The document discusses improving patient experience in medical practices through tools like CG-CAHPS surveys. It provides three key tools that have been effective for improving domains of the CG-CAHPS survey: 1) AIDET, a communication technique to build trust and reduce anxiety, 2) Individualized Patient Care involving personalized greetings and care plans, and 3) Integrated Office-Based Skills Labs to break down silos between staff and improve coordination of care from the patient's perspective. Medical practices that have implemented these tools have seen improvements on CG-CAHPS surveys.
New Ways to Improve the Patient Experience: Because it Begins Before the Fron...TraceByTWSG
This presentation will review strategic initiatives for revenue cycle leaders to further engage patients in their care experience – beginning before they enter the hospital’s front door. The session will present key strategies and related outcomes in patient satisfaction, staff performance, reimbursement and upfront patient collections.
• Ensure meaningful upfront encounters with Patient Access – at each and every encounter.
• Hardwire measurable standards throughout Patient Access teams.
• Reduce process time and eliminate duplication for quicker patient turnaround.
• Ensure consistent practices across hospital entities and among associates.
• Avoid financial harm through automated documentation.
• Protect staff through documentation integrity.
• Increase visibility of – and access to – critical patient touch points across the organization.
Leading the development of Texas Health’s Patient Access infrastructure, Patti Consolver and Scott Phillips oversee the centralized patient access intake center and the patient access departments for the system’s 13 wholly-owned hospitals.
Overview of Patient Experience Definitions and Measurement ToolsInnovations2Solutions
This publication will provide an overview of patient experience, how it is measured, and how to achieve it optimally within the healthcare setting. Sodexo’s definition of Patient Experience will also be explored.
2016 Resume of Tiffany Tindall RN 727.804.4466Tiffany Tindall
Over 24 years of customer care excellence experience working with; Critical Care/ER & Home Health Nursing~Sales & Marketing Liaison~Nsg IT Cerner-'Train the Trainer' ~Education/Training Development ~Community Outreach Programs/Education ~Humana/Care Plus Case Management~DNV & JCHAHO Accreditation~Magnet Council~Team Building~HCAPS Survery. See resume for more!
Managing the hospital in-patient experience | Understanding where to investSiegel+Gale
Few would argue the importance of delivering a quality patient experience, but how do you determine where improvements would have the greatest impact?
Siegel+Gale's Rolf Wulfsberg, PhD, Global Director of Quantitative Insights, shares a unique analysis of patient experience data from a national study of hospital patients.
+ Gain insights into the findings of our recent PinPoint™ study that examined the experiences of 500 hospital patients nationally
+ Learn how it is possible to segregate the impact of different touch points on the overall patient experience
+ See patient experience strategy maps that help inform investment decisions
+ Understand how the drivers of patient acquisition differ from the drivers of retention (e.g., word of mouth recommendations to others)
+ Learn some specific steps that can be taken to improve the hospital experience
Siegel+Gale is a global strategic branding firm committed to building world-class brands through elegantly simple, unexpectedly fresh strategies, stories and experiences. We deliver comprehensive services in brand development, simplification, research and digital media. Since our founding by brand sage and simplification pioneer Alan Siegel in 1969, Siegel+Gale's mantra has been "Simple is Smart."
New Ways to Improve the Patient Experience: Because it Begins Before the Fron...TraceByTWSG
This presentation will review strategic initiatives for revenue cycle leaders to further engage patients in their care experience – beginning before they enter the hospital’s front door. The session will present key strategies and related outcomes in patient satisfaction, staff performance, reimbursement and upfront patient collections.
• Ensure meaningful upfront encounters with Patient Access – at each and every encounter.
• Hardwire measurable standards throughout Patient Access teams.
• Reduce process time and eliminate duplication for quicker patient turnaround.
• Ensure consistent practices across hospital entities and among associates.
• Avoid financial harm through automated documentation.
• Protect staff through documentation integrity.
• Increase visibility of – and access to – critical patient touch points across the organization.
Leading the development of Texas Health’s Patient Access infrastructure, Patti Consolver and Scott Phillips oversee the centralized patient access intake center and the patient access departments for the system’s 13 wholly-owned hospitals.
