Chances are you’re very aware that gaining new patients or clients is a lot more work than retaining existing ones. This certainly rings true for those of us in service industries and particularly in healthcare service provision!
Building relationships
In a healthcare practice, the business model is generally built on the basis of relationships developed and nurtured over time, rather than once-off service. As a clinician, you need this depth in the relationship to enable you to deliver the quality of service you’re striving for, plus where you have direct competitors there’s an awareness of the ease with which people can move across to them. The strength of those patient relationships is all important!
So, how do you build and support patient service models to underpin these ongoing relationships?
It might seem a bit simplistic, but a really good place to start developing strategies is to ask yourself what you personally want from the service providers you engage with? We’ve all had some good and not so good experiences as a patient or client. What defines these? Asking the members of your team for their experiences will generate ideas too, as well as get them reflecting on what is being provided in your practice currently.
Go to the source - ask your patients and clients…
A great avenue to get more information is to survey your patients or clients and find out things like:
How would they rate their overall experience with you/your organisation?
What were the most important factors for them in choosing a practitioner and clinic? (provide a selection of answers to choose from)
How would they rate specific services and support from your practice? (provide a list, including clinical and administration support items, with the capacity to provide a rating for each)
Then there are the more probing and open-ended questions that provide richer data, such as:
“What is the practice currently doing well?”
“What needs work?”
“What additional services or products would you like available?”
“If you were to refer a friend, how would you describe your practitioner?” “The practice?”
“What other suggestions do you have that would make your experience with the practice better?”
You could also take the opportunity to get their feedback on any potential service improvement ideas you and the team have come up with. Would they value these?
Surveying can be done in a number of ways, with the most appropriate varying depending on factors such as your patient/client demographics and your resources to administer the survey. It’s also important when deciding how to administer it, to consider how you’re looking to collate and analyse responses received - it will save time later and make it easier to use the data!
Tried and true factors that keep them coming back
Following are some of the things we’ve found patients and clients are seeking from their health care providers, and which keep them coming back (as well as generate those valuable word-of-mouth referrals!):
A patient/client focused approach across the clinic.
Engaged and interested practitioners.
Ease of interaction – optimised for them, such as online bookings, being able to get through on the phone and direct debit facilities.
Friendly and efficient administration staff.
Regular and relevant communication and interaction.
Ready access to information about your clinic and services, in a format and medium that works for them.
Transparency and honesty across all interactions.
Parking/easy access to the clinic.
Once you’ve worked through all the above steps you’ll have generated a rich and varied list of ways in which you can improve your practice and service offering. From here, you and your team can prioritise your quality improvement projects, start rolling them out and reap the rewards in engagement and retention!
A final tip…
Where possible, highlight to your patients and clients how much you appreciate their input and some of the changes you’ve implemented as a result (perhaps in your newsletter, or a sign in reception/on the notice board). They’ll feel valued and invested in your clinic, which in addition to receiving great care from you and the team, is a sure-fire recipe for them staying put!
The Augmentum team provides a broad range of consultancy and management services, supporting healthcare business owners and decision-makers in many key areas, such as strategy development and action planning, building effective foundations and teams, keeping your finger on the pulse, and driving growth and success.
Need some help or advice…?
And if you’d like to get articles, tips and news delivered straight to your inbox…
Sign up for our monthly email update!
