3 Pillars of a Positive Patient Experience

How to engage with patients and improve payments in your revenue cycle.

Just as ”customer experience” is a leading topic in the B2C market, “patient experience” is gaining more and more attention in healthcare. And this patient experience isn’t limited to the doctor’s office. It extends across the entire healthcare journey – including the billing process.

For patient financial services (PFS) teams, the growth of different channels and technologies means more ways to engage with patients than ever before. And high-deductible healthcare plans are causing patients to play a larger part in the revenue cycle – as they ask questions and seek answers about their rising medical costs.

In the wake of these industry changes, revenue departments like yours have the opportunity to create outstanding patient experiences that directly impact patient payments. It all starts with three primary pillars: people, purpose, and patients.

People

Since we’re in the business of healthcare, we shouldn’t be surprised that a focus on people is essential to excellent patient experiences. But what might come as a surprise is that your patient experience should really begin with your people. Because without the employee experience, there is no patient experience.

As a globally known customer experience expert, Disney has always acknowledged that service excellence depends on employing people with a heart for service. (See how they do it in our free, on-demand webinar.) Similarly, creating a positive experience for patients is first and foremost about selecting the right team members to support them. Once your internal people are in place, your revenue department can then drive home a service imperative through an effective onboarding process – one that equips employees to serve patients every step of the way.

*Next steps: Help your PFS team grow in three must-have skills that will enable them to offer truly exceptional patient experiences – every time..

Purpose

Part of gathering the right team of people is about building a strong internal culture where employees can unite under a common purpose. Whether they work on the front lines or as a backend coordinator, every person in your revenue department should understand what your team does and why you do it.

An official purpose statement can serve as a visual reminder to team members and help them align your day-to-day processes and operations with your larger purpose. So whatever the situation or touchpoint, PFS employees can spot opportunities to live out your “why” and improve the patient experience.

*Next steps: Watch our free, on-demand webinar to see how you can define your purpose..

Patients

The final and central piece of positive patient experiences is, of course, about the patients. Since our purpose as PFS teams and health organizations is inextricably linked to the experience and satisfaction of patients, we need processes, policies, and procedures that consistently make them the prime focus.

How can you empower your revenue team to deliver a patient-centric experience? Start by considering these aspects of the patient billing journey:

• Education – Healthcare can be confusing. Equip your PFS team with the knowledge they need to bring clarity to the billing and payment processes.
• Interaction – The patient experience is brought to life through person-to-person interactions. Remind your employees that patients are real people with real stories, and help them practice empathy in every interaction.
• Reconciliation – Sometimes our job as PFS professionals is working through an issue, a frustration, or even flat-out anger with a patient. Reinforce that service is as much about reconciling relationships as it is about resolving issues. And train your team in the right de-escalation techniques.