Dr. Greer’s office gives patients access to a Web-based portal where they can view their electronic health records, and check laboratory and imaging results. They can email the doctor through the portal, and Dr. Greer will respond within 24 hours.
In an effort to be prompt, Dr. Mascarenhas has asked staff to schedule procedures or certain patients who are known to take a long time accordingly. For example, she might schedule a patient whom she expects to take a while in a new-patient time slot or at the end of the day.
In another initiative to improve wait times, Dr. Mascarenhas considered what medical assistants were asking patients in exam rooms and realized that some questions were unnecessary. “Reducing their duties to essential questions decreased the time spent rooming patients, which again improved our clinic flow,” she says.
Final Thoughts
Dr. Greer’s final piece of advice is to treat every patient’s complaints seriously, with respect and dignity. “Never belittle their conditions or speak badly of someone in public. Be careful what you say to colleagues and staff.”
The bottom line is that you won’t please everyone. “There will always be things beyond your control that will affect your survey performance,” Dr. Mascarenhas says. “View surveys as tools to improve your delivery of care.”
Karen Appold is a medical writer in Pennsylvania.
Why Strive for High Patient Satisfaction?
To engage your patients and motivate them to adhere to their care plans;
To meet requirements related to certification, risk management and reimbursement; and
To maintain a competitive practice.
Ask the Right Questions to Employ Changes
Some patient satisfaction survey questions can glean more valuable information for improvement than others. In particular, Sheryl Mascarenhas, MD, assistant professor of rheumatology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, has found that the questions, “Did this provider explain things in a way that was easy to understand?” and “Did this provider give you easy-to-understand instructions about taking care of these health problems or concerns?” to be among the most helpful.
“These two questions pinpoint how good the physician–patient relationship is,” she says. “If these scores are consistently low, it may be an indicator that the physician needs to reconsider how they navigate an office visit.” The practice uses The Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems integrated survey.
Questions examining flow processes and staffing are also useful, because this information may not be obvious to clinic managers or physicians. These questions include:
- How often did you see this provider within 15 minutes of your appointment time?
- Were clerks and receptionists at this provider’s office as helpful as you thought they should be?
“If problem areas persist in certain questions, then you may need to ask more specific questions in later surveys to see if there is a particular problem area that you can effectively address,” Dr. Mascarenhas says.