How Healthcare Businesses Can Improve Customer Satisfaction

Patient satisfaction and the reputation of your healthcare business go hand in hand. If you’ve set up a medical facility, your primary goal would be to care for patients and make revenue, but the practice involves more than that.

It involves the importance of ‘patient satisfaction’ or customer satisfaction, as the term is used in other industries.

And especially after the COVID-19 outbreak, medical and healthcare facilities have evolved the patient-centric approach in the form of virtual doctor consultations and telemedicine practices to provide better experiences.

And incorporating these changes has indeed helped both patients and businesses in unique ways. Patients got more convenient ways to seek medical treatment, and businesses generated a whopping revenue out of it.

Still, it seems there’s a lot that can be improved. Hence, in this article, we will be discussing different ways in which healthcare businesses can improve the patient experience. Read on.

Why Is Customer Satisfaction Vital for Healthcare Businesses?

Just like any other customer, a patient has their own journey while seeking medical care. Right from their interaction with the front desk staff to meeting with the doctor and then finally being done with their appointment, they go through various stages which influence their overall experience.

And this experience creates an impression of how good or bad the institution is. Thus, customer satisfaction is crucial for the success of a medical institution.

Here’s how your business benefits from better customer services:

You Get Loyal & Recurring Patients: If patients have satisfying experiences with your healthcare services, they are more likely to come to you. Over time, it builds a loyal customer base which further invites more patients through word of mouth. Not only do you get loyal patients, but you also get more referrals.
Boosts Reputation: When patients have good medical experiences, they appreciate your services in front of other people. This helps you build both online and offline presence and boost your reputation in the market. This could also get you to potential sponsors or clients who might be interested in a collaboration.

Ways Businesses Can Improve Patient Experience

While offering quality care is the primary factor in satisfying the patients, there are other different ways you can improve the patient experience.

Offer Telemedicine

The digital trend of telemedicine has skyrocketed after the coronavirus pandemic. This technology enables healthcare businesses to streamline patient experiences and improve engagement with healthcare professionals.

Did you know telemedicine appointments can improve the patient satisfaction rate by 98.3%? Since no one today prefers walk-in visits for prescription refills or even simple consultations, make sure your business offers telemedicine services to its patients.

And make sure your telemedicine platform is easy to navigate for the patients.

Invest in Online Patient Engagement Tools

While medical facilities should offer their best to provide superior healthcare experiences, many patients nowadays demand active involvement in their care experience.

For this, businesses invest in digital patient engagement tools, which allow patients to coordinate with staff members between appointments and allow them to give feedback. These engagement tools also allow new healthcare price transparency

For the patients to get an idea of the estimated cost of healthcare services that they would like to buy. Patients really appreciate this price transparency feature as it helps them decide whether they want to take the service or not.

Make Use of Satisfaction Surveys

Whether you’re providing walk-in appointments or virtual appointments, make sure to ask your patients for post-appointment patient feedback. Then, utilize these feedback forms to work on the key service delivery points during the patient journey.

If required, you can consider incentivizing customers to increase customer participation in these surveys. Besides, you can utilize these satisfaction surveys to resolve all the possible minor and major issues that might be hampering better healthcare experiences.

Send Appointment Reminders

Another effective tip to impress your patients is to send them appointment reminders. Although patients want to get better at the earliest, skipping their appointment with the doctor can slow down their recovery process.

This is because many patients forget their appointment dates. And rescheduling can take a lot of time, depending on the availability of the particular doctor.

For this, you can make sure to send them automated text reminders to minimize any sort of delay while ensuring that the patient receives proper care.

24/7 Available Customer Service

One of the most effective and proven ways to leave patients with relief is by providing 24/7 available customer support service. Keep your helpline number active every time to ensure that emergencies are reported on time and that you can actually help patients when they’re in need.

Provide multiple emergency contacts for different healthcare departments. And to ensure your staff is available all the time, allow your employees to work both morning and evening shifts.

When the patient gets an instant response from a medical facility, it’s likely to contribute to positive google reviews for your business.

Make Sure the Staff is Friendly

No matter how professional and best-trained doctors you’ve hired for your medical institution, it will all go in vain if these professionals don’t know how to deal with patients.

Right from the receptionist to all the doctors working, everyone in your business should be professional and courteous with the patients. There have been many cases when hospitals have lost their reputation to the misbehavior of staff members.

Not only does it make you lose your patients, but it also affects your reputation and hence revenue generation capacity.

The Final Word

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit us, healthcare has become a pressing matter across the world. This, in turn, has influenced the healthcare industry to provide better and quick healthcare services to patients.

While the industry has achieved a lot in terms of providing quality healthcare, there’s a lot that can still be improved to ensure better patient experiences.

Utilize these above-mentioned tips and achieve higher patient satisfaction, which will lead to higher patient retention. Plus, it will also allow you to build a loyal patient base. And what could be better than serving the world while making money out of it?