1. Don’t compromise patient satisfaction for efficiency. Measure the patient wait times, employee down time and the average volume of patient to employee metrics for the practice. If the patient wait times are too long, the practice can explore different options for speeding up the process. However, make sure the surgeons and other medical professionals aren’t spending too little time with each individual patient to see a higher volume of patients. “We make it a point of emphasis to have a balanced approach to our company values which means, a high level of patient satisfaction, partnered with a high level of patient care and will never sacrifice one for the other,” says Mr. St. Louis.
2. Track outcomes post-surgery. Once patients have returned home, call them periodically to track the outcome of the surgery. “We don’t just discharge our patients,” says Mr. St. Louis. “We have a patient services department that tracks outcomes based on the patient’s condition, surgery type and physician who treated them. This allows us to understand and assess optimal levels of patient care and also provides our in house research team with the correct and accurate information to continue to advance our medical practices.”
Laser Spine Institute has a full time in house research specialist to follow the data and create reports on the medical performance. “We want to make sure the patient is treated properly and that we are always improving from a medical perspective,” he says.
3. Conduct patient satisfaction surveys. Hire a third party to conduct objective online surveys for patient satisfaction and then benchmark those numbers against competitors or other providers, says Mr. St. Louis. The practice also has in-house patient satisfaction surveys that assess the patient’s overall experience and whether expectations were met. Use the surveys to assess areas where surgeons and the practice are excelling and portions of the process that can be improved in the future. “We believe that our promise to patients must equal our delivery.”
4. Ask where the patient heard about the practice. When patients come in for initial visits, ask them how they learned about the practice. Often, primary care physicians refer the patients to the practice. However, if the practice is engaging in multiple marketing tactics, such as websites, newspaper and radio advertisements to increase patient volume, learning which methods are most effective is an important part of running the business, and it allows us to identify the optimal points of emphasis for us, says Mr. St. Louis.
Learn more about Laser Spine Institute.
Read other coverage on orthopedic and spine surgeon quality data:
– Quality Metrics and Sports Medicine: 4 Key Considerations
– 4 Steps for Employing Quality Improvement Benchmarks at Orthopedic and Spine Practices
