Dear Doctor – Another reminder about patient satisfaction

As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, I'm amazed at how many physician practices do such a poor job at patient customer service. This ultimately leads to poor patient satisfaction with the medical practice.

A survey conducted by Press Ganey Associates showed the top 6 reasons for patients to remain loyal or leave (in order of importance) are:

1. Sensitivity to patient needs

2. Overall cheerfulness of the practice

3. Overall care received during visits

4. Comfort and pleasantness of exam rooms

5. Waiting time for the provider in the exam room

6. Amount of "face time" with the provider

If you score poorly in these areas, you will lose patients - no question. If you score poorly, you also won't get very many referrals from your patient base - in other words, you made your practice "un-referrable."

The goods news is each of the items listed above can be fixed very easily. Remember patients are more demanding than ever. They feel more empowered and they are more ready to walk out your door than ever before. The question then is "Do you care?"  I wonder how many of your patients perceive that you really do care.............