How to Improve Patient Satisfaction - Best Hospital Marketing Techniques

Remember when you first consulted Expedia or TripAdvisor to read reviews on hotels? It probably drastically changed the way you shopped for a place to stay. Now hospitals are facing the same world of transparency and competition, and they would do well to consult the marketing playbook hotels and other service businesses use to enhance their customers’ experience.

How can hospitals be sure they are providing a good patient experience? Through the  RATER model for customer satisfaction, a marketing framework used in all kinds of service contexts, from hospitality to customer support in technology firms.

RATER stands for Reliability, Assurance, Tangibles, Empathy, and Responsiveness. Here’s how these metrics fit in to the health care context:

Reliability : Like any other service, health care is supremely human-oriented. That’s a good thing—I can’t imagine a robot giving me a physical examination—but humans are, well, human.  They are moody, inconsistent and can get tired. But patients want their health care provider to be reliable.

Assurance : In health care, probably more than any other area, people want to feel confident that they’re getting the right service. Doctors can give assurance by talking openly with their patients.

Tangibles : Patients would benefit from something tangible after their treatment, like instructions for home care, tips to stay healthy, or glow-caps on prescription bottles to remind you to take your medicine.

Empathy : When doctors have empathy, it helps them communicate recommendations in a way that’s sensitive to the patient’s values and aspirations.

Responsiveness : How long should you wait to see a doctor? When can you expect the results of your mammogram? These are questions of responsiveness, and they are based in large part on patient expectations.

I recommend using the RATER scale to see where businesses stand with customers on each of the five dimensions. Then share the findings with service providers and brainstorm ways to improve the score.

Original Article - Forbes

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