Overview of Patient Experience Definitions and Measurement ToolsInnovations2Solutions
This publication will provide an overview of patient experience, how it is measured, and how to achieve it optimally within the healthcare setting. Sodexo’s definition of Patient Experience will also be explored.
2016 Resume of Tiffany Tindall RN 727.804.4466Tiffany Tindall
Over 24 years of customer care excellence experience working with; Critical Care/ER & Home Health Nursing~Sales & Marketing Liaison~Nsg IT Cerner-'Train the Trainer' ~Education/Training Development ~Community Outreach Programs/Education ~Humana/Care Plus Case Management~DNV & JCHAHO Accreditation~Magnet Council~Team Building~HCAPS Survery. See resume for more!
Managing the hospital in-patient experience | Understanding where to investSiegel+Gale
Few would argue the importance of delivering a quality patient experience, but how do you determine where improvements would have the greatest impact?
Siegel+Gale's Rolf Wulfsberg, PhD, Global Director of Quantitative Insights, shares a unique analysis of patient experience data from a national study of hospital patients.
+ Gain insights into the findings of our recent PinPoint™ study that examined the experiences of 500 hospital patients nationally
+ Learn how it is possible to segregate the impact of different touch points on the overall patient experience
+ See patient experience strategy maps that help inform investment decisions
+ Understand how the drivers of patient acquisition differ from the drivers of retention (e.g., word of mouth recommendations to others)
+ Learn some specific steps that can be taken to improve the hospital experience
Siegel+Gale is a global strategic branding firm committed to building world-class brands through elegantly simple, unexpectedly fresh strategies, stories and experiences. We deliver comprehensive services in brand development, simplification, research and digital media. Since our founding by brand sage and simplification pioneer Alan Siegel in 1969, Siegel+Gale's mantra has been "Simple is Smart."
Bookends of the Patient Experience: Improvement Strategies from Admission to ...TraceByTWSG
In this webinar, Yvonne Chase of Mayo Clinic shares strategies to improve patient experience across the continuum of care - from pre-service to post-servcie activities. This presentation shares tools and processes used to streamline patient access, coordinate patient care and conduct patient follow-up post discharge - all while monitoring patient interactions to ensure clear and accurate communication from the first point of contact to the last.
Improving capacity and quality can help future ready your programGenpact Ltd
The last four decades have seen survival rates for most major cancers markedly improve even as incidence rates have climbed. Such progress is widely attributed to an increased focus on early detection and intervention, particularly with cancers deemed highly “curable” if detected early. Also, many more end-stage cancers today are being rendered manageable for years or even decades, where previous generations of patients with similar diagnoses were given significantly shorter prognoses. With this success comes a host of new needs, mainly in the form of capacity and quality. Timely, affordable, quality care is the great challenge ahead. If this challenge is to be adequately met, community cancer centers need to play a greater role than ever.
Still struggling to find the monetary value of a strong patient communications program? This white paper maps the advantages and provides evidence about the ROI of using sustained electronic communications to improve patient satisfaction and outcomes.
HFMA Article: 5 Signs That You Can Reduce Staffing Costs and Boost Nurse Sati...Block & Tackle Marketing
See how three Care Logistics hospitals are increasing efficiency in care delivery to improve healthcare quality and nurse morale while reducing costs from overtime, agency use, and turnover. By Care Logistics CFO Samantha Platzke.
Patient Satisfaction deals with how patients evaluate the quality of their healthcare experience. It is mainly assessed by conducting Patient Satisfaction Surveys using Healthcare Survey Software to determine the high quality of care, in addition to numerous other dimensions of quality, such as relevance to need, effectiveness, and efficiency.
How one Hospital Shaved Off 88 Minutes from their ALOSEmCare
With goals of getting the right processes and staffing in place, the administration and staff at LewisGale Medical Center in Salem, Virginia put a priority on patient-centered process improvements that would shorten wait times and length of stay in the emergency department (E.D.). Here’s how they improved metrics including decreasing the ED ALOS by 45 percent.
Bookends of the Patient Experience: Improvement Strategies from Admission to ...TraceByTWSG
In this webinar, Yvonne Chase of Mayo Clinic shares strategies to improve patient experience across the continuum of care - from pre-service to post-servcie activities. This presentation shares tools and processes used to streamline patient access, coordinate patient care and conduct patient follow-up post discharge - all while monitoring patient interactions to ensure clear and accurate communication from the first point of contact to the last.
