While running your practice is primarily about providing quality chiropractic care, it’s also important to provide a positive patient experience for every individual who walks in your door. From their initial consultation, you want them to become regular patients, speak positively about you in the world and even refer new patients your way. When dealing with your practice, your patients deserve a patient experience that is positive, streamlined and customized.
This article explores four must-consider tips to enhance the patient experience.
How to enhance the patient experience within your practice
1. Deliver a streamlined and attentive patient experience
Though the differences between running a chiropractic practice and a business are vast, there are several degrees of overlap, including how patients perceive their experiences, how quickly they’re treated and how DCs and staff treat them.
To understand how to serve your patients better, you need to look beyond only their in-office treatment. Instead, evaluate their entire patient experience from the moment they first book with you all the way to when they leave your office. Examine where your practice might be excelling and where it might be lacking.
Ask yourself questions like:
- Do you provide adequate education and effective communication?
- Are your patients’ experiences comprehensive and clear from diagnosis to prognosis?
- Are they receiving personalized experiences?
- Can they schedule another appointment easily?
- Is the payment or insurance billing process seamless?
The more streamlined, communicative and effortless their patient experience is, the more satisfied they’ll feel with your practice.
2. Focus on patient satisfaction through customized care
In a mixed methods study published in the National Library of Public Medicine, 238 patients were treated for lumbar radiculopathy. Only about 52% of patients reported they were satisfied with their treatment effects, but almost 90% of them stated an extremely high level of overall satisfaction with their patient experience.
Why was this the case? In this study particularly, the level of customized care made all the difference. The provider in the study avoided a cookie-cutter formula for treating patients and instead offered customized care based on the individual patient. This included offering a thorough consultation, plus effective communication with the patient about their condition, their treatment plan and their collaborations with other providers.
3. Create non-negotiable communication standards
Effective communication has been — and always will be — an integral part of elevating patient experiences. A study published in the National Library of Medicine states, “effective doctor-patient communication is a central clinical function, and the resultant communication is the heart and art of medicine and a central component in the delivery of health care.”
The study also points out that the three main goals of provider and patient communication include:
- Good interpersonal relationships
- Facilitating exchange of information
- Including patients in decision-making
Why does this matter? Quality communication, also sometimes called “bedside manner,” according to this study, is a major indicator of how patients judge their providers’ general competence as well as their satisfaction with their experience.
Beyond this, ensure this is a regularly trained and revisited skill your practice staff is engaging in to enhance the patient experience. Create training for them so you know your standards are being accurately reflected, insist on regular revisiting of this training and ensure they’re incorporating these standards into their daily routines.
4. Develop a network of trusted providers for referrals
If a patient’s condition or treatment plan involves contacting and booking with another provider, as some treatments do, it’s crucial to have a list of providers you can refer them to.
Often, patients feel lost or passed off when they need to take the next steps in their treatment plans. Providing them with a trusted list of doctors and providers can eliminate the stress of moving forward in their treatment and improve their patient experience.
Final thoughts
By committing to giving your patients a stellar, personalized experience starting at the moment they call to schedule an appointment, you can help ensure they will leave your office satisfied with their care, well-informed about what to do to maintain their health between visits, and ready to refer their friends and family to you.
Check out Chiropractic Economics magazine for more insight and information about treating your patients, creating a practice your patients want to return to and providing optimal patient experiences.