Ask Your Patients How You Can Improve Your Practice

So if you’re like the thousands of practices throughout the country, you are dealing with an influx of patients who have year-end flex plan dollars to spend. At the same time, you are trying to balance your budget and set goals for 2016 (hopefully). Call it what you will – vision, mission, strategy, planning, goal-setting….the patient experience should be at the heart and center of any good practice plan.

Our previous posts talked about improving a practice’s patient communications. Sure, we could give you a hundred ideas of how to improve patient communications. But have you gone right to the source?

Tip: Ask your patients for feedback on how you are doing and what they would like to receive from your practice.

Whether it’s informally when they are leaving the office, or in a written or electronic survey, answers to key questions can help improve the patient experience.

• Would they recommend your practice to others?
• Do they feel they have a say in their care plans?
• What patient education materials do they want?
• Did the provider spend enough time answering their questions?
• Did the provider listen carefully to them?
• Were they greeted by the front office staff in a friendly manner?
• Do they understand their bills?

And these questions are only the beginning. Imagine how this feedback could help improve your provider communications, practice operations, customer service and ultimately the patient experience. Need more resources or brain power in thinking through patient satisfaction measures? We are happy to lend a consultative mind.

1. patient satisfaction
2. patient surveys