Advancement in technology and diagnostics has changed many things. Most importantly, it has shifted the focus of healthcare providers from the patients to the technology or methods which cure diseases. According to a study published in the Journal of Medical Practice Management, 96% of patient complaints are related to customer service, and only 4% are related to the quality of clinical care or misdiagnoses. Thomas Lee, chief medical officer for healthcare strategic advisory firm Press Ganey, said, “If you go back a hundred years to the time of William Osler, what it meant to be an excellent physician was to stay by the patient's bedside and really pay attention to them to help them understand what was going to happen and then relieve their suffering.” Today, patients are like customers. They have high expectations when they enter a healthcare facility and like any other consumer category, they inform their friends and family members if they are satisfied with the services provided by the healthcare facility. Their word-of-mouth helps in attracting more patients and ultimately improves the financial performance. Conversely, if patients are unhappy with the services, their word-of-mouth can significantly affect the organization’s bottom line. Moreover, patients now share their good or bad experiences with others on social media. This trend can cause greater financial damage than expected. Therefore, healthcare organizations must be abreast about the platforms where they can hear the voice of their patients and live up to their expectations. In 2007, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) required hospitals to gather and submit Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey data in order to receive their full annual payment update. In 2013, CMS began to include the HCAHPS scores into Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) payment calculations. In fiscal year 2015 and 2016, patient experience accounted for 30 percent and 25 percent of a hospital's total performance score under VBP. Organizations with low HCAHPS scores experienced a significant impact on their bottom line. Apart from reimbursements from CMS, studies show that by improving patient experience a hospital’s financial performance is improved because it is able to attract and retain patients in such a competitive healthcare environment. A study conducted by Deloitte Center for Health Solutions found that:
Figure 1: Hospitals with excellent patient ratings have higher profitability
Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, analyzed hospital income margin data reported to CMS and survey results from HCAHPS and concluded that:
Figure 2: Hospitals that offer patients a better customer experience tend to have better financial performance. It is clear that healthcare organizations must shift their focus on patient experience to improve their financial performance instead of thinking of ways to reduce costs or investing capital in other projects which could increase profits.
REFERENCES
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |