According to the Beryl Institute, patient experience is the sum of all interactions, shaped by an organization's culture, that influences patient perceptions across the continuum of care.
During a May webinar hosted by Becker's Hospital Review and sponsored by Ensemble Health Partners, Susan Milligan, Ensemble's patient experience director, and Gwen Collins, Ensemble's patient experience manager, discussed the importance of service recovery to the patient experience.
Five key takeaways:
- Patient experience is a function of empathy, engagement and empowerment. Empathy is the ability to sense a patient's spoken and unspoken needs. The higher the level of team engagement, the more willing employees will be to deliver an outstanding patient experience. "Organizations that focus on employee participation in decision-making processes are most likely to experience long-term success," Ms. Collins said. When it comes to empowerment, teams need authority, resources, information and accountability. Empowered teams excel at service recovery because they've been given permission to do the right thing.
- Service recovery can prevent patient dissatisfaction and reduce the risk of lost revenue. Patient satisfaction is a concern for many healthcare organizations. Prophet has estimated that eight out of 10 patients are dissatisfied with their healthcare experience. The lifetime value of a patient is estimated at $1.4 million. As a result, providers risk losing significant revenue if patients leave. Service recovery represents an opportunity to create the best possible patient experience. At the same time, it enables organizations to evaluate the processes that led to the issue.
- Effective service recovery is a two-part process. The first stage is to identify the issue. The second part is to resolve the issue, so it doesn't continue to happen. Organizations often do an average job with the second stage of service recovery because employees think problem resolution is someone else's job. This two-part process is supported by the "4 As" of service recovery: anticipate, acknowledge, apologize and amend.
- Exceptional patient experiences result from anticipating needs across the continuum of care and acknowledging problems. It's essential that employees have a positive attitude and a patient experience-focused mindset. Leading organizations offer patients "schedgistration," where scheduling and registration processes are handled in one call. Once patients are on-site, some health systems offer a concierge service. Best-in-class customer service focuses on problem-solving, acting as a resource and providing options. When problems arise, it's critically important to acknowledge them. "Patients want understanding and connection," Ms. Milligan said. "If you engage with a person who's upset and ask to help, you automatically de-escalate the situation and build trust with that individual." Employees must avoid judgment and assumption about patients.
- Apologies build trust, while amendments are the heart of service recovery. Apologies are critical for building connections with patients. A good apology is a sincere one. Apologies also serve as the bridge to amendment. When teams are empowered to handle service recovery issues, their engagement levels increase. Some organizations create engagement advisory groups. These associate-led teams focus on process improvement and boosting morale. Engaged employees are more likely to deliver better service the first time and use recovery tactics if needed.
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