Everyone has an opinion on patient satisfaction, but the bottom line is all healthcare providers strive to deliver the best care and help patients feel better and leave treatment happy.
We live in a fast-paced world, and we have a lot of patients to see. Our daily tasks are scribbled on an ever-growing list, but at the end of the day, it’s crucial to your practice that you’re maintaining certain level of patient satisfaction.
If you’re looking to grow patient satisfaction and improve on weak areas, here are a few helpful tips.
Boost Patient Satisfaction
Some of these may seem obvious, but these tried and true strategies for improving patient satisfaction deserve to be reviewed and implemented if you want to grow your practice.1. Better Estimations
Estimating costs is no easy feat, but it should go without saying that underestimating service costs will certainly leave your patients with a bad taste in their mouth—especially if you make a habit out of it.Work on improving accurate and complete healthcare estimates to avoid any heated exchanges and disappointment on the part of your patients.
2. Learn Their Story
Patients, no matter the branch of medicine, want to feel safe and be heard. Let patients feel like a part of their treatment and ask them about what has worked for them in the past, failed treatments or approaches, and how they felt.3. Adapt to Their Communication Style
The easiest way to make someone feel comfortable is to observe how they communicate and respond in a way that will be effective for them. This will show the patient that you care and are responsive to their needs.4. Make the Wait Enjoyable
Nobody likes waiting, and even if you have relatively low wait times, you must put in work to make patients comfortable from the get-go.Make your waiting area comfortable, attractive, fill it with items that are good distractors. Essentially you don’t want patients to feel like they are waiting.
5. Explain Longer Waits
If you ran into an issue and a patient was made to wait longer than expected, talk to them! If you know it will take some time, ask someone in the front to give the patient a heads-up.Be sure to apologize once you are with the patient, so they understand that you do respect their time, but unfortunately got tied up with another task.
6. Have a Seat
You’ve probably heard this one before, but the easiest way to make your patients feel comfortable is by simply taking a seat.Posture and body language are important, and if you are standing over them while speaking, it can make things uncomfortable.
7. Proper Phone Etiquette
Ensure your practice has good phone etiquette, even on the craziest of days. Answer every call in three rings or less, use a consistent greeting, and avoid blind transfers. Little things like this can have a big impact on patient perception.
We Can Help
Setting standards and making sure everyone in your practice is familiar with and up-to-date on current practices is crucial to improving patient satisfaction.
Putting even the smallest effort into different methods could make a difference in your patient’s experience.
Now that you have one part of your practice covered make sure back-office practices can match! Schedule a FREE analysis to learn how your practice can run more smoothly and efficiently!