Here’s an all too common scenario in healthcare leadership and marketing circles. The healthcare system is losing patients. Leaders are beginning to panic. Something must be done. But what?
More advertising!
We need a new campaign! We need to refresh the brand! We need to tell everyone how great we are!
But, here’s the thing. If the actual patient experience doesn’t match the advertising, you’re just making the problem worse. Because now you’re creating an expectation you can’t meet. You’re making a promise you can’t keep.
And patients notice. They notice when the brand promise is “compassionate care” but their actual experience was “rushed and impersonal.” They notice when you advertise “patient-centered” but the systems are built for organizational convenience, not patient needs.
And they don’t come back.
Tackling Inconsistency Head On
So here’s an important question to consider: Is consistency part of your culture? Or is it an aspiration you hope will happen after training?
Because if it’s just an aspiration, it won’t happen. Consistency requires:
- Clear values and standards. What do we stand for? What does good look like here? What are the non-negotiables?
- Coaching and mentoring. Not just “here’s the training, good luck.” But ongoing coaching that reinforces the standards and helps people apply them in real situations.
- Leadership modeling. Leaders have to demonstrate the behaviors they expect. You can’t ask frontline staff to be patient-centered if leadership isn’t modeling that.
- Are people held accountable to those competencies? Or do we let things slide depending on who it is, how busy we are, how hard it is to hire?
- Daily reinforcement. This isn’t a once-a-year initiative. It’s part of how we operate every single day.
If those things aren’t in place, you don’t have consistency. You have hope.
And hope is not a strategy.
You can’t advertise your way out of an inconsistency problem. You have to fix the consistency problem. But first you have to identify it.
If you don’t know what patients are experiencing—actually experiencing—when they interact with your organization, you can’t identify or fix any issues. What’s happening when they call in for an appointment? What’s happening when they arrive at the reception desk? What’s happening when they’re roomed and waiting to see a provider? What’s happening when they’re with that provider?
You may think you know but, in our experience, you probably don’t.
Mystery shopping can help.
The Power of Mystery Shopping
Healthcare mystery shopping involves trained observers seeking medical services, evaluating their experiences, and revealing both strengths and opportunities. It’s a method of evaluating the patient experience that’s more targeted than surveys and more revealing than HCAHPS scores. These types of ratings can’t tell you the “why” behind the scores or offer insights into practical solutions for improvement.
Mystery shopping can. Learn more.
Tags: HealthcareLeadership, HealthcareMarketing, PatientExperience
