Practice Management Secrets: Get Personal with Customer Service

by Judy Capko^* 

Physicians who fear loss of professionalism set a tone for the office that can sometimes separate doctors and staff from patients and create a feeling of aloofness. Patients concerned about their health and feeling a loss of control can interpret this as not caring. It’s time to get personal with customer service and make your patients feel important!

It may not be your job to become friends with your patients, but it is your role to be friendly with your patients. Patients form their opinion about you based on how personable you are. This influences their decision to refer friends and family as well.

Patients wouldn’t have scheduled an appointment with you unless they thought you were competent.

Now it’s up to you to win them over and cement the relationship—beginning with the first impression.

Building Relationships

This starts with the first encounter and how the patient “feels” about you at the end of the visit. Physicians focused on clinical issues sometimes set the first visit goals as clinical history, examination, diagnosis, and treatment. By all means, this is your clinical mission. However, accomplishing this mission does not guarantee the patient will be satisfied or grateful for the care he was given. When only clinical concerns are addressed, you are treating the condition and not the person. A patient needs more—she wants to feel important and valued. If you get off to a bad start, it will be difficult to make up for it later.

The Golden Rules

1. Most physicians know the importance of good eye contact and a proper introduction, but that’s only the start of your interaction with the patient. There are 10 golden rules that help physicians build stronger patient relationships.
2. Once you are in the exam room, sit in a chair until you are ready to perform the examination. Looking down on a patient makes him feel inferior. You want the patient to feel and “know” that he is equal to you.
3. Read the chart before you go in the exam room. If the nurse asked about and wrote the reason for the visit in the record, never ask a patient why she is there.
4. Frequently refer to the patient by name. It makes him feel you are connected and that you care about him personally, not just his condition.
5. Get personal. It takes only a few minutes. Ask about the patient’s hobbies, job, or family. If you share an interest, so much the better.
6. Apologize if you’re late, but don’t act rushed. The patient deserves your time. By being relaxed and calm, the patient will feel she has both your attention and time, even when the time spent in the exam room is limited.
7. Do not allow interruptions when you are with a patient unless absolutely necessary. Interruptions make a patient feel like he’s not a priority.
8. Do not use medical jargon the patient won’t understand.
9. Never ask a patient a question unless you are willing to give her your full attention to listen to her response. Look at the patient when either of you is speaking. Avoid looking at her chart while conversing, and don’t interrupt her.
10. Once you’ve presented your diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up plan, do not assume the patient understands everything you said. Ask for affirmation, and be willing to clarify or repeat your summation or instructions.
11. Before you complete each encounter, ask the patient, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

Go the Extra Mile

Think about having someone in the office assigned to be the patient advocate, whose role will be to provide special services for patients and make sure their needs are met. The advocate also resolves complaints and smoothes out difficult situations—tempering a storm before it gets out of control. A patient advocate certainly gives the “we care” message and builds solid relationships for the entire practice.

Everyone Benefits

Patients that feel important will be loyal. They will be flexible and work with you when you need to reschedule an appointment or when an emergency necessitates a long wait when they are in the office. Patient complaints will be reduced and so will the stress level in the office. Everyone will enjoy the practice more: the physicians, the staff, and the loyal patients that rave about you to friends and family.

Additional articles from The Journal of Medical Practice Management:

• 10 Ways to Give Your Office a Face-Lift
• Age to Age: Insight into Managing a Multigenerational Staff
• Better Off Alone? Why Physicians Don’t Merge
• Consumer-Driven Health Plans: Latest Challenge to Practices’ Cash Flow
• Educate Patients on Billing Policies to Improve Your Bottom Line
• How a Successful Litigator Decides Whether or Not to Sue You
• How to Perform Your Own Practice Operational Assessment
• Self Assessment for Practices Considering Electronic Medical Record Systems
• Six Elements for Creating a Framework for Employee Motivation and Performance
• Why Your Practice Must Do Background Checks
• Working with Patients with Physical Disabilities

Reprinted with permission from The Journal of Medical Practice Management, Copyright Greenbranch Publishing, (800) 933-3711, www.mpmnetwork.com.

*Judy Capko is a healthcare consultant and author of the popular book Secrets of the Best Run Practices (2005, Greenbranch Publishing). 501-I S. Reino Road, #225, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320; phone: 805-499-9203; e-mail: judy@capko.com; Web site: www.capko.com. Copyright © 2007 by Greenbranch Publishing LLC.