

• provide a toll-free number if much of your patient population resides outside your local area
• insure reception and phone coverage during typical break periods and lunch time to make it easier for working people to contact your practice
• have the optimum number of phone lines so that customers don't get busy signals or voicemail on a regular basis
• don't keep patients on hold too long. Have other team members assist in answering the phone during peak hours.

When patients want to obtain specific information:

• mail, fax, e-mail the requested documentation
• refer them to your Web site if you have one and they have Internet access
• pass on the call to a person who has been designated as the best source of the requested information.

When patients come to your ASC for an appointment:

• make sure that the receptionist knows how to give precise directions to the ASC from various starting points
• provide hotel, bus, subway or parking information
• tell patients how long the appointment should take. This will help patients plan their day accordingly.

When patients arrive at your clinic:

• make eye contact and smile immediately, even if you are on a call
• greet each patient by name
• inform the patient if there's going to be a delay.

When patients are having a surgical procedure:

• tell each patient what will be done and what to expect
• reassure an extremely nervous patient by remaining by his side or holding his hand during the procedure
• let the family know how the patient is doing.

When patients have returned home:

• call each patient to see how they're doing
• provide each patient with a phone number to call for after-hour concerns
• send each patient a thank-you letter.

Providing superior service does require a real effort. But that's true for everything of value in life. I'll leave you with a thought from Nobel peace prize winner Nicholas Murray Butler, an educator and university president, who said: "Businesses planned for service are apt to succeed; businesses planned for profit are apt to fail."

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