by Darrell Atkin, Vice President of Marketing, TruthPoint
Never before has the concept of patient experience been so much a part of the national healthcare conversation. The reasons range from the concept of “doing what’s right” for patients and families to the new realities of reimbursement formulas, care delivery and payment models. All of these factors point to the broad transition to a health system that is focused on quality outcomes and value.
We are seeing a broad array of companies working to “connect” the patient across the continuum with a variety of new technologies while front line clinical teams are being empowered to better engage people under their care.
We are also witnessing the rapid growth of patient experience-focused organizations whose efforts were launched just a few short years ago. Overflow crowds from both the USA and around the world convene at the annual The Beryl Institute Patient Experience Conference, the Cleveland Clinic Patient Experience & Empathy Summit, plus a host of patient and family centered events throughout the year. It’s clear that “Patient Experience” has achieved mainstream status in the national healthcare conversation.
Additionally, results are being published demonstrating that efforts to improve the patient and family experience are moving the healthcare value needle and showing real impact in reimbursements, quality outcomes, safety, staff engagement, and more. A July 2016 report from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions indicates that:
“Hospitals with better experience levels earn disproportionately more than they spend compared to those with lower ratings. Although higher patient experience scores appear to be associated with increases in revenue per adjusted patient day as well as in adjusted expenses, the magnitude of the effect is stronger for revenue.”
Source: deloitte.com
As inevitable changes in the healthcare landscape occur, it is critical to make patient experience an essential component during every step of the care continuum of care. That’s why, at TruthPoint, we have made a corporate commitment to work with The Beryl Institute, the Cleveland Clinic, and other organizations to support and advance the Patient Experience movement on a national level.
When your organizational leaders, clinicians, and front line employees are empowered through relevant and timely patient feedback, effective programs can be built to engage patients and families-and ultimately drive desired performance improvements.
More importantly, we are engaging with you-our clients-in ongoing partnership and discussion to improve patient perceptions of experience, quality outcomes, and engagement of staff and leaders across the continuum of care.