What Happened To Patient Experience In The Healthcare Industry?

I can't tell you how often I hear how bad a patient's experience is in either the ER, hospital, or doctor's office, or the bad response times from a healthcare facility's Contact Us system. I saw an article today by @Dan Gingess about his experience in the ER on New Year's Day.

Shouldn't the patient's time be as valuable as the doctor's? We all know that when you visit an ER, hospital, doctor's office, or contact a healthcare facility you are desperate and are forced to wait for help. How can we change the healthcare industry? How can we get someone to take care of us in a reasonable amount of time? How can we get back to making the patient a priority? I have seen a few different techniques that doctor's offices are using, so I think there might be some hope.

I know some doctor's offices and healthcare facilities use AI systems that allow you to leave your number instead of waiting on hold when you call in for any reason. Of course, this only works if the office or facility actually returns the call in a reasonable amount of time. I can't tell you how many times I have had to call back because no one contacted me.

Let's look at some ways the healthcare industry can revive the patient's experience:

• Notify your patient of wait times either when they check in, in a text, or maybe on a whiteboard.
• If a patient contacts a healthcare facility don't make them wait on eternal hold use a call-back system however someone must return those calls ASAP.
• Don't abandon your patient in an exam room without checking on them, at a minimum of every 15 minutes, and notify them of how much longer before they will be seen.
• If a patient has a family member or friend waiting for them keep them notified.
• Listen to the patient and answer their questions with empathy.
• Give your patients all the information they need so they don't have to call back.
• If someone is calling in a prescription make sure it is done promptly.
• Most importantly if a patient needs to complete numerous pages of personal health history email the paperwork to them beforehand so they can do it from home (this saves everyone time)

No one likes to visit a doctor's office, go to the ER, or hospital, or contact a healthcare facility. I am sure there are many doctor's offices and hospitals to choose from in your area and I am sure there are doctors who would love to have new patients. It's time we STOP the healthcare industry from giving poor patient experience. It's your choice to go elsewhere if you don't like the way you are being treated.

The Hart Experience is offering complimentary business evaluations for the month of February to any business in the Phoenix area that wants to improve their customer experience and get more positive feedback. Contact Debbie at 602.717.3271 or [email protected]

PS. We would love to hear about your healthcare experience good or bad. Please leave comments below.