Improving capacity and quality can help future ready your programGenpact Ltd
The last four decades have seen survival rates for most major cancers markedly improve even as incidence rates have climbed. Such progress is widely attributed to an increased focus on early detection and intervention, particularly with cancers deemed highly “curable” if detected early. Also, many more end-stage cancers today are being rendered manageable for years or even decades, where previous generations of patients with similar diagnoses were given significantly shorter prognoses. With this success comes a host of new needs, mainly in the form of capacity and quality. Timely, affordable, quality care is the great challenge ahead. If this challenge is to be adequately met, community cancer centers need to play a greater role than ever.
Still struggling to find the monetary value of a strong patient communications program? This white paper maps the advantages and provides evidence about the ROI of using sustained electronic communications to improve patient satisfaction and outcomes.
HFMA Article: 5 Signs That You Can Reduce Staffing Costs and Boost Nurse Sati...Block & Tackle Marketing
See how three Care Logistics hospitals are increasing efficiency in care delivery to improve healthcare quality and nurse morale while reducing costs from overtime, agency use, and turnover. By Care Logistics CFO Samantha Platzke.
Patient Satisfaction deals with how patients evaluate the quality of their healthcare experience. It is mainly assessed by conducting Patient Satisfaction Surveys using Healthcare Survey Software to determine the high quality of care, in addition to numerous other dimensions of quality, such as relevance to need, effectiveness, and efficiency.
How one Hospital Shaved Off 88 Minutes from their ALOSEmCare
With goals of getting the right processes and staffing in place, the administration and staff at LewisGale Medical Center in Salem, Virginia put a priority on patient-centered process improvements that would shorten wait times and length of stay in the emergency department (E.D.). Here’s how they improved metrics including decreasing the ED ALOS by 45 percent.
Vikram Goud is the Secretary for Andhra Pradesh
Pradesh Congress Committee and also the Associate President of Hyderabad Metro Water Works and Sewerage Board Employees Union.
Prezentácia obsahuje základné výsledky dizertečného výskumu didaktiky úvodných kurzov počítačovej grafiky. Venuje sa im prevažne heslovite, zameriava sa na dosiahnuté ciele a prínosy. V závere obsahuje odpovede na otázky komisie. Práca bola obhájená v decembri 2012.
Vikram Goud is the Associate President of Hyderabad Water Works and Sewerage Board Employees Union and also the Secretary for Andhra Pradesh Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC).
Evolution of product management and innovation @ IND/MISYSproductbp
Evolution of product management and innovation @ IND/MISYS - Tamás Grünzweig (Head of Innovation Lab @ MISYS)
Large organisations are tough. Tamás will talk about the split between classic product management and disruptive innovation. He will tell the story of the rise of LABS department, share the results and lessons learned at IND/MYSIS.
Engage Front-line Care Team Using Clinical Audit Checklists iCareQuality.us
The culture of patient safety, quality, and transparency is central to improving care delivery at the organization and industry level. Implementing a sustainable frontline solution like quality checklists will require new leadership, innovative thinking, applications of human factor engineering, and patient voices who demand better. We need to reward staff engagement and quality patient safety efforts which can translate into better patient outcomes. CCG, PSO developed a Clinical Audit Checklist program that can support a culture of transparency and accountability, thereby reducing healthcare costs and delivering positive patient outcomes. Together, we can make continuous daily improvement a standard practice at the hospital and system level. Patients are counting on us to make care delivery safer today for a better patient experience tomorrow.
Unit 2 DB Responses1.I enjoyed reading your post and I completel.docxshanaeacklam
Unit 2 DB Responses
1.
I enjoyed reading your post and I completely agree with your points. I would like to comment on one of your points regarding controlling the quality of care by using independent contractors. There are benefits to this initiatives, but there could be disadvantages too. The benefit of using teams of experts that you did not hire saves the organization costs associated with keeping full time employees, and patients are seen in a timely manner (In some cases). Many years ago, some departsments in a HMO that I work for had access problem such as patients having to wait 3-4 weeks when they need to see a specialist within the organization. No patient with ear infection or difficulty swallowing wants to wait for 3 three weeks to be seen.
