Reputation and Better Experiences Motivate Patients
Beware, your patients now have choices and those patients are talking about you.
All hospitals and medical practices have reputations; the question that medical leaders must ask themselves today in a climate where patients are now consumers with options on where to receive the healthcare becomes what reputation do we have with our patients? What are our patients saying about us? While branding and marketing are important, its the reputation a medical facility has earned by the experiences they provide to their patients that is motivating even the most passive patients to make changes.
“And that is all it took for me to switch hospitals—the promise of a better experience.” says HealthLeaders Media write Gienna Shaw in her recent post, “How Experience Spurs Even Lazy, Passive Patients Into Action“. She’s right, patients are making decisions everyday to change healthcare providers and facilities based on the information they hear from friends, family, online and in their community. Very quickly, a hospital or practice can become “known” for providing a certain level of patient experience, either good or bad. And, with the help of the internet, those patient experiences spread fast and may reach many current and potential patients.
With patients acting as consumers in the healthcare market, patient satisfaction is no longer enough to ensure a patient remains loyal. As Ms. Shaw reflects in her post, she was for the most part satisfied, and had come to expect a certain level of service from her two hospitals. However, she was not impressed or valued as a patient; when she heard the reputation of the new hospital and the promise of better patient experiences, she was motivated to make a change for the better.
The moral of this story? It’s time to create experiences for your patients that send them out into the marketplace talking about you and the level of customer service and patient care you provide. The hospitals and practices that decide to become more patient-centric and take their customer service to the next level, will reap the benefits of increased referrals, loyal patients and new patients who were motivated by their reputation – to make a change in search of that better patient experience.
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