What Do Your Patients Think About You?

Aside from possible future requirements, patient-satisfaction surveys give practitioners valuable information about the patient’s overall experience, including nontechnical dimensions of care.

“Achieving a clinical benchmark, such as giving a DMARD [disease-modifying antirheumatic drug] to a patient with rheumatoid arthritis, doesn’t necessarily translate into a pleasant experience for the patient,” says Raymond S. Hong, MD, MBA, a rheumatologist with Kaiser Permanente Ohio Region in Parma, Ohio, and an ACR CORC member.

Because a patient-satisfaction questionnaire implies that the medical practice is interested in doing things better, patients will assume change will follow. Thus, before undertaking a patient satisfaction survey, you need to be motivated to change, says Kenneth T. Hertz, an Alexandria, La.-based principal with MGMA Health Care Consulting Group.

Do It Yourself?

A major decision in launching a patient-satisfaction survey is whether your practice will create and disseminate the survey or hire a consultant or company to handle it.

Advantages of an outside agency are experience, time savings for the medical practice, and guaranteed anonymity for respondents. In addition, many survey vendors provide clients with reports that track results over time and that benchmark their satisfaction scores against other providers.

“Unless your budget is constrained, I think it’s better to use an outside vendor that is experienced in doing surveys,” Dr. King says.

On the other hand, rheumatology practices considering developing their own patient survey should not be intimidated, says Elizabeth Woodcock, MBA, a healthcare consultant and trainer with Woodcock & Associates in Atlanta.

“It used to be that surveys were a pretty laborious effort, but the surveying process has gotten a lot easier,” says Woodcock, who also is the author of the book Front Office Success—How to Satisfy Patients and Boost the Bottom Line (MGMA, 2010).

Electronic surveys, she says, offer an easier option than mail-based surveys. Also, free survey templates are available online.

Distribution Decisions

Woodcock believes it is best to integrate measurement of patient satisfaction into the workflow. A stand-alone computer in the front office, or even a portable media device such as a tablet computer or iPad, can serve as the survey delivery system. Woodcock suggests stationing the device at the checkout point, with the touchscreen facing the patient.

Another option is a drop box located in the checkout area for completed print surveys. Surveys can be handed out after the physician visit to every patient or to a random number, such as every third patient.