I was just at a healthcare marketing and strategy conference, and one of the key topics that kept coming up was trust. It’s about time!
It’s a topic that definitely resonated with the audience. What bothered me though was it was like they had made a new discovery: “Wow, we really have to work on patient experience to build trust!”
While I have to admit to being a little disappointed that this idea hadn’t already been baked into their psyches, I’m just glad that the point is finally being driven home. Every encounter, every step in the patient experience has to build trust. And people heading up marketing must look honestly at every touchpoint before making promises. Otherwise it’s like writing checks that the staff cannot cash.
The Standard You’re Held To
One of the points that a speaker made that really hit home to me was: “You’re held to the level of their last good experience.” Importantly, that experience doesn’t have to involve healthcare. It could be an experience at a hotel. At a restaurant. At a Starbucks.
Consumers aren’t just comparing their experiences with you to their experiences with other healthcare organizations or providers. They’re comparing you to all of their experiences. And, in fact, chances are they expect even more from their healthcare providers. You’re dealing with their lives and wellness after all!
That’s just a bit more important than a cup of coffee.
We’ve got to earn that trust. And we don’t just earn it once. You’ve got to keep earning it, every single time.
One Bad Experience Can Erode Everything
It only takes one bad experience to erode everything that has gone before. That’s how tenuous trust and the patient experience is. That one experience colors their perceptions of your service and the quality of care they receive.
If a patient has a bad experience in one department it makes them wonder what the care is like in other departments. If one experience making an appointment was a challenge, they wonder if every experience will be like that.
A single bad experience creates a negative halo effect that takes multiple good experiences to overcome.
This concept hit home for me last week. I was a patient having imaging done at an academic medical center. Despite preregistering I had to check in two more times at the hospital and both encounters were with rude, snarky and clearly disengaged staff. I had a really hard time letting go of those encounters when heading into the treatment. I expected more of the same but was pleasantly surprised at the compassionate, friendly and professional treatment.
That’s the unfortunate and brutal truth about trust.
Trust Can be Built (or Broken) at Every Touchpoint
Every interaction your patient has with your organizations—in person, or virtually—colors their perceptions of you. What kinds of perceptions are you creating?
- Your website. Is it easy to use? Can patients readily find what they need?
- Your phone interactions? Are calls answered promptly? Are patients treated with respect? Are their questions answered?
- The first impression. When patients walk through your door do they feel welcomed? Or do they feel ignored, or inconsequential?
- And every other interaction along the way from your parking lot to your waiting room to being roomed and waiting to see the provider.
Every single one of these moments is an opportunity to build trust. Or to erode it.
Patients are paying attention. They notice when you say you’re “patient-centered” but your systems are built for organizational convenience. They notice when you advertise “compassionate care” but their actual experience feels rushed and impersonal.
And then…they don’t come back. Worse, they share their experience with others who may decide to never consider your organization as a great place to get care.
But, here’s the good news. Even a bad experience can be turned around if handled well.
Making Lemonade from Lemons
A colleague of mine tore her retina and had to go in for emergency care. Her insurance company didn’t cover the care and she received a bill for $6000. She wasn’t happy. She thought it was covered.
So she called billing. They were so concerned and compassionate, and so helpful that even though she ended up owing that $6000, the way they led her through the process and their careful explanations (her deductible was the culprit in this case), left her feeling positive about what was arguably a very negative experience.
That’s what building trust is all about.
Now imagine if it had been the opposite. Imagine if the billing department had been rude. Dismissive. “Lady, you owe this. You signed an authorization.” She would have left that experience thinking the entire organization was terrible. Even if the clinical care had been excellent.
Because billing is part of the patient experience. Just like registration. Just like environmental services. Just like the phone.
Everybody in your organization plays a role in building trust. Or eroding it. Not just your clinical care providers.
The question isn’t whether trust matters. Of course it matters. The question is: What are you doing, every single day, at every single touchpoint, to build it?
Tags: HealthcareLeadership, HealthcareManagement, PatientExperience, PatientTrust, trust
