When is the last time you did a patient survey?
Find out what people are thinking…ask them! Patient surveys are an important way to find out if your practice is moving in the right direction.
Are you open to ideas from the outside? Are you looking to new ways of doing things? Responding to new opportunities by changing technology? Are you listening to your patients?
A practice I worked with wanted to use iPads in the office for patient education. They were hesitant to do so because they thought their population…many seniors…would be intimidated by the technology. So they asked, and were surprised at how many of their patients were tech-savvy.
This discovery lead them to looking at other ways of communicating with their patients. They expanded their information flow with patient emails, and reached out to new patients through Facebook and Twitter.
…And it saved them money! By emailing patients, they saved time, resources and postage costs. By using Facebook & Twitter, they reached new patients without the cost of traditional advertising.
It all started by asking their patients a simple question about how they used technology.
Where do you start? Here are some tips for patient survey’s from the Sullivan Luallin Group’s Tom Jeffrey.
- Administer the survey to a random and representative sample of your practice’s population.
- Include as many questions as you feel necessary; however, try not to exceed 40 questions.
- Ask about access to care (ease of scheduling appointments), communication with physicians and other staff members, thoroughness of the exam, ability of the provider to listen thoroughly, and ease of obtaining answers to billing questions.
- Survey patients at least once per year or on an ongoing basis. Use the first survey as a baseline. Take steps to improve the patient experience and then re-survey to compare results.
- Provide patients with options for completion, such as email, telephone, mail, or point-of-service (at the office via a tablet or paper).
Feedback from patients will help you keep your practice goals in line with patient needs. It will help with patient retention, improve patient satisfaction, and keep you keyed in on what’s important to your patients.