We were sending patients outside for urgent MRIs, CT scans, as well as to different specialists even though the company has capabilities to perform some of these functions in house. Apart from the rising costs this created, the level of patients dissatisfaction went through the roof as some patients get to their appointments and were told that referrals that were to be autofaxed to the outside vendors were never received. Some patients were sent away (no referral, no service). Our Utilization Management department was bombarded with approving these external referrals. We have improved, regrouped, and expanded. State of the art facilities were built and still continue to be built, More physicians, nurses, and support staff were hired, and our patient satifaction rate has grown greatly. For example, we used to send our deaf patients to John's Hopkins Hospital for cochlear implants which cost way over hundred thousand dollars, but that's done in house now
2.
Quality of care is a very sensitive subject for every party involved in the healthcare system. They all have different perspectives, each looking at healthcare from a different lens. Patients see quality of care in the results of their treatment and whether their treatment was effective immediately. It can also be measured by how the provider thinks, If a provider were to say that a patient would heal in 2 weeks, the patient would check for the dulling of pain around 2 weeks after the visit. Providers, on the other hand, see quality of care as the credentials that they need to get in order to renew and keep their license to practice.
Quality has its place in the healthcare system, with its positives and negatives. The positives are that it creates an air of steady improvement within competing facilities, and that it encompasses the entire scope of the patient's feelings and their care, such as the friendliness of staff to the patient, and number of services provided. The negatives are that the rating system could list quality as bad for a number of reasons that culminate in the spirit of customer service, and that constant high quality for providers means that their licenses are constantly being improved with items that fit the demanding.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARYClient’s requirement Panion Project seeks to aBetseyCalderon89
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Client’s requirement: Panion Project seeks to address the optimal performance of care workers in Canada and the USA by ensuring better access to quality care. ………………………………
Introduction
Healthcare happens to be the concern of every facet of humanity and for this reason, the Panion project is of great interest and relevance to every community where it exists. At some point in our lives, we have found ourselves, or a family member, or a colleague, or friends needing medical attention, and we all desire that this health/medical situation be treated with the utmost care, skill, professionalism, and acceptable standard.
It would therefore be interesting to render our professional knowledge towards providing valuable information, analyzing potential challenges and opportunities, improving the system and methods to optimize the desired outcome of the Panion project.
A lot of factors that undermine the performance of care workers as identified by the client are but are not limited to;
· The mismatch between job specification and care worker’s attributes.
· The huge commission charged by health care agencies.
· Poor compensation and benefits packages,
· Long distances are often required to deliver service to health-seeker,
· Absence of incentives for skill enhancement and career development.
Scope: Having identified the problems that increased employee turnover in health care services, the Panion project seeks to address these problems and also increase employee retention by using employees retention strategies and tools like training, employee engagement, and development, benefits, and other employee capacity building skills.
Speak up…
• If you don’t understand something or if something doesn’t seem right.
• If you speak or read another language and would like an interpreter or translated materials.
• If you need medical forms explained.
• If you think you’re being confused with another patient.
• If you don’t recognize a medicine or think you’re about to get the wrong medicine.
• If you are not getting your medicine or treatment when you should.
• About your allergies and reactions you’ve had to medicines.
Pay attention…
• Check identification (ID) badges worn by doctors, nurses and other staff.
• Check the ID badge of anyone who asks to take your newborn baby.
• Don’t be afraid to remind doctors and nurses to wash their hands.
Educate yourself…
• So you can make well-informed decisions about your care.
• Ask doctors and nurses about their training and experience treating your condition.
• Ask for written information about your condition.
• Find out how long treatment should last, and how you should feel during treatment.
• Ask for instruction on how to use your medical equipment.
Advocates (family members and friends) can help…
• Give advice and support — but they should respect your decisions about the care you want.
• Ask questions, and write down important information and instructi ...
Patient’s experience, improve the quality health3zsaddique
Putting patients first requires more than world-class clinical care – it requires care that addresses every aspect of a patient’s encounter with Hospital, including the patient’s physical comfort, as well as their educational, emotional, and spiritual needs. A team of professionals should serves as an advisory resource for critical initiatives across the Hospital health system. In addition, it should provide resources and data analytics; identify, support, and publish sustainable best practices; and collaborate with a variety of departments to ensure the consistent delivery of patient-centered care.
