Patient Experience

Subtopics: Patient Satisfaction, Surveys, Scores, Transparency, etc.

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How Marketing Communications Can Navigate Patients Right to Your Door: 4 Steps to Get Your Facility on Your Customer’s Map

May 4, 2015

By Claire Hovis In health care, it isn’t just the care that’s changing. Power is changing. “Expert-driven” communications that placed providers and large corporations atop the information market are giving way to a generation of empowered consumers who are more engaged and have higher expectations. Access is changing. The Affordable Care Act has brought health Read More

How To Position Your Service Lines for Success in Today’s Marketplace

February 19, 2015

Service lines may be the mainstay of your organization, but are you using them strategically for the realities of today’s marketplace? If not, you could be missing some important potential for getting, and keeping, your patients. Health care reform has changed the way most hospitals do business—and the impact includes an increased emphasis on value Read More

Restructuring Service Lines for Success

January 28, 2015

Service lines may be the mainstay of your organization, but are you using them strategically for the realities of today’s marketplace? If not, you could be missing some important potential for getting, and keeping, your patients. Responding to the Current Climate Health care reform has changed the way most hospitals do business—and the impact includes Read More

Small Hospital, Big Award: How Hill Country Memorial Achieves Quality Excellence

January 8, 2015

Hill Country Memorial (HCM) in Fredericksburg, TX—a nonprofit organization serving a rural area with a population of just 10,000—might seem like a long-shot for a prestigious national award. Nonetheless, HCM was one of just four organizations nationwide to receive a 2014 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for achieving excellence in its efforts. Back in 2007, Read More

Hospital Operating Room Overhaul Lifts Efficiency and Patient Satisfaction

December 1, 2014

by Cheryl L. Serra Satisfied patients are a powerful marketing tool for health care organizations, as one hospital learned when it overhauled the scheduling and management of its operating rooms (ORs). The efforts led to increased efficiency and patient satisfaction and helped boost profitability. Dr. Adam Blomberg, Vice Chief of Anesthesiology and Co-Medical Director of Read More

Rebranding Is Culmination of Two-Year Process to Strengthen Patient-Focused Culture

November 2, 2014

by Sheryl S. Jackson Since its humble beginnings in 1895, the 20-bed Macon (GA) Hospital has grown to become the Central Georgia Health System. It comprises the Medical Center of Central Georgia, a 637-bed, full-service, acute care hospital, along with 30 entities that include other clinics, specialty-care centers, and community hospitals. In September 2014, the Read More

Improved Patient Flow in Hospitals: How to Break Through the Bottlenecks

October 1, 2014

by Sandra Marchetti Backups and delays are a common, but always unwelcome, part of the health care process. Patient flow problems are a source of anxiety and long waits for patients, as well as frustration and inefficiency for providers. According to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, many U.S. hospitals have problems with achieving optimal patient Read More

Dr. Devi Shetty’s Health City Envisions a New Kind of Medical Tourism

October 1, 2014

by Cheryl Haas Devi Shetty, MD, is out to change the world of health care delivery through compassion, quality, and affordability. India’s most renowned heart surgeon and Chairman of Narayana Health has built a chain of 21 medical centers that cut costs so substantially that they can provide clinical excellence at a fraction of the Read More

Does Employee Engagement Matter?

October 1, 2014

by Cynthia King, PhD, and Daniel King, MS No longer is it enough to have satisfied employees who just want to “get by.” Instead, it is essential that hospitals and health systems cultivate a working environment that promotes and sustains highly engaged employees who are loyal to their organization. Highly engaged individuals are not only Read More

Nursing as a Strategic Differentiator: Think Anew

October 1, 2014

by Gloria Sanchez-Rico, RN, BSN, MBA, NEA-BC Old stereotypes die hard, and nowhere is this more true than when it comes to nursing. For while nurses continue to provide exceptional bedside care and remain the single greatest contributor to a good or bad patient experience, anyone who thinks their contribution ends there should think again. Read More

Internal Communications: Informing Your Organization’s Cheerleaders and Ambassadors

September 1, 2014

by Cheryl L. Serra Sure, you want the world to know about the snazzy new piece of equipment your hospital has purchased. And of course you want to sound the bugle about the big-name doc who’s joined your staff. There are ads to buy and PSAs to write, for sure. But what about what some Read More

Supermarket Chain Offers Infusion Services

August 1, 2014

by Nancy Vessell When a Midwest supermarket chain began offering chemotherapy and other infusion services, a few heads were turned. “When I first learned about it, it did catch me by surprise. To my knowledge, I haven’t heard about other grocery chains getting into this [medical area],” says Michael Abrams, managing partner of Numerof & Read More

Arts and Health: A Prescription for Patient-Centered Care

August 1, 2014

by Jane Weber Brubaker In April, more than 260 professionals gathered for the 25th annual Global Alliance for Arts & Health convention, hosted this year by Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. Arts and health is “a diverse, multidisciplinary field dedicated to transforming health and healing though the arts,” according to the organization’s website (www.thesah.org). The Read More

Good Patient Experiences Are Critical for Desirable Outcomes and Better Reimbursement

February 1, 2014

// By Joyce Miller and Beverly Schulman // The road to the rise of the patient experience A number of studies show links between desirable clinical outcomes and high patient satisfaction scores. Medicare and other payers are begin­ning to tie reimbursement to high patient satisfaction scores. In short, patient satisfaction has emerged as a key Read More

Hospital Affinity Programs Reward Loyalty and Give Members VIP Treatment

January 1, 2014

by Cheryl L. Serra Members of the Spirit of Women in Springfield, MA, recently had the opportunity to see and hear hu­morist and work-life balance expert Juliet Funt, daughter of Allen Funt, host of the 1970s TV show “Candid Camera.” They may also take ad­vantage of a discount on the cost of mini-med school, an Read More

Focus on Consumer Needs, Not Provider Needs to Survive Health Care Transformation

December 1, 2013

Price and Quality Transparency to Gain Importance in Coming Years by Sheryl S. Jackson For almost seven years, the television show “Marcus Welby, MD,” featured a veteran general practitioner who fo­cused on patients as people in an era when specialized medicine and tech­nology were growing in importance. Many storylines had Dr. Welby listening to patients Read More

For Better Results, Undertake a Customer Intimacy Strategy to Truly Engage Consumers

November 1, 2013

by Sherry L. Stanislaw Although this century is only 13 years old, we have already seen an interesting evolution in how the health care indus­try views its consumers. It wasn’t that long ago when the popular term was “patient-centered care,” and although the words sounded nice, most hospitals had their share of chal­lenges in truly Read More

Beyond Quality and Safety: Patient and Family Advisory Councils Involved in Strategic Planning and Marketing

October 1, 2013

by Barbara S. Long, APR For anyone involved in providing health care, having the roles reversed and becoming a patient or family member of a patient can be an eye-opening experience. Health care is not always a high-functioning, seamless system. In fact, at the bedside, you will experience cracks in the system that can make Read More

Market Research and Engagement Through an Online Community Panel

June 1, 2013

by Michele von Dambrowski “We had relatively low patient engagement … outside of the clinic setting,” says Mark Rothwell, vice president of marketing and communications for Dean Clinic, giving one reason why the 107-year-old Madison, WI, organization began an online patient community. Patient engagement, in­cluding a two-way dialogue, is critical to Dean Clinic’s brand value, Read More