Creating a Culture of Hospitality

The patient entered the doctor's office. The seats were visibly dirty, and so the patient stood instead of sitting on them. The reception area was full of patients and quickly ran out of open seating. Many patients were talking on their phones or to one another and because the room had a high ceiling height with tile floors all the chatter echo-ed. It was hard to even think. Beyond that, there were no magazines or TV and the patient had to wait 1.5 hours past her appointment time to be seen and no apology was given. There was zero sense of hospitality. That patient was me.

Products are consumed. Services are experienced. We are providing an experience to our patients.

When a practice seeks to embrace a culture of hospitality, it must first examine it's processes. Enter your office as if you were a patient. Is your reception area clean, comfortable and inviting? What about your staff? Are wait times reasonable? If patients are waiting too long are they given an estimated time frame for being seen?

Many people associate 'Service' and 'Hospitality' as being synonymous. However, they aren't.

Service is what you do such as tasks, procedures and acts. Hospitality is “the ability to make an emotional connection with your guest.” The latter is a “secret sauce” that allows your practice to stand out from the crowd. You'll also go home at the end of the day feeling happy and satisfied that you brought some good into the world and for your patients.

How to go about creating a culture of hospitality? Here is some guidance:

1. Get buy-in from the staff. In a staff meeting ask everyone tell a story about a bad experience they had in a restaurant, physicians' office or hotel. Then, ask them what they wish had gone different.
2. Train the staff in hospitality techniques. I wrote a book called "10 Steps to a Phenomenal Patient Experience: Customer Service Secrets for the EyeCare Team". It's pocket sized so team members can carry around reminders. Many practices incorporate it into their onboarding and/or staff meetings. One practice has employees read one chapter at a time, then they discuss that chapter in a staff meeting and assign the next chapter to read.
3. Managers and physicians must model the behavior they want the staff to embrace and apply.
4. Look at your office from the eyes of a patient. Visit all 'on stage' areas of your office including the bathrooms.
5. Have a secret shopper come in and provide you a frank assessment of your practice's hospitality.
6. Evaluate your systems and processes. Are they user friendly? Are they efficient to enable the patient to be seen in a timely fashion?

Hospitality Strategies

1. Smile. Everyone looks more friendly with a genuine smile.
2. Use eye contact when you speak with patients
3. Apologize promptly if there was a misunderstanding or a mistake was made.
4. Keep a large umbrella or two handy to walk patients to their car when its raining.
5. Have refreshments available for patients. These may include cookies, snacks or pretzels and coffee. Remember to have snacks your diabetic patients can have. One of our clients has a large coffee system where one can make any number of special coffees and teas. Be sure the keep the area tidy and stocked.
6. Offer patients who are disabled or in a wheelchair a magazine or refreshments since they may not be able to get them themselves.
7. Check in with every patient every 15 minutes. The front desk receptionist should keep an eye on every waiting patient and once they've waiting 15 minutes, go up to the patient and let them know they haven't been forgotten and provide an estimated wait time if possible. They can also point out the refreshments. Technicians and Scribes should do the same for the dilating area and physicians' exam rooms. By touching base with waiting patients every 15 minutes, it 're-sets the clock' in their heads of how long they will wait without getting upset and they will sense that that wait time has started again from zero. They will tolerate waits better. Many times long-waiting patients worry they've been forgotten.
8. Designate 'on stage' and 'off stage' areas in your office. Then, staff must keep conversations in areas patients can see or hear them (on stage areas) patient-centered with HIPAA in mind.
9. Never walk past a patient without smiling and nodding to them. Acknowledging their presence is key.
10. Use good phone etiquette. Get the patient's permission before placing them on hold. Do not keep them waiting long on hold without touching base and asking if they'd prefer to be called back. Then, make sure they're called back promptly.
11. Ensure your appointment template is based on reality, not fantasy. Do a time flow study and set your appointments at intervals which are achievable. Have extra work-in slots on Mondays and after long holiday weekends. Emergencies happen whether we plan for them or not, so why not plan for them? Once you've created your new template, try it for a day or two on typical days when everyone who would normally be working is there. Then, tweak it again if needed.
12. Treat patients as if they are guests your home. Would you ignore a guest in your home? Of course you wouldn't. Maintain that mindset going forward.

You CAN create a culture of hospitality in your office when everyone embraces it and does their patient. It will allow you to go home at the end of the day feeling good about how you connected with your patients and with the experience you provided them. Create a phenomenal experience for your patients.