Patient Experience Week: Reflections on the State of Patient Experience.

Tim Travis, President and Co-founder, TruthPoint

Thanks to our friends and colleagues at the Beryl Institute, we are pleased to support their efforts in celebrating Patient Experience Week 2017.  We have the utmost respect and appreciation for the people who make up the foundation of the patient experience movement—the staff, clinicians, and leaders who strive each day to put patients and families at the center of care.  We encourage you to get involved with the team at Beryl and learn how you can advance the patient experience goals of your organization and show your “employees that you appreciate their hard work and encourage their continued efforts on behalf of patients.”

We are also highly energized after being a Diamond-level sponsor at the recent Patient Experience Conference in Denver. With record attendance and a fantastic selection of speakers and panels, it was clear that our community is building real momentum in having patient experience at the forefront of the national healthcare conversation.

People were activated and engaged—working hard to assure that our mission to improve the patient experience remains strong and that our community in consistent in promoting our message in the face of uncertainty from a legislative standpoint and other market pressures.  With that in mind, we saw three key takeaways from the conference this year:

1. Patient experience has transitioned from a “movement” to a business
   1. A growing body of evidence indicates that those hospitals with the best experience scores also lead in financial performance
2. Staff and employee engagement is now a critical priority
   1. A better patient experience is essential for optimal recruitment and retention strategies
3. In addition to improving the patient experience and care quality, patient and family voices can help build loyalty and retention strategies
   1. Today’s patients are savvy consumers and are willing to take more ownership over healthcare decisions

This is a pivotal time for the healthcare community and we welcome the opportunity to engage with you to discuss how TruthPoint can help your organization stay in front of these major trends and identify ways you can be most effective in delivering an engaging patient experience.  We invite you to engage with our team to discover how to leverage the strengths of your organization, plus patient, family, and staff voices, to address your most pressing improvement objectives.

Finally, we are very pleased to provide you with a very insightful article from Kris Baird, MHA, BSN, RN, President and CEO at the Baird Group.  At the Beryl Conference, she conducted some fascinating research that reflect what patient experience professionals wished their CEO knew about leading the patient experience.  The results are compelling and I hope you enjoy the findings.