Ten Simple Ways Healthcare Providers Can Make Patients Happier

“Tie the financial conversation to the clinical conversation. Patients today are being encouraged to ask questions upfront, including whether there are lower-cost treatment options, and may even price shop. Providers should include information about financial responsibilities and options to pay as part of the medical conversation. This change will be a huge step in creating transparency-and turning a potential negative into a competitive advantage. “

- Kent Ivanoff, CEO, healthcare payment firm VisitPay, Boise, Idaho

“The best way to make patients happier is to really listen to them. Look them in the eye, convey sincere care and concern for their well being and their feelings. When people are ill or in crisis, it frightens them further when they perceive fragmented care, no one talking to each other, and staff paying more attention to the computer than to patients. Also listen to employees. When care providers are happy and supported by administration it always trickles down to the patients. It impacts the entire corporate culture when administration actively supports and empowers the staff. Happy staff leads to happier patients.”

- Teri Dreher, RN, iRNPA, owner/CEO, NShore Patient Advocates, Chicago

“Deploy longer-term financing options. Uncovering insights into the patient’s ability to pay and customizing flexible and longer-term financial solutions helps them make incremental and manageable payments. As patient balances grow, long-term financing plans that the patient can self-administer become a key lever in driving patient satisfaction and payment yield.”

- Kent Ivanoff,  CEO, healthcare payment firm VisitPay, Boise, Idaho

“Ensure you have the best front desk team and waiting area experience because poor customer service (rushing them, talking down to members, lack of empathy) may discourage them from seeking future treatment. Also educate all office staff in cultural competency, so that they know the basics about the dominant ethnic cultures you are likely to encounter and where to find useful information.”

- Karen Dale, market president/CEO, AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia, a Medicaid managed care plan

“Patients often start their visit with a manual and time-consuming check-in process that heavily relies on paper and staff time, which can leave a bad first impression in the minds of patients. Instead, providers can leverage the smartphones that patients already bring to their visits to let them check-in easily with pre-populated demographic and benefit information. Plus, they can set up a digital wallet and automatic payments during the BYOD (bring your own device) check-in experience.”

- Deirdre Ruttle, VP of strategy, healthcare payments network InstaMed, headquartered in Philadelphia

“Improve access by offering a variety of appointment times (to include some evenings and weekends) and whenever possible have a live person answer calls or conduct outreach versus use of automated methods. Lack of ability to access a provider can become a driver of dissatisfaction or unnecessary trips to emergency room.”

- Karen Dale

“If you look at other industries such as e-commerce, they've used technologies such as data science, digital communications, and increased transparency to deliver highly personalized consumer experiences. It's time to do the same with patient billing. By implementing a patient-first approach to billing and incorporating modern technology, like data analytics and machine learning, to an antiquated process, providers can make measurable progress towards achieving long-term patient engagement and satisfaction. This means reaching patients at the right channel, at the right time, with the right messaging and helping providers meet their financial goals.”

- Florian Otto, CEO of Cedar, a New York-based patient financial management platform

“Show empathy.  Health is personal and many times we ignore it unless there is a problem.  Meet consumers where they are on their health journey.  Listen and try to walk in their shoes."

- Kathleen Ellmore, managing director, healthcare consulting firm Engagys, Boston

“Answer the phone. Phones off during the lunch hour (or two) is not customer friendly.  And please answer the phone at 4:50 if office hours are 8 to 5. When answering the phone, say “yes.” Yes doesn’t mean that you get whatever you want whenever you want; it means that our office will find a way to make it work for you.”

- Mark Stephan, MD, medical director, provider network Equality Health, Phoenix

“The waiting room experience goes a long way towards shaping patients’ perception of the entire healthcare delivery. The front desk staff should be genuinely helpful, and squeezing patients into the schedule if they have an emergency goes a long way. Options for advancing the waiting room experience could include customer service training for your staff, gathering data on how to improve the experience in your office, and aggressively cutting down wait times.”  

- Nicholas Grosso, MD, president of Maryland-based The Centers for Advanced  Orthopaedics