Have you ever been waiting in a physician’s office for an appointment and witnessed a poor patient communication moment? Many of us have observed a cringe-worthy interaction, and some may have even had it happen to us. The question is, how do you prevent it or stop it from happening altogether? While working as a representative for a large radiology practice a few years back, I called on physicians at a local OBGYN practice. While in the waiting area, I witnessed a younger front desk staffer embarrass an older patient in the waiting room. This was a small office with an equally sma ..read more

  Several years ago, I had the greatest internal medicine doctor ever.  She was exceptionally nice, always informative and concerned, plus she took her time with appointments. She reminded me to stay on top of all my annual tests, even if they were with providers in other practices. She was indeed one of a kind. But her staff? Well, that was a whole other story. Her front desk staff were incredibly stern gatekeepers. No matter how many times I had been to the practice, it seemed like getting past them for an appointment required an assessment on their part to determine if I was truly ..read more

  While working in healthcare, I called on an OBGYN office, an intimate space with a small waiting area. I arrived a little early and enjoyed sitting with a magazine while waiting to meet with the practice manager. At the front desk, a young staffer, maybe in her early twenties, stated loudly, for all to hear, “Miss Jones, it looks like you have an outstanding balance on your account. You will need to take care of this before you are seen today.” You can only imagine what happened next. The patient, who was addressed by name, got up very quickly, approached the front desk and leaned ..read more

  While working in healthcare, I called on an OBGYN office, an intimate space with a small waiting area. I arrived a little early and enjoyed sitting with a magazine while waiting to meet with the practice manager. At the front desk, a young staffer, maybe in her early twenties, stated loudly, for all to hear, “Miss Jones, it looks like you have an outstanding balance on your account. You will need to take care of this before you are seen today.” You can only imagine what happened next. The patient, who was addressed by name, got up very quickly, approached the front desk and leaned ..read more

    How I came to create a customer service training program for healthcare teams began when I took a job as Director of Marketing with a large multi-location radiology practice located across two states outside of Washington, DC. My primary responsibility was to drive more patients to our practice and more business from referring physicians. But it was known that we had different challenges and inconsistencies in our team’s customer service delivery across our locations.   And here was the challenge. Before I spent precious marketing dollars on methods to help attract and drive ..read more

    How I came to create a customer service training program for healthcare teams began when I took a job as Director of Marketing with a large multi-location radiology practice located across two states outside of Washington, DC. My primary responsibility was to drive more patients to our practice and more business from referring physicians. But it was known that we had different challenges and inconsistencies in our team’s customer service delivery across our locations.   And here was the challenge. Before I spent precious marketing dollars on methods to help attract and drive ..read more

  Whether you are a small doctor’s office or a larger healthcare facility, an online presence these days is mandatory to be visible and to be found by coveted new patients. The challenge is managing your online reputation. For example, when a patient has a bad customer service experience, they want to tell everyone. Sharing that information online where old and potential new patients see it is practically guaranteed. And your online reviews genuinely matter. No, really! According to Healthgrades, “80% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. And 77% of p ..read more

  Whether you are a small doctor’s office or a larger healthcare facility, an online presence these days is mandatory to be visible and to be found by coveted new patients. The challenge is managing your online reputation. For example, when a patient has a bad customer service experience, they want to tell everyone. Sharing that information online where old and potential new patients see it is practically guaranteed. And your online reviews genuinely matter. No, really! According to Healthgrades, “80% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. And 77% of p ..read more

  Making Sure the Patient Journey Across Your Practice is Consistent Every medical practice or facility has multiple patient “touch-points" where your staff interacts with patients.  It usually starts with the team on the phone in scheduling and moves on to maybe pre-authorization or the front desk check-in experience, then to the tech or physician, and finally to check out and then follow up or even billing. Across this journey, there are MANY opportunities for patient communication to either go well or to get sideways. All it takes is ONE poor staff interaction to in a moment ..read more

  Making Sure the Patient Journey Across Your Practice is Consistent Every medical practice or facility has multiple patient “touch-points" where your staff interacts with patients.  It usually starts with the team on the phone in scheduling and moves on to maybe pre-authorization or the front desk check-in experience, then to the tech or physician, and finally to check out and then follow up or even billing. Across this journey, there are MANY opportunities for patient communication to either go well or to get sideways. All it takes is ONE poor staff interaction to in a moment ..read more