First Impression

Making a good first impression is good for business. One of the best ways to measure your first impression is to ask you patients about their office experience, e.g., a Practice Performance Survey. Most offices find that by asking patients about their appointment experience, through an anonymous survey, results in frank commentary .

Most surveys offer a combination of numeric scores and comments. While the numeric scores are telling, especially when compared to known national benchmarks, I have always found the comments the most valuable component of the survey. Patients very often reward their surveyor with good scores, but offer honest critique with their comments.

It is important to realize that the respondents fall into two categories; those that had a wonderful experience, and those that had a less than desirable experience. Generally speaking, patients with an average visit almost never complete the survey. The two extreme groups though is what offer the best insight as to what you are doing well and what is not going well relative to the customer service your office is providing.

Changes in our healthcare system may create a requirement for practices to conduct routine patient satisfaction surveys. These changes may also create a financial penalty for practices that fall below some established benchmark. I know of one healthcare association today that does in fact financially penalize those individual physicians that rank poorly relative to other association members.

The fact is, excellence in customer service is just good for business. While there may be some upfront costs to improve your customer service, these costs will more than pay for themselves with increased patient retention and new referrals.

Surveying your patients is the first step in developing the habit of providing quality customer service. There are many surveys available, so take advantage of them. If you have any questions about conducting a survey, Primoro, Inc. is here to help.