How to give your practice a spa-like quality

Boutique touches can enhance the patient experience.

By Bill Kekevian, Senior Associate Editor

Stephen Pascucci, MD, packed up and said goodbye to Scranton, Pa., where he was partner at Northeastern Eye Institute. He calls the day he left for Bonita Springs, Fla. “a clean break,” not just from his old home and practice, but from a model of medical treatment from which he was ready to move on.

Treating the sickest patients, as he sees it, is a younger doctor’s game. When he arrived at his new home in Bonita Springs, he opened a boutique practice, Eye Consultants of Bonita Springs, specializing mostly in elective procedures such as cataract and LASIK surgery. In doing so, he had to relearn his approach to customer service and connecting to his patient base.

To appeal to the market he was hoping to treat, he gave the practice a spa-like aesthetic. Now, nine years since that move, Dr. Pascucci wonders why more pathology-based ophthalmology practices aren’t implementing a spa-like atmosphere as well. “It’s very doable,” he says. “The first thing I would tell anyone who is interested in moving in this direction is, It’s going to take a really long time. Don’t expect to implement these changes in a month. I’d set a three-year plan.”

At Eye Consultants of Bonita Springs, the waiting area, right, is carefully lit and decorated and features complementary snacks and cold bottled water in the refrigerator. An exam room, left shares the aesthetic.

Patients’ changing expectations

Medical spas are becoming a trend, according to Alex R. Thiersch, founder of the American Medical Spa Association. And through spa-like measures they’re encountering in dermatology and plastic surgery offices, many patients are becoming conditioned to expect more from their medical specialists, Mr. Thiersch says.

Ophthalmology is ripe for this advancement. “There’s so much competition out there that the experience is one thing that can differentiate you from your competitors,” he says.

Whether you’re looking to open a boutique practice or just want to apply the aesthetics of one to your office, this article details measures that practices can apply to improve that experience.

INVEST IN YOUR DÉCOR

First impressions are key

“Right when you walk in the door, you can see this is a different type of doctor’s office. It does not look like a doctor’s office at all,” explains Carmel Koenig, practice administrator at Eye Consultants of Bonita Springs. For Ms. Koenig, making that first impression on a patient is vital and the décor itself makes part of that impression. “We have all-hardwood flooring. In the waiting room, there’s a refrigerator with cold water and bowl full of tasteful snacks on the counter such as cereal bars and granola,” Ms. Koenig says.

Jaime Jiménez, MD, a retina specialist at Southern Eye Center in Hattiesburg, Miss., is one of the doctors who has applied these principles to a disease-based practice. “I didn’t know it was a spa-like approach,” he says. “I just like to be surrounded by beautiful things.”

Dr. Jiménez is referring to the artwork he has been collecting for more than 20 years and displaying in his practice. He takes much pride in the first impression his office makes. “I get a lot of positive comments,” he says. “Every painting and sculpture has a story behind it, so when I get the chance I share that story with patients.”

Waiting area comforts

“A spa-like atmosphere is more relaxing. Soft colors and paintings and soft lighting and fountains and other art are all designed to make the patient more comfortable and make the experience more memorable,” Mr. Thiersch says.

At Eye Consultants of Bonita Springs, Ms. Koenig explains, “On LASIK day we’ll bring snacks into patients after their procedure is finished. We like to keep them around for a while. We offer them drinks or grapes. It’s always about the patient.”

Tuning out

While having technology in the office is necessary, its presence can sometimes impede on patient relations. In Ms. Koenig’s preoperative counseling office, patients find brown suede leather chairs but no computer, and she does not sit behind a desk. “That way, it’s a one-on-one conversation,” she says.

Another piece of technology to forgo is the television. “How do you think anyone’s going to make up their mind about elective surgery when they’re watching Baghdad get bombed for 45 minutes?” says Dr. Pascucci. “Our waiting room is totally isolated from the world. We have no TVs.”

The practice does make sure to have an iPad and free Wi-Fi available for patients to peruse and satellite radio, not commercial stations, playing in the waiting area. “We’re very careful about the songs that are chosen, nothing too offensive. It’s very generic, a lot of smooth jazz, a lot of foreign music,” he says. “And all the magazines are very carefully selected. There’s not one magazine with a negative article in it. There’s no Economist magazine. We have yachting, cooking and travel magazines. They’re all very positive and create a positive image.”

At Southern Eye Center, Dr. Jiménez’s art collection helps distract from the banality of office equipment such as the printer visible between two interesting pieces.

Dr. Jiménez does have a TV in his waiting area, but he blocks news stations. Predating that policy, he says, “I’ve seen political discussions breakout in my waiting room. They get upset because we had on the wrong channel. They usually get upset about Fox News,” he says. “TV Land is a good channel, especially for the generation of patients who are 60 and above. They’re happy to see those old episodes. They come in relaxed and happy, not all agitated.”

