Q: Do you expect more direct ties between compensation and satisfaction moving forward?
A: When we look at the [Affordable Care Act] and some of the programs I just mentioned that are directly or indirectly tied to patient satisfaction, we are going to see those programs expand. … In addition, the commercial marketplace is following suit, so there’s now an increasing interest by health plans and purchasers in how they can tie their own payments to performance [based] on patient satisfaction. There is a lot of interest in doing that. There’s a lot of interest in patient-reported outcomes, as well as just patient reports of their experience as being something that payers should be cognizant of when they have contracts with providers, so I think we are going to see that expand.
Q: As you said, there is no going back. What’s the takeaway for how to handle this dynamic moving forward?
A: It’s important for providers to ask the right questions. I think a lot of providers assume that their patients are really happy with them, and everything’s fine, and they communicate just fine and patients understand what they’re talking about. … But, in fact, asking questions and learning how to probe can reveal issues that the patient might otherwise be hesitant to tell you. By learning those [issues] on site and right in the presence of that patient, you will improve your relationship with the patient and probably improve your practice enormously.
Richard Quinn is a freelance writer in New Jersey.