This issue features the following pieces:
The Dark Side of Quality
Quality and Other Components of the Value Proposition
What Do Hospitals Want From Anesthesia Groups?
The Physician-Owned Management Services Organization
Should You Apologize for a Poor Outcome?
Thinking of Investing In, or Renting Space In, an ASC?
ICD-10 is the Latest Y2K: The Potential Impact on Provider Revenue
A Leading Patient Experience Survey Platform by MedStatix - White Labeled for...MedStatix, LLC
Improving Patient Experience. Improving Practice Performance.
MedStatix, LLC, offers a WHITE LABELED, cloud-based specialty-specific patient experience survey platform that is bundled and/or resold by leading EMR/EHRs and other integrated healthcare service providers as a value-add to their products.
The patient experience platform uses data science and predictive analytics learned from data hosted on the platform to enable healthcare providers to improve quality of care, patient retention rates and risk profiles of physician practices.
The patient experience platform pinpoints specific, actionable problems where practices can improve their service through its easy-to-implement, yet sophisticated technology solution for monitoring and measuring patient experience by each provider across an organization.
With over a decade delivering over one million patient surveys for over 25 pharmaceutical brands, as well as customer feedback platforms and analytics for Fortune-class brands, MedStatix enables their resellers to provide their customers with exceptional practice improvement opportunities.
doctors and nurses can be differentiated in an effortless manner. Doctors study and cure disease, while nurses study and heal people. Too know more visit: https://at.tumblr.com/medicalsaffairsusa/what-can-nurses-do-that-doctors-cannot/31c42h37gaen
The emerging healthcare environment requires expanded patient access while delivering optimal outcomes and cost. As healthcare moves form a fee for service model to alternative delivery and payment models, there are opportunities for physical therapy to revolutionize the delivery of musculoskeletal medicine. Physical therapists are uniquely qualified to spearhead musculoskeletal care through direct access with the potential to improve patient satisfaction and outcomes while limiting unneeded medical care. While this model has been described in the military, there are few descriptions of this PT First approach in the private payer arena. This session will provide the attendee with a multifaceted perspective on the impact of physical therapy in emerging, collaborative healthcare models. Approaches to payers and employers with the business implications will be presented that influence these new models. Key strategies to implement a scalable, best practice model will be discussed including the logistical challenges and corollary solutions in the private arena. We will discus our experience implementing novel delivery models for management of neck, back, shoulder and knee pain. The session will deliver practical solutions to the challenges of implementing, assessing, and adapting a theoretical construct to a working viable program. Finally, the session will discuss how the use of a a large Patient Outcomes Registry and analysis of “big data” can drive best practice and inform development of the program.
How To Write A Resume For A Doctor. 7. Include Con
3-15 AMGA Morris CG CAHPS
1. 38 GROUP PRACTICE JOURNAL x AMGA.ORG MARCH 2015
As a Board-certified orthopedist and hand surgeon,
I was disappointed recently when the quality of my
follow-up care after prostate surgery fell quite short of
the hospital care I received. I elected to go 450 miles
from home for the surgery because of the reputation of
the surgeon and the hospital, and it was a very positive
experience. In the hospital, every member of the surgi-
cal team “managed up” the experience and expertise of
everyone else on the team and demonstrated great care
for my physical and emotional well-being.
Under CG-CAHPS, high-performing
medical practices will be better reim-
bursed for Medicare and Medicaid pa-
tients than low-performing practices,
which will be penalized.
However, when I returned for my follow-up ap-
pointment at the surgical office, it was obvious that my
surgeon and his advanced practice professional (APP)
were both unfamiliar with my concerns and had not re-
viewed my written responses to their intake questions.
I’d been anxious to better understand the significance
of the tumor breaching the capsule—or whether it was
possibly a surgical artifact—given my recent normal
prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. And, I wondered
whether the mild residual urinary incontinence I was
experiencing was considered normal at this stage.
However, the APP wasn’t even aware I’d had a recent
PSA test, and the surgeon did not address my concerns.
How could my hospital and office practice experiences
differ so radically?
