Patient experience has become a critical priority in healthcare, yet it has also become very complex.
Patients’ satisfaction is shaped by multiple factors: rising expectations for speed and personalization, intricate healthcare systems, advancements in AI, and financial pressures.
When trends seem to change daily, how can care providers improve satisfaction?
Creating a system that provides convenience and quality to patients is a must, as hassle-free experiences are a key factor influencing where patients choose to seek care. Setting up a differentiating clinical process, however, is a long and ongoing task.
To improve satisfaction, start by understanding what truly matters to patients. The following are tips to improve satisfaction and business outcomes in healthcare.
1. Follow the patient’s journey closely
To improve patient satisfaction, healthcare companies must dissect the patient journey into distinct stages, mapping out both emotional and logistical touchpoints. Doing so lets you understand in detail the factors affecting patient satisfaction at each step, including both clinical and non-clinical elements.
These stages often include:
- Pre-admission scheduling
- Admission and consultation
- Diagnostic procedures
- Treatment or surgery
- Billing and payment
- Discharge and follow-up care
Consider a hospital looking to enhance its overall patient experience. It must begin by following a patient’s journey from pre-admission scheduling to final payment, discharge, and follow-up care.
Why this matters
By breaking down the patient’s journey, you can identify specific scenarios that could affect how people feel about your services. Do patients wait too long in the emergency room? How common are billing and payment issues? Is the discharge process overly complicated?
In addition, journey mapping allows providers to anticipate future needs such as additional resources for high-risk patients and post-discharge support.
2. Bridge gaps through outsourcing
Outsourcing can be transformative for patient satisfaction, letting hospitals focus on core care services. Specialized healthcare providers can handle administrative and support functions that ease hospitals’ management and financial challenges.
Outsourcing improves patient satisfaction
With administrative tasks handled externally, hospitals can shift their focus to innovation and direct patient care. This lets them enhance and personalize clinical care to better meet diverse expectations.
For example, outsourcing billing and claims processing reduces delays and errors, resulting in smoother interactions. This helps alleviate patients’ frustration and creates a more positive overall experience.
Ultimately, outsourcing not only improves efficiency but also enables a stronger focus on patient-centered care, leading to higher satisfaction.
3. Tailor experiences to diverse patient needs
It’s important to recognize that what influences patient satisfaction varies widely across markets and patient groups. Customizing services based on the needs of specific demographics can significantly improve satisfaction
Example: pediatric vs. urgent care
For example, factors influencing satisfaction in a pediatric clinic might differ from those in urgent care. Parents often value child-friendly facilities, compassionate pediatricians, and an overall ambiance that reduces stress for children and their caregivers.
Conversely, urgent care facilities in busy urban areas might prioritize shorter wait times, availability of walk-in accommodations, and 24/7 support hotlines.
Understanding variable preferences helps you tailor your services better, ensuring you can meet the unique needs of different segments.
4. Get to know your patients
Gaining deeper insights into patient preferences requires ongoing research. Through surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews, healthcare providers can gather valuable information about what truly influences patient satisfaction
Patient focus groups and surveys
You can start with focus groups where patients talk about their experiences in detail. This could reveal unexpected insights—maybe patients feel more comfortable when doctors explain things in simple terms, or if the waiting room is more welcoming.
On the other hand, surveys provide a big-picture view, allowing you to measure overall satisfaction levels. For example, you could gather feedback after each visit to understand how patients feel about the discharge process or follow-up care. These can help identify which areas—like the timeliness of care or how well staff communicate—matter most.
5. Dig deeper to uncover what matters
When doing your research, consider that there could be a gap between what patients say is important to them and what truly affects satisfaction.
A common scenario is that patients may say that treatment outcome is their top priority, but factors like doctors’ empathy and ease of scheduling may have a greater impact on how patients feel overall.
This means that, rather than relying on surface-level feedback, healthcare companies must dig deeper.
Align enhancements with business goals
It’s important to focus on the areas that really count, aligning improvement with actual business outcomes to avoid spending time and money on areas that do not make a meaningful difference to patients.
6. Capture patient sentiments continuously
To truly transform the patient experience, roll out feedback mechanisms to continuously capture insights. These include:
- Real-time feedback systems like kiosks or mobile apps allow patients to share their thoughts after each interaction.
- Patient advisory councils composed of patients and their families help provide ongoing input on policies, procedures, and service improvements, guiding patient-centered care.
- Collaborative patient journey mapping workshops that engage multidisciplinary teams can reveal deeper insights into satisfaction.
- Predictive analytics can help organizations identify trends and anticipate patient needs before they arise.
A more nuanced way to enhance satisfaction
As the patient experience grows more complex, improving satisfaction requires a nuanced approach. Going beyond surface-level feedback and addressing the deeper factors that impact satisfaction will drive meaningful improvements in care delivery.
Partner with SourceCycle
Boosting patient satisfaction is essential, and SourceCycle is here to help. We take care of the administrative and support tasks so you can focus on delivering great care.
Let’s make your healthcare services more efficient and patient-friendly. Get in touch with us to find out how we can support you in creating a better experience for your patients.
