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Summary
“The customer’s perception is your reality.” – Kate Zabriskie, Author of Customer Service Excellence:
How to Deliver Value to Today’s Busy Customer.
In a practice where an average of 80 to 100 patients are seen daily customer service excellence
must be a priority for all staff members. I had an opportunity to observe the patient/employee
interaction at both the check-in and check-out desk at the UHZ medical practice. Each day I was
able to view certain office practices that did not reflect the Baptist Health Way; to include such
things as how to properly greet patients or how to properly handle customer complaints.
Moreover, internal and external customer service did not give credit to the BHSF Organization;
there is room for improvement in the area of showing care and concern for the patients as well
as customers. Ultimately, in business it is more about giving and the doing the best you can to
ensure the internal and external customer are satisfied; it’s not a matter of perfection but the
feeling that you’ve done all you could the right way. Therefore, I have provided below details
on areas needing improvement, best practices, and my recommendations on how to go about
making changes.
Goal: Improve patient satisfaction by providing excellent customer service. Provide training and
support to the employees in order to better anticipate patient needs.
Check - in
Check -out
Trainers
Doctors
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The above pyramid denotes the area(s) with the greatest impact on a customer’s overall
experience and sense of satisfaction. As denoted above the check-in and check-out are the
areas that have the greatest effect on the customer experience all improvement efforts should
be focused on these two sections.
Areas Needing Improvement:
1. Customer relations
a. Properly acknowledging and greeting customers.
b. Communicating honestly with customers.
c. Not providing feedback to customers in case of delays.
d. Not being afraid to apologize to customers if a mistake was made.
e. Amount of paperwork that a customer as to fill out that duplicates the
information that was taken during the intake process (avoid redundancy).
f. Not following up with customers in a timely fashion.
2. Management
a. Needs to provide more support for office personnel.
i. Listening to their concerns.
ii. Provide feedback on any suggestions or concerns an employee has.
iii. Emphasize team work and provide the understanding that if one chain in
the link is broken all fail (showing how each department is
interconnected when it comes to the customer)
iv. Ask for the team to provide solutions/ideas on matters that affect the
team as a whole.
b. Anticipate training needs of employee.
c. Need to take the lead in providing the example of giving excellent customer
service.
3. Training
a. Inadequate customer service training.
4. Office operations
a. Neither the front desk nor check out desk offers much privacy to discuss patient
information.
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b. Front office and check-out area has a limited amount of chairs to accommodate
customers (patients and guests are often standing).
c. Forms are being duplicated between the call center intake process and the
check-in desk at the medical clinic.
d. Lobby area is not periodically checked throughout the day (cleanliness of
beverage area or neatness of magazines).
5. Technology
a. Use of technology is limited
b. Not providing enough information to patients through the use of the website.
Best Practices:
1. Cross-training of office personnel – to be able to provide back for the check-in or check-
out area.
2. Check-out clerks do communicate with supervisors/trainers on ways to help the
customers flow through the check-out process more quickly.
3. Check-in personnel have learned through observation which television channels affect
the mood of the lobby area (positively (upbeat) or negatively (depressing atmosphere).
4. Both areas do their best to anticipate customer needs and try to be as helpful as
possible. Also personnel in both areas have communicated their concerns with
supervisors in regards to how to provide better service.
Recommendations:
1. Customer relations
a. Properly acknowledging and greeting customers.
i. Welcoming to the organization, introducing yourself, and verifying which
doctor the patient is coming to visit.
ii. Acknowledging customers promptly even if you have several in front of
you.
b. Communicating honestly with customers.
i. Why identification and insurance card have to be presented.
ii. The length of time before you can see a doctor.
iii. What to expect on the day of your appointment.
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c. Not providing feedback to customers in case of delays.
d. Not being afraid to apologize to customers if a mistake was made.
e. Reduce amount of paperwork that a customer as to fill out (avoid redundancy).
f. Follow-up with customers in a timely fashion.
2. Management
a. Provide more support for office personnel.
i. Listen to their concerns.
ii. Provide feedback on any suggestions or concerns an employee has.
iii. Emphasize team work and provide the understanding that if one chain in
the link is broken all fail (showing how each department is
interconnected when it comes to the customer).
iv. Ask for the team to provide solutions/ideas on matters that affect the
team as a whole.
b. Meet the training needs of employee (i.e. Customer service training), also
monitor work flow to avoid idleness.
c. Take the lead in providing the example of giving excellent customer service.
d. Provide support in office operations, customer complaints, and needs of
employee.
3. Training
a. Intensive customer service training/coaching is needed; face to face not via the
training website.
b. Maybe adding a training coach for the BHMG as a whole, possibly modeling the
program Baptist Outpatient Services currently has.
c. Adequate training should be provided in regards to the standard of customer
service that is expected at Baptist and more specifically for the UHZ clinic.
4. Office operations
a. Evaluate work flow or patient processing.
b. Communicate with all areas (check-in, trainers/doctors, and check-out) to figure
out the best way to move the patient from check-in to check-out and reduce
wait times.
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c. Communicate with supervisor or other departments if there are any issues with
patients.
d. Supervisor should walk around and ensure that all concerned have what they
need throughout the day to anticipate customer needs and be willing to help out
if needed.
e. There should be a briefing and debriefing of office personnel daily/weekly to
discuss challenges and solutions to problems that were encountered during that
period.
5. Technology
a. E-mail
i. To confirm appointments.
ii. Provide information on what document to bring.
iii. Provide directions to the appointment location (for example avoid
misdirecting patients going to see Dr. Hodgkins' at West Kendall)
iv. Provide information on what to expect of day of appointment.
v. Follow-up with information regarding any follow-up appointments.
b. Website
i. Should have a slide show providing information on the team not just the
doctor that will be serving them.
