Quick project improves patient satisfaction
August 1, 1999 3 minutes read
Quick project improves patient satisfaction
Does your agency need a booster shot to improve customer satisfaction? If so, you might want to try the quick hit quality improvement project that helped Malden Visiting Nurse Association of Malden, MA, raise its patient satisfaction scores.
After implementing the project, the agency’s overall patient satisfaction performance rose from 85.81% in March 1998 to 91.25% the first quarter of 1999, and then the second quarter 1999 results were 94.51%.
When the agency first received its 85.81% score, managers knew they had a problem, says Marjorie Cook, RN, MBA, CNAA, director of performance improvement for Hallmark Health Home Care in Malden. The Malden VNA is a part of Hallmark Health. "We were below the national database average of 91% and we knew that if we couldn’t improve customer service, we would have a problem," Cook says. "That’s the cornerstone of any business."
Here’s how the agency improved customer satisfaction:
1. The performance improvement team set up an action plan.
The team first set a benchmark goal of reaching 93% overall satisfaction and compared the agency’s survey results to the top 10% of agencies that used the same survey, called the Fazzi Patient Satisfac-tion Survey. The team developed an action plan, which included:
• Beginning in August 1998, an office employee would call 50% of the new admissions within one week of the start of care. The employee followed a phone survey tool to assess patient satisfaction and identify any problems. The entire call takes about five minutes.
• Patients who make unsatisfactory comments are referred to the performance improvement department, and an adverse incident form is completed by the person who did the survey. The performance improvement department contacts these clients to resolve their problems.
"The call is to reach out to clients to let them know we’re here and if there are any problems, we’re here to listen," Cook says. "That’s the whole purpose of the call."
2. The team modified the plan to further improve the satisfaction level.
After the performance team reviewed the September 1998 results, the team made some changes to the process, including:
• The team changed the telephone satisfaction survey to clarify two of the questions, including the question about patients’ rights and responsibilities, and the question relating to home safety.
• The team asked the surveyor to probe clients for the names and disciplines of providers with whom the patient has a complaint so that the agency can provide better follow-up to the problem.
Then, in early 1999, the agency passed the national average of 91% overall patient satisfaction. And then in the second quarter of 1999, the agency surpassed its 93% goal with a 94.51% satisfaction rate.
On March 25, 1999, the team decided to have the surveyor call 70% of newly admitted patients with the goal of raising the patient satisfaction level an extra 2% to the 93% goal. The agency will continue to monitor patient satisfaction until the 93% overall satisfaction rate is maintained for three consecutive quarters.
The phone calls, although a simple QI measure, have really done the trick, Cook says. "It’s so unusual to get a call like that from a provider, that patients feel better about Malden VNA than they do about the home care agencies that don’t call them."
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