By - Nupur Kajarekar, Student of PGDM-Healthcare Management at Goa Institute of Management
Nowadays customers make healthcare decisions based on Easy access, Quality of service offered and Cost effectiveness, as there is a wide range of options and choices available to the customers in the healthcare industry. Thus, health care providers have to provide their services with high standard of care in order to retain their customers in this growing and competitive industry which was once ignored with the notion that patients do not have choices to make when it comes to hospitalization and treatment. With growing demand and fast change in technology, even the expectations of customers have gone up wherein they demand services like online booking of appointments, self-access to medical details, health education and tips, reminders for follow-ups etc. whereas some customers still rely upon the prevalent assisted service. So here the role of health care providers is to balance between the needs and demands of customers so as to keep their growing expectations fulfilled.
Initiatives and Strategies to deliver Customer experience and retain Loyalty of the Customer:
Treat your patient as guest: Taking care of patients is what healthcare calls for. It may be difficult for few people to think of patients as a guest but definitely, they must be treated as a guest. Hospital leaders need to accept the fact that satisfaction level of the patient has enough potential to make or mar their business. Make sure that the staff who interacts with patients are always humble and courteous. Patients should not be made to feel inferior, unattended and misinformed.
Proactive service for Customer Engagement: Healthcare providers should always strive to optimize patient engagement and plan strategies to retain their customers at every step; before, during and after the patient’s visit to the hospital. This service can be attained by simple measures which are cost effective like SMS reminders, dispatching test report updates before the patient approaches you with the queries. It plays a vital role keeping the customers engaged and in turn retains loyalty.
Gartner study says healthcare service organizations will need to raise their performance standards for varied points of patient engagement (mobile, text, email, etc.).
According to HealthSparq, studies from Johns Hopkins and the University of Rochester revealed that proactive patient engagement leads to a 30% decrease in patient no-shows.
Creating Impactful Interactions: To understand the customer lifecycle, gathering information from each customer touch-point and creating customer interaction is essential for healthcare providers. Nowadays, most of the health care providers engage in customer surveys that provide vital information to all the employees regarding the customer. Hence, thereafter every time they approach you to avail the service, they can be better dealt with.
Offer Service with Smile and Facilitate Personal Experiences: Every single employee in an organization should know how to handle customer complaints, key issues and concerns. All the staff must learn to apologize for any lag in the service provided with a polite conversation and should learn to interact with a smile. Use of proper communication means during a conversation and not using nonverbal "language" cues (e.g., employees avoiding eye contact with the patients and relatives, passes on a wrong message of neglecting or underestimating them) which plays a significant role in customer satisfaction and retention of loyalty. Make the customers feel heard, seen and attended as individuals. Proper eye to eye contact should be maintained during the conversation and you need to give keen ear to their complaints.
Accelerate service time: Due to the updated knowledge and growing technology, patients demand fast paced service wherever they go. Hence, there is a need to expedite service speed without compromising on the quality of service delivered is something very essential for hospitals of today.
Rights of Patient: The enlightened patients of today take their rights very seriously. If the rights are not protected, it can lead to significant loss of image and possibly the law suits against the hospital. So make sure each and every staff knows about what these rights are and how to honour it.
Create a healthy surrounding with no blames: This improves transparency and service delivery leading to better outcomes. It’s said not to argue with your customers or contradict them. In case if they have incorrect, insufficient information, you should explain them with due respect the reason you would disagree. They should be politely explained why their point of view isn't correct or varies. You can communicate it briefly and to the point. In fact, true professionals go out of their way to keep up the customer loyalty explaining them the facts in a very simple, understandable way.
Adhere to your word and promises: Many times the promises are made to the patients which are never kept. Promises like, "Here you'll get the best care" and "We treat each customer with respect and dignity", etc. The difference between promises and empty talk is that promises must be kept and that is what signifies its value. If your words turn out to be an over promise, you will screw your own dignity and value. But being honest to what you say will pay off later though it may be in the long run.
Retention of well-trained staff members: Efficient and trained staff marks the first impression on a patient who walks in the hospital through their informative, knowledgeable & polite interactions. Well-trained employees are well versed with the organizational processes and can offer end to end solutions for any issues which are difficult at times for the top management.
Digitization: Having a digital portal enables a hospital to effectively track any changes in the care and quickly provide test results to the patient. Also with the help of digitalization, the patient is able to pay the hospital bills easily and procure refunds if any.
The Power that Customer Loyalty holds in Healthcare:
Satisfied patients pools in ultimately more profits for your organization. Now, most of the hospitals depend on the Net Promoter Score (an index with a range from -100 to 100 that measures the willingness of patients to recommend your hospital to others depending upon their satisfaction levels) to judge the customer experience, satisfaction and loyalty. Also, what needs to be done and which measures or solutions to implement should be identified by the leadership team. Staff should be able to provide convenient and quality care. Pricing policy also needs to be transparent. If your staff is well aware how patient retention affects the hospital, on the whole then they will definitely strive and put more efforts towards the effective execution of these retention techniques.
Few reasons explaining the importance of Customer loyalty in the healthcare industry:
· The Fact that patients do have a choice. Despite some patients who are bound by few factors which are out of their control, most patients do have a choice in selecting the healthcare providers—even you can find people driving out-of-town to find a better quality service if necessary.
· How better customer experiences make everyone’s job easier. Customer satisfaction leads to an overall smoother experience for your organization. It contributes towards having happier & more accommodating patients.
· Higher loyalty paves the way to more referrals. When a patient leaves the hospital with a good experience, they talk about the same in the community which we call word-of-mouth patient referrals, that imprints a bigger impact on the community.
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References:
1. Three ways to improve your customer service in Healthcare, https://www.ameyo.com/blog/3-ways-to-improve-your-customer-service-in-healthcare.
2. Seven ways to improve Patient satisfaction, Experience & Customer service, from consulting in Hospitals and Healthcare https://www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2013/11/02/quick-truths-for-improved-patient-satisfaction-and-customer-service-from-consulting-in-hospitals-and-healthcare/#1b431bdd7cef.
3. Five strategies for Higher customer loyalty in a Healthcare setting, http://customerthink.com/5-strategies-for-higher-customer-loyalty-in-a-healthcare-setting/
4. Seven ways to improve Patient retention and generate profit for your Hospital, http://www.budcofinancial.com/blog/7-ways-to-improve-patient-retention-and-generate-profits-for-your-hospital/