Closing the Gaps
The aim of CG-CAHPS—or Clinician & Group
Surveys–Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers
and Systems—is to close these kinds of gaps. The Cen-
ters for Medicare and Medicaid Services is now using
this patient survey to incentivize medical practices to
improve the outpatient experience, much like Hospital
CAHPS (H CAHPS) is doing for hospital inpatients.
Under CG-CAHPS, high-performing medical prac-
tices will be better reimbursed (for Medicare and Med-
icaid patients) than low-performing practices, which
will be penalized. As early as 2015, these (or similar)
survey scores will provide the foundation for changes
that potentially impact up to 70 or 80 percent of reim-
bursements for those practices impacted by value-based
purchasing. (For more detail about the different types
of practice surveys, view the CG-CAHPS 101 webinar
at www.studergroup.com/IPCclinic.)
CG-CAHPS is not about “smile school” but rather
about getting back to the core of what we do as provid-
ers: delivering quality outcomes for patients. Strong per-
formance on the CG-CAHPS survey is usually associated
with decreased liability risk, improved clinical outcomes,
and reduced provider burnout. While it’s technically just
a score, it serves as an important barometer for deter-
mining the quality of the patient experience we deliver.
Patient’s Eyes and Voice
Just as we use lab tests to help determine whether
a patient has an infection (like a high white cell count),
so too can CG-CAHPS help us understand where
we can best focus our efforts to improve the patient
experience, because it represents the patient’s eyes and
voice. Just as the patient’s white cell count generally
goes down when we treat the infection successfully, so
too will CG-CAHPS results improve when we treat the
underlying issues in the practice.
It’s important to understand that CG-CAHPS data
is already publicly reported at www.medicare.gov/
physicancompare.gov. Do you know what your patients
are saying about their experiences in your office? Your
communication? Your follow-up on test results? How
helpful and courteous your office staff are?
Patients don’t live in our world and don’t share our
training, so they cannot differentiate among providers
on the technical quality of care. They see only bits and
pieces of what we do and they assess quality based on
their experience.1
If we don’t provide patients with a
CG-CAHPS Is Here
New Tools Improve the Patient Experience
BY JEFF MORRIS, M.D., M.B.A., FACS
March_2015_mech.indd 38 3/11/15 2:47 PM
2. MARCH 2015 AMGA.ORG x GROUP PRACTICE JOURNAL 39
positive experience, we place both our practice reputa-
tion and market share at risk, particularly in today’s era
of viral blogs and Facebook posts on wait times.
Similarly, numerous studies show that a poor
patient experience correlates with high liability risk.2
Patients usually do not take legal action based on real
quality of care concerns, but, more often, based on
quality of communication (e.g., the provider was rude,
did not accept phone calls, did not listen or seem to
care). Communication is key3
—even with unfavorable
clinical outcomes—to retaining patient trust and reduc-
ing lawsuits.
Burnout is rampant among healthcare providers.4
When patients have a positive experience because we
have communicated well, shared an effective care plan,
and made progress toward wellness through a shared
mutual agenda, we feel a sense of renewed purpose,
worthwhile work, and making a difference in our work.
We connect with hearts and minds and are far less
likely to suffer professional burnout.
Three Tools
In coaching many group practices nationwide,
Studer Group has found three tools particularly effec-
tive for improving multiple domains that measure the
patient experience on the CG-CAHPS survey: (1) AID-
ET®
, (2) Individualized Patient Care, and (3) Integrated
Office-Based Skills Labs. These tools build patient trust,
align providers, staff, and patients with respect to treat-
ment goals, and improve patient adherence to treatment
protocols.
1. AIDET Builds Trust and Reduces Anxiety
AIDET is an acronym for “Acknowledge, Intro-
duce, Duration, Explanation, Thank you,” a communi-
cations awareness tool:
■■ “A” stands for Acknowledge the patient. This
tells patients that you care about them and dem-
onstrates respect (which are asked about on the
CG-CAHPS survey). By making eye contact and
sitting down, you begin to connect on a personal
level and build a positive relationship.
■■ “I” stands for Introduce. Share something posi-
tive about yourself and your team that gives the
patient confidence in your competency.
■■ “D” is for Duration. Describing how long the
exam or test will be or how long the wait will be
reduces anxiety.
