Creating “enhanced patient experience” as a differentiator
Several generations ago, townspeople usually had only one doctor to choose from when suffering from illness or injury. Today, of course, things are quite different. Medium-sized cities have numerous doctors within the same specialty, and patients can often choose from more than one hospital. So people in charge of marketing for the healthcare sector need to be able to utilize strategies that will help retain current patients, and attract new ones.
Many people ask, "How can you 'market' a hospital?" But marketing a hospital is no different than "marketing" any other organization. But Indians do not like hospitals hard-selling themselves. Even doctors do not like us to use the word ‘marketing’. They want marketers to use words like ‘information’ or ‘value addition’ when promoting hospitals. Therefore, the challenge for healthcare marketers is to have a differentiator for the hospital to create a desired image and positive brand equity .
The Differentiator
If a hospital depends too much on Doctors to get more patients, then it may prove to be a risky strategy, because in that scenario, if any Doctor quits the organization, then you lose his patients too. Most of the corporate hospitals understand this well enough, and therefore they promote and market Brand Hospital, rather than Brand Doctor.
Research also indicates that the medical outcome has very little correlation with the perceived brand of a hospital, because clinical quality is extremely difficult for patients to understand and determine. So, if we assume that the team of doctors in one hospital is as good as the team in other hospitals, then the question is: what's special about your hospital? A hospital can then differentiate itself only by focusing on the service delivered to its patients.
Whether a patient is utilising the indoor or outdoor services of a hospital, nowhere does the patient spend more than 20 per cent of time with the doctor; the balance 80 per cent is spent with other people of the hospital, namely front office staff, technicians, nurses and so on. High correlation has been found between the levels of professionalism, efficiency and soft skills of hospital staff with the image or perception of the hospital among patients. In reality, display of excellence of service of the hospital through the people with whom the patient spends most of the time, gets extrapolated into excellence of medical treatment in the mind-space of the patient.
No hospital can please its customers, unless its service is pleasing and delivered by people who are caring and compassionate. In the parlance of total quality management (TQM) people, a patient is delighted when the service he has received far exceeds his expectations. It is a ‘service plus’ - a blend of high quality professional service and compassionate patient care - that wins the hearts of people. In the nursing parlance, it is service with tender loving care (TLC). As a matchless way of building a brand name and brand image, it maintains excellent image and reaches out to larger number of people than does conventional marketing.
Therefore, soft skills to all, including the doctors, is a pre-requisite for marketing/branding exercises. Hospitals and hospitality industry are similar sounding but when it comes to treating their clients, hospitals have a lot to learn from the latter.
The Ideal Patient Encounter
The hospital must have well-defined Ideal Patient Encounter. It involves every person and process the patient touches — the security officer at the gate, the receptionist, the clinical coordinator, nurses, support staff, and off course, doctors. We need to ensure that every person the patient come in contact with exhibits service behaviours.
First impressions are important, whether you're meeting someone for the first time or seeing how a business truly operates. When it comes to hospital marketing ideas, it's important to first get an idea of how your hospital presents itself. Evaluate the atmosphere of any waiting areas. Are they clean and well lit? Are the magazines current and up to date? While the waiting room may not have any direct ties to the quality of patient care, patients don't know that. If they see ragged magazines from 3 years ago and stained upholstery, they'll get the impression that the hospital isn't up-to-par.
Even the security officer at the gate can set the tone for the patient experience at the hospital. He offers assistance from visitors’ cars, answers questions for first-time visitors, and offers such services as helping someone in a wheelchair, or directing people to the water cooler. The security officers should be trained in such a way that they develop a keen sense for identifying the assistance people need.
We must know that very rarely a patient is unhappy with medical treatment. Most of time, the attitude of indifference on the part of employees / support staff and the inefficiency and “hassle factor” of doing business lead to an unsatisfied patient. Make sure that nervous family members no longer have to wonder and worry about the status of their loved ones.
If you haven't considered sending out SMSs or letters that say "happy birthday" to your patients, think again! These personal acknowledgments can make a huge difference by giving off the impression that the hospital's staff and administrators take the time to recognize and care about each and every patient. Another marketing strategy to consider is appointment reminders. By alerting patients that it's time for their appointment, they will feel as though the hospital is well organized, and, therefore, a successful organization.
It’s time that the hospital needs transformation to a service-driven operation. This culture change takes time and it must start from the top. The top management has to lead by example to inspire the team towards a common goal – “enhanced patient experience”. Improving patient satisfaction would lead to an enhanced reputation, increased demand for hospital services, and the ability to continue attracting the best and brightest in the medical profession.
The People Power
One of the key factor in patient satisfaction is employees who are highly satisfied with their job and work environment. In the healthcare industry, as in other service-related businesses, having engaged, empowered, loyal employees can lead to increased retention, lower costs, enhanced reputations and a profitable business picture.
If you want to provide a high level of patient care and better patient experience, then do everything possible to make employees happy. It will be an investment that will pay rich dividends for the patient and the hospital. Regardless, of all the quality initiatives imposed on employees, unless they are happy and satisfied with their job, patient experiences will not be good. Happy employees deliver superior service. In fact, the research indicated that patients are more likely to recommend a hospital to others if happy and satisfied employees treat them.
In a nutshell
It’s high time that all stakeholders including Doctors & support staff acknowledge the big change that has taken place – from doctor as God to treat patients as God.
Marketing a hospital is not the job of marketing department only. The success of the marketing department depends on its association with various other departments. Organisational excellence is very important than the departmental excellence. The front end cannot perform its duties without the backing of the quality of back end operations. Each department should work in tandem to achieve the common goal i.e. Patient Satisfaction.
The real test of a patient’s satisfaction is the answer to the question: “Has the smile on the patient’s face been restored?” If the answer is “Yes”, the patient is satisfied, and the degree of his satisfaction is proportionate to what degree or extent his needs and expectations have been met. This can be achieved not only by curing the disease, but providing care and comfort during the stay at the hospital leading to enhanced patient experience.
In fact, its time we call hospital’s Marketing Department as “Department of Care & Comfort”!
