The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has made it clear patient experience will continue to play a critical role in the overall pay-for-performance government incentive payments.
Patients are forcing healthcare systems to think differently about care delivery, emphasizing the need for convenience and accessibility. These factors are driving hospitals and health systems to find new ways to boost patient satisfaction scores and outcomes.
Over the last decade, more and more healthcare organizations have turned to a new executive in the c-suite – the chief experience officer (CXO) – a person who leads efforts to align a culture, improve engagement with employees and physicians, reduce turnover and improve access points – all which result in improving the patient experience. In this sense, the CXO is the voice of the customer, both current and future.
While finding the right person for this job is difficult, it’s an imperative hire to drive consistent quality outcomes for your hospital or health system. So, if you are reading this and ready to make the investment to add a CXO to your organization, be sure you can commit to the following:
Agree this person is the chief of culture, not the savior to all CAHPS and engagement needs.
Provide unwavering support to stay the course and make changes within the organization to truly hardwire a culture for long-term results.
Believe employee and physician engagement is the foundation to long-term patient experience.
Empower all leaders to commit to aligned goals and holding their employees accountable for results.
Utilize an execution model that provides a roadmap and tactics to address the challenges physicians and staff will face around change and accountability.
Dedicate time and resources. This role will need the support of every department and every leader. It will need to have the encouragement of the CEO and CNO to set the stage and demonstrate the leadership need.
Ensure it’s a leader who is excellent at working across all departments and can create the momentum for change.
Build support for all CAHPS measures of patient experience, quality outcomes and the connection of the two.
Create the ability to interpret the various CAHPS surveys and subsequent reimbursement models across all service lines and access points.
Ensure your organization is ready for transformation: looking at the patient as the customer and putting the customer needs first.
The bottom line is you can’t add a CXO to your executive team and think the job is done. This is just the first step to building a culture of transformation that will generate sustainable long-term quality and financial results for your organization.
Debbie Landers is the Innovation and Product Leader at Studer Group®, a Huron solution. Debbie is passionate about helping organizations achieve results with CXOs and ensuring CXOs have the tools needed to drive change. She helps CEOs understand the tremendous value a CXO can bring to their organization and how to set them up for success. Hiring right is critical with a CXO, they will need the skill set to align and build trust from the Board of Directors to the front-line staff.
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