■■ “E” is for Explanation. Explain your findings,
about the pain involved, or what will happen
next. Always use words the patient can under-
stand and avoid jargon. Use the “teach-back”
method and ensure the patient is understanding
by asking questions in an open manner (i.e.,
“What questions do you have for me?” rather
than “Do you have any questions?”).
■■ “T” stands for Thank you. Always close with
your appreciation for the opportunity to care for
the patient and for partnering in their care plan.
As Rodney Tucker, M.D., associate professor and
director for the Center for Palliative and Supportive
Care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has
said, “AIDET® is like a gift to physicians because it
tests and validates ACGME [Accreditation Council for
Graduate Medical Education]-required core competen-
cies like professionalism, interpersonal/communication
skills, and patient-centered care.” It also improves
group practice performance in every domain of CG-
CAHPS survey questions, including doctor communica-
tion and courtesy/helpfulness of staff.
We Work Nights
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March_2015_mech.indd 39 3/11/15 2:47 PM
3. 40 GROUP PRACTICE JOURNAL x AMGA.ORG MARCH 2015
As healthcare providers, we owe it to our patients
to ensure we communicate in a way that reduces anxiety.
Calm, engaged patients are more likely to align with and
listen to their provider for adherence to treatment plans.
In fact, physicians who are rated high on empathy usu-
ally achieve better clinical outcomes than their peers.5
AIDET is not a checklist, so be sure to adapt it for
the person using it, for the patient being seen, and for
the setting, but use elements of AIDET®
every time with
every patient. An example of AIDET for a provider
might sound like this: “Ms. Jones, we have covered a
lot of information in the last few minutes, so what can I
explain better for you, and what questions do you have
for me?”
Or:
“Thank you for coming in today, Mr. Brown. It was
important for us to make sure that your diabetes is
under good control. And thank you for being so good
about your diet and taking your medications as pre-
scribed.”
Every member of your team has an important
role to play in the patient experience! For example,
a receptionist might begin with a thank you (“Mr.
Minerman—Thanks for coming in today.”) and then
introduce her/himself and “manage up” the providers’
expertise to a new patient (“I know you’re new to this
practice, and I welcome the opportunity to take care
of you. I’ve been here for 12 years and have worked
with Dr. Smith the entire time. He’s a great physician.
You’re going to be in very capable hands.”) She may
save the AIDET “Duration” for the end of the encoun-
ter (“Thanks for completing these forms. We will come
get you in 10 to 15 minutes for the initial evaluation by
Lisa, our nurse practitioner.”).
2. Individualized Patient Care
As the late Maya Angelou famously said, “People
remember how you made them feel.” Individualized
Patient Care (IPC) is patient-centered care. As Okla-
homa University (OU) Physicians Executive Director of
Clinical Operations and Community Health Services,
Holly Adams, M.H.A., FACHE, FACMPE, says, “Who
better to speak to the unique needs and sensitivities that
our patients have than the patients themselves?”
In a medical group practice setting, IPC is charac-
terized by a high-touch personal greeting and uses an
IPC card to elicit the patient’s objective for the visit.
The IPC card also prevents unnecessary calls post-visit
because key questions were answered. (To learn more
about OU’s experience with IPC in a large multi-spe-
cialty practice and improved CG-CAHPS results, watch
a brief video at www.studergroup.com/IPCclinic).
Because CG-CAHPS measures the care continu-
um—from before the patient encounter until well after
it ends—many medical practices find that pre-visit calls
are an effective way to begin IPC, and post-visit calls
effectively complete it. Pre-visit calls reduce missed
appointments by establishing trust and concern for the
patient and identify what is most important to the pa-
tient for that visit. This is then documented on the IPC
card for follow-up during the visit.
When patients arrive at registration, the front desk
staff acknowledges the stated concern or anxiety as
noted on the IPC and puts them at ease. From the pa-
tient’s perspective, this is evidence that the team is coor-
dinating care and patient-focused. This has a powerful
positive impact on how patients answer questions in
the communication domain of the CG-CAHPS survey.
JPS Health Network in Fort Worth, Texas, a 537-bed
acute care public hospital with 15 affiliated primary
care clinics and 100 contracted primary care providers,
asks every patient to complete an IPC card at check-
in. On the front of the card, the patient’s arrival and
appointment times are noted. On the back of the card,
patients are asked to check the reason for their appoint-
ment to ensure their needs are met, (e.g., prescription
refill, form for work, referral.) (Download a copy of
JPS’ IPC card at www.studergroup.com/physamples.)
