The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is finalizing the plans on how to structure the reimbursement based on the HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey.  The purpose of the survey is to help hospital see new ways of improving patient satisfaction and quality of care.  Soon Hospitals could be penalized for having poor scores on the survey.  This could mean loss of revenue and a tarnished reputation.

The bigger questions in what can a hospital do about improving patient satisfaction?  On the surface the answer to this question is to look at how the staff can interact more positively with the patient.  But, improving patient satisfaction is more than just having the staff interact in positive ways with patients.  What is needed to bring about a consistent lasting improvement in patient satisfaction is to create environments where the staff wants to improve patient satisfaction.  The leadership team is responsible for creating this environment.

The Hospital leadership team will have to focus on developing patient oriented strategies and processes to create the environments for the staff to be proficient in delivering healthcare services in a manner that the patient is totally satisfied.

Improving Patient Satisfaction by Developing Patient Oriented Strategies & Processes

Hospital leadership has to understand that processes that benefit the patient are probably most cost effective for the hospital.  To develop patient oriented strategies, the leadership has to view processes from a patient point of view.  That is not to say the patients point of view trumps the delivery of quality healthcare.  No, patient oriented strategies augment the delivery of quality healthcare.  After all, how could a patient be satisfied if they are not getting quality healthcare.

The best way to develop patient oriented strategies is to understand the functional, environmental, and humanistic points of connection.  A point of connection is anytime there is any point in the patient experience that creates an emotional response.  This includes everything from the parking lot to admissions, to physicians and nurses visits.  Each of these points of connection elicit an emotional response.   And, the goal is to elicit a positive emotional response at each point of connection.

When these points of connection are leadership directed, staff supported, and patient focused good results will ensue.

Once patient oriented strategies have been developed the next step is to obtain staff buy-in.  This is one of the major challenges for leaders in healthcare.  Establishing buy-in means more than just putting out a communication about what we are going to do.  It means helping every staff member appreciate the role they play in executing the strategy of improving patient satisfaction.

The ability to establish a direction and gain buy-in from the staff to go in that direction is not an ability that people are born with.  They have to develop these skills.  What about your team?  Does your leadership team have the capability to improve patient satisfaction in the way we describe here?  If not, contact us for a complimentary consultation on how or High Performance Leadership Development (HPLD) can help you achieve your goal of improviong patient satisfaction.

Call us at (954) 349-5828 or go to the Contact Us page.

For more information on HCAHPS and improving patient satisfaction, go to: HCAHPS Info