Dr. Jiménez uses the art in his office to connect with patients. “Every painting and sculpture has a story behind it,” he says. Sharing these stories helps create an experience for patients that sets Southern Eye apart from the field.

Cleanliness reflects on you

According to Dr. Jiménez, the cleanliness of the office reflects directly on the surgeon therein. “We’re dealing with surgery, with human beings,” he emphasizes. “Everything needs to be able to pass a white glove test at any time. I think it sends a message to the patient,” Dr. Jiménez says.

In addition to the office, staff should have a sharp, clean look about them, too. “Nobody in our office wears scrubs,” says Ms. Koenig. “All of the front office staff are dressed in black business wear. We don’t want it to feel like a typical doctor’s office. The technicians wear heels and black pants and they will wear a lab coat. They don’t have to wear heels necessarily, but everybody has to present very well,” she says.

Even Dr. Pascucci is cognizant of his attire. “Other than when I’m operating, you’re never going to see me in scrubs at the office. I’m old school. I believe the doctor should wear a shirt and a tie and a very crisp white lab coat and look like a doctor,” he says.

STAFF SERVICE

‘Ritz Carlton approach’

A common trend among spa-like practices seems to be a reliance on a heightened “RitzCarlton approach” to customer service. “We spend a lot of time and money training our technicians on what’s called the Ritz-Carlton approach. We want them to be treating people as if they’re their own family — possibly better,” Dr. Jiménez says.

Indeed, Dr. Pascucci insists employees learn patients’ names and greet them when they walk in the door. Having studied several guides to customer service from non-medical fields, including the Ritz-Carlton Employee Handbook, he applies their lessons to his practice. Rather than simply calling a name and beckoning, Dr. Pascucci says, the proper way for employees to greet patients is by saying, for example, “Hello Mrs. Smith. My name is Jane and I’m going to take you back now.”

Adds Dr. Jiménez: “You can’t simply tell the patients what they have to do. You have to show them, escort them, go the extra mile and you have to do it with a smile on your face. Patients pay our bills. We have to treat them properly.”

Hire educated staff

To achieve the higher level of customer service expected at a boutique medical practice, staff must be knowledgeable enough to be able to answer patients’ questions. “The staff needs to be extremely well educated and they need to be able to look at studies they’re performing on a patient and not necessarily interpret them on the level that I’m interpreting them, but to begin to understand how to interpret them and to begin a discussion,” Dr. Pascucci says.

“If a patient is interested in multi-focal implants, staff should be able to say, ‘we’ve just performed a topography of your cornea. One of the things we have to look at very carefully is how much astigmatism you have and the good news, Mrs. Smith, is that you don’t have very much. So that’s one thing that makes you a good candidate. We’ll look at your retina next and Dr. Pascucci will look at it and make the final determination.’”

Provide incentives

Dr. Jiménez keeps his staff motivated to strive for excellence in customer service with small tokens of appreciation. “We have a monthly award for a staff member who demonstrates outstanding service,” he says. “During that month they have a privileged parking spot close to the building and a $100 bonus. Little incentives can get you better customer service out of them. You have to take care of your people.”

Avoid ‘doctor talk’

The doctor must also keep in mind that patients paying a premium expect to walk away informed. “They don’t like to hear ‘doctor talk.’ They want everything spelled out to them,” says Ms. Koenig. “When you are treated like a number, you don’t get a nice warm fuzzy feeling. We’ve even had patients come in for a second opinion and they’ll say, ‘It makes so much more sense now. Now I get it.’ Even if Dr. Pascucci agrees with the first opinion, they didn’t understand it when they got that first opinion.”

SELLING AN EXPERIENCE

Ancillary services

Another way to institute a spa-like experience is to offer patients services they won’t find at the typical ophthalmology office. Several practices have added audiology and dermatology services, for example. “At some point in their life almost everybody’s going to need to see an ophthalmologist,” says Mr. Thiersch. “If you can bring people in by offering additional services, you can always up-sell them on your practice’s focus, which is really what the whole goal is.”

Be like Starbucks

Just as Dr. Pascucci has applied lessons from fields outside of medicine to his practice, Dr. Jiménez’s practice shows a disease-based practice can incorporate elements of an upscale medical spa to distinguish itself from the pack.

Small touches such as this little sculpture of a violinist at Southern Eye Care helps create a memorable experience for the patient.

“Most people prefer Dunkin’ Donuts coffee to Starbucks, but Starbucks outperforms them because when you walk in, it’s an experience. They have couches and music and atmosphere,” explains Mr. Thiersch. “It’s the same thing in the spa-like setting. You’re selling more than just your services. You’re selling your experience and more and more people are buying into that.” OM