How to win a Patient/Customer for life

| By Debra Beaulieu

Earlier this week, I spent a total of six hours driving to, attending and driving home from a 20-minute annual checkup, and I don't regret a second of it. As I mentioned in a previous post, my family and I relocated to a different part of Massachusetts recently. In a state where physician shortages are severe in some areas, and doctors with which you have good chemistry sometimes taking years to find, we so far haven't made any changes.That's not to say that we won't switch eventually, at least to use a pediatrician closer to home. But in general, the trip to our old Zip code is about 50 minutes, less time than any of our doctors could see us within for a same-day sick visit. And for a minor ailment one of us needed checked out sans the commute, there's a MinuteClinic about five minutes away. In addition, we have access to a patient portal to review some of our test results and email our doctors with non-urgent health questions without leaving the house.

But back to my six-hour ordeal that wasn't. I made the appointment for 11 a.m. so I'd be traveling between both bouts of rush-hour traffic. Just to be safe, I left the house at 9. New England weather being what it is, the skies had decided to make up for a month's lack of rain during a single morning commute. By 10 a.m., with my gas light on, I still hadn't reached the first rest stop on the Mass Pike. I called my doctor's office, explaining that I was fairly sure I'd be late but didn't know by how much. The receptionist, who I realized that day I've been interacting with for more than 15 years, kept a friendly, reassuring tone. "Okay, I'll let them know," she said. No irritation in her voice. No warning about having to reschedule if I didn't make it by a certain time. No threats that I'd be waiting until all of the on-time patients had been seen. Given that I was the one running indeterminably late, I would have even forgiven a little attitude, but it was a relief, if not a surprise, to encounter none. I called with another ETA when I was about 20 minutes away and got the same friendly response.

And not that I'd recommend to any patient to arrive at an appointment 20 minutes late, but with the way my arrival fell with the schedule, I barely sat long enough to get the waiting room chair warm.

The medical assistant was new since I'd last been there, but as she took my weight and blood pressure, she talked to me like we were old friends--to the extent that it felt a little odd to hear her say, "Nice to meet you," as she ushered me to a familiar exam room.

My doctor, as always, greeted me with a warm, firm handshake, this time without his semi-customary apology for keeping me waiting. Somehow, throughout the duration of my exam, we chatted about all sorts of things: the Boston Marathon, kids, the weather, updates to my family members' health status. In his trademark casual if not sneaky way, he gathered a multitude of relevant medical information. The tablet he used to record it all didn't interfere with the conversation one bit.

When it came time to have my blood drawn, he wrapped the tourniquet around my arm and wielded the needle himself, rather than sending me to the lab at the hospital next door. Of course, being distracted by easy conversation, I hardly noticed the pinch.

Obviously, we're talking about a doctor with excellent people skills. And even though he qualifies as an "older doctor," a group not traditionally known to embrace technology, he has consistently and competently adopted several technologies over the years. A decade or so ago, he was one of my first providers to reference a PDA with me in the room, and later to beam my prescriptions to the pharmacy electronically and now to seamlessly update my electronic health record with a clipboard-sized tablet.

This progressiveness, combined with an old-fashioned, direct approach to medicine and the physician-patient relationship, are qualities that are rare to find in one physician.

I may be very unlucky with traffic (the three hours after the appointment had more to do with collecting my children from a friend's house they didn't want to leave and managing the crisis of Dunkin' Donuts being out of chocolate Munchkins), but I seemingly hit the doctor lottery.

Trust me, though, that the objective of this commentary isn't to put any one human being on a pedestal. No doctor is perfect, and neither is mine. But what I hope you take away from this story is a lesson in patient loyalty. I'm a classic example of an overextended working mom, and there are a lot of other ways I could've used that time I spent listening to my four-year-old explain that one is supposed to drive--and not park--on the highway.

A recent article from Medscape Today discusses ways physicians can prevent other doctors from "stealing" their patients. A lot of the advice, understandably, has to do with maintaining collegial, respectful relationships with other doctors. While I agree with this and recommend you read the whole article, it is my genuine, unprofessional opinion that exceptional patient loyalty starts with your relationships with patients. - Deb (@PracticeMgt)

Read more: How to win a patient for life - FiercePracticeManagement http://www.fiercepracticemanagement.com/story/how-win-patient-life/2012-04-25?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal#ixzz1tn4piXDD
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Summary:

·         The Patient/customer is the reason you are in practice/business. Your time revolves around him.

·         You can't delegate the core aspects of your profession/practice/business. I just learnt of a hospital where the pharmacists 'cost' the prescriptions, while the technicians dispense and 'handover' the drugs to the patients. You know what will happen next.

·         Let your interest in the patient/customer transcend the money you will collect from him.

·         without you present, your pharmacy/hospital is just another shop. The more you are absent, the more  it becomes ordinary.

·          where you can't differentiate your product/service/practice from others, differentiate yourself

·         Embrace technology.

• YOU are the most visible and effective signpost to your business.