Best Practices
Patient Perception: Success Factor No. 1
Top satisfaction scores are a must to retain patients.
By Derek Preece, MBA
Of all the factors critical for ophthalmic practice success, which one is the most important?
If you immediately think of physician skill and management talent, you are close; but there are many examples of highly skilled and talented doctors who cannot seem to build a thriving practice. Another top element you think of is access to patients, especially as accountable care organizations, integrated clinics and other business combinations threaten to alter patient access and leave some practices unable to provide services to certain populations.
While skilled providers, talented management and healthy access to patients are important to a practice’s success, one fundamental element will soon outrank them all: patient perception. In fact, this is rapidly becoming the most critical element of ophthalmic practice success.
As more and more insurers base their payments and contracting decisions on a practice’s patient satisfaction scores, the more vital patient perception becomes. In fact, hospitals are already being paid in part based on their patient rating levels, and that concept is making steady headway into payer decisions as to which practices will have access to patients.
Importance of Patient Perception
Patient perception forms out of the image that a practice presents during the personal patient experience. Patients who perceive a practice is exceptionally caring and competent will become long-term and loyal supporters who refer friends and family.
No other part of a practice can make up for mediocre patient satisfaction. Excellent surgeons whose patients are unhappy with their chairside manner will not have as many patients as doctors who relate well to patients, even if the practice excels in other areas. Talented management personnel are handcuffed in their efforts to improve practice results if patients don’t like coming there.
Top Rankings are a Must
However, simply having “satisfied” patients will not be enough to insulate doctors from losing access to patients. In the future, the most secure practices will be those that score in the top rankings on patient satisfaction scores. Practices that score at or below average will find their patient access limited and their former patients assigned to practices that achieve higher scores.
The need to achieve top patient rankings may seem like a new concept, but for many practices it has been a long-term quest. In more than 25 years of analyzing patient satisfaction surveys from ophthalmology practices, I have yet to find a practice with extremely high scores that has long-term financial problems. On the other hand, those with mediocre or poor patient perceptions often struggle with sluggish growth, low revenues, high overhead and limited profitability.
Proactive Initiatives
As part of any long-term planning, it is critical that doctors acknowledge the overall importance of patient perceptions and proactively begin implementing initiatives that will allow them to meet this paradigm shift with vitality and success. These initiatives should support:
• Maintaining operational characteristics that attract patients.
• Bolstering areas that need improvement.
To do this, you must measure patient attitudes toward your office, and then use that to fix where patients have legitimate complaints.
Providers on the fence about being proactive in regard to patient perception should consider the following facts: Measuring patient satisfaction is presently a requirement for Maintenance of Certification (MOC) from the American Board of Ophthalmology and now can qualify an ophthalmologist for additional incentive payments through the Centers’ for Medicare and Medicaid Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS). Obviously, assessing patient perceptions is an increasingly important part of the growth landscape.
A Strategic Imperative
Having a satisfied and happy patient is no longer just a feather in a physician’s cap. It is truly a strategic imperative for long-term practice survival. The most prudent and forward-thinking practices are already applying resources and efforts to measure and improve patient perceptions. All physicians and practice administrators need to focus on patient satisfaction when planning for 2013 and beyond. OM
Derek Preece, MBA, is a principal and executive consultant with BSM Consulting, a onsulting firm in Incline Village, Nev., and Scottsdale, Ariz. For more information, visit the BSM Café at www.BSMCafe.com. |