Customer service in the medical practice – Are you losing additional revenue opportunities?
7) Good manners will get you everywhere.
Emily Post wrote, “Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.” Proper manners are behaving in a way that is both aware of and considerate of the people around us. A person with good manners treats everyone with kindness and respect. It is knowing how to get along without causing offense or harm, no matter how much the current interaction is going south – especially when you are engaged in a tough conversation.
8) Keep seeing health care as a calling.
All health care workers need to know that their vocation of caring for sick and injured patients is a calling and not just a job and all training programs designed to teach customer service need to stress this point. Practicing your vocation means that you will work hard to eliminate all barriers that exist between the patient and the health care worker. Too often we underestimate the power of a simple touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring – all of which have the potential to turn a life or a bad interaction into a magical moment for both the patient and the health care worker. One that has meaning and a bit of affirmation of the dignity of both individuals interacting to find some common ground.
9) Stay in touch with patients.
The group needs to find ways to keep in contact with their patients, whether it is by giving them tips on how to remain healthy or the need for proactive and preventive medicine. The use of technology and social media, as well as handing out freebies at health fairs, giving patients informational brochures upon discharge, or even cards telling them how to contact the practice in case of emergencies, is quite helpful. Calling your patients is a significant signal that your group values the health and welfare of your patients. A phone call from either the doctor or their assistant goes further than any advertisement when building brand and doctor loyalty.
10) Keep your promises.
Do what you say you are going to do, should be a commonly shared mantra for the medical practice. While changing your mind from time to time when circumstances prevent you from keeping a promise, is just part of being flexible in life, regularly breaking promises to other people isn’t healthy. Here’s how to keep your promises: Pay close attention to your words – every word you communicate (through speaking or writing), as a patient may take your words as a promise. Study your patterns of making promises. Figure out when you tend to make careless promises and study the situations in which you do, so you can understand why you’re promising what you don’t intend to do. Take time and careful consideration before making a promise to someone. Don’t rush yourself into a promise that you won’t be able to keep. Even when you’re in a hurry, you usually don’t have an immediate sense of urgency about promising to do something. Stop yourself before you make a vow, delaying your decision long enough to think it through carefully. The more careful you become about making promises, the easier it will be to keep them.
The last step of deploying a patient/customer service program is handling the change in management that is required to train the staff. Accepting “No, we are not changing any part of the group to meet the needs of our patients better.” is unacceptable. Usually, you will be introducing this program to employees that have been in a group for a while and so to get them to buy into the new ideas will require constant reinforcement. It may take some time to align the focus of the group from the neutral zone to the notion that there are new deliverables that would better serve your patients. The following rules will be helpful when beginning your training program:
