Hospitals Get Failing Grade from Patients
By Dale Wolf,
Compass Clinical Consulting
There were 37.5 million patient admissions to hospitals in 2008.
That’s one fact — there are a lot of data points about hospital patients.
The second fact is most of these patients are not at all happy with their hospitals — the experience overall is dreadful. While the patient’s health outcome is obviously the most critical measure, it is a variety of other factors that determine satisfaction … even when the outcome is good.
Just 68% would recommend their hospital to a friend.
Such a score at General Electric could well get the team fired!
Such a low Customer Experience would shock managers at Zappos, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A– just a few other businesses that take customer satisfaction as a serious metric and who would be demanding answers from their staff if their Customer Sat scores dripped below 90%.
The highest scores are communications with doctors at 80 and with nurses at 74, and discharge information at 80. The rest of the satisfaction criteria measured by the Federal Government tumble downhill fast: Quiet environment 56, clean environment 69, communication about drugs 59. But the real cruncher is hospital staff responsiveness at just 62.
Are Low Satisfaction Scores a Result of Leadership Neglect?
A recent study published in Health Affairs reveals that fewer than 67 percent of hospital boards discuss quality of care issues at every board meeting, and when quality is discussed, it takes less than 20 percent of the board’s time. This is a strong indicator of why patients are so dissatisfied with their hospitals — the Boards leading the hospitals are ignoring patients.
CRM Technologies Typically Non-Existent at Hospitals
CRM is employed at about 15% of U.S. hospitals, even though the tools can be used to improve quality and service, attract patients and reduce hospital expenses via information management and comprehensive data collection.
Internal and external data collection can help hospitals proactively tailor services to meet patient needs. Data is at the crux of developing systems that remind patients about necessary health screenings and inform new residents about their area healthcare facilities. In addition to modifying marketing strategies, CRM tools can augment and improve Web sites, health awareness programs, online bill payment, pharmacy discharge activities and nurse triage.
Three Action Steps
The first action … hospital leaders need to make patient satisfaction a higher priority.
The second action … hospital leaders need to change internal processes, policies and cultures.
The third action … get IT involved in reviewing technologies that can help manage and measure customer experience.
Filed Under: Deploying the Experience • Featured • Hospital Patient Experience