In just four months after implementation of the IPC
card, JPS improved patient ratings for “overall rating
of provider” from the 23rd to 41st percentile compared
to peers.
3. Skills Labs Break Down Silos
Just as in baseball, hitting the ball out of the park
does not constitute a home run until the hitter touches
all the bases, so too must we touch all the bases with
every patient, every time, to ensure they always have
an excellent experience. Said another way, because the
patient experience is not based on a single interaction
with any one individual in the practice, the quality of
every interaction impacts the perception of every next
interaction during the patient’s visit.
If a patient has a poor experience making a tele-
phone appointment, she may be skeptical about the
quality of the practice by the time she meets her pro-
vider. Conversely, when the receptionist manages up the
expertise of the provider using AIDET®
, she’s prepared
for a positive experience.
The Integrated Office-Based Skills Lab is a diag-
nostic and validation coaching tool that breaks down
silo thinking in favor of teamwork so that the team has
an experiential understanding of how their interactions
impact the overall patient experience and how they can
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4. 42 GROUP PRACTICE JOURNAL ❘ AMGA.ORG MARCH 2015
improve it. A receptionist may have never been in a
patient room, for example, while someone who works
in the back office has likely never seen what occurs in
the reception area. Integrated skills labs remedy that
by gathering the team together in a safe environment
(e.g., during non-patient hours) to trace through mock
patient encounters from registration to discharge, while
learning and validating the use of best practice commu-
nication tools like AIDET®
and IPC.
Alegent Creighton Clinic in Omaha, Nebraska,
has conducted 54 integrated skills labs to date over
18 months at 46 of the system’s 100-plus individual
sites. As a result, they’ve enjoyed a jump of 50 percent
or greater in five of the six CG-CAHPS domains (e.g.,
overall provider rating, helpfulness of office staff, thor-
oughness and completeness of exam). Integrated skills
labs move performance improvement quickly.
“For the most part, participants are curious or a bit
nervous at the outset, but 99 percent will express how
much they learned by the end of the skills lab,” notes
Larry Brown, M.D., FAAP, FACP, a practicing internal
medicine and pediatrics physician and medical director
of service excellence at Alegent Creighton. “The team
concept is key in an ambulatory setting because of the
false walls that exist between front office staff, nurses,
and providers. Skills labs allow everyone to see the en-
vironment and individual encounters from the patient’s
perspective. Also, they remove the excuse that the
scores are poor due to the performance of a particular
individual, certain patients, or the vendor survey. The
team understands our score depends on everyone work-
ing together.”
At Alegent Creighton Clinic, a skills lab typically
includes up to 20 individuals (including four to six pro-
viders) and lasts approximately one hour. Individuals
at all skill levels—from physicians and advance practice
clinician providers to radiology technicians and front
office receptionists—are expected to attend. A mock
patient scenario is entered into the electronic health
record teaching model. Observers follow the mock
patient through all touch points during the visit, noting
written observations on an evaluation form, and then
highlight what went well as well as opportunities for
improvement, during a facilitated group debrief.
Data are summarized and shared with the clinic
manager, who follows up with information on tools or
articles that address opportunities for improvement.
“Providers can be humble, so we frequently need to
connect the dots for them between the importance of
narrating their patient care and managing up their
expertise with reducing patient anxiety and ensuring
better clinical outcomes,” adds Dr. Brown.
Suggested Reading
A Framework for Integrated Office-Based Skills Labs.
At www.studergroup.com/skillslabframework.
Enhanced Verbal & Non-Verbal Communication Skills, Using
AIDET®
& Key Words. At www.studergroup.com/AIDETbasics.
Morris, J., M.D., M.B.A., FACS, Hotko, B., R.N., M.P.A.,
and Bates, M., M.P.H. Jan. 2015. The CG-CAHPS Handbook: A
Guide to Improve Patient Experience and Clinical Outcome. Gulf
Breeze, FL: Firestarter Publishing. ISBN: 9781622180073.
Comfort Levels
Communicating differently is not always comfort-
able for staff and providers at first. But there can be no
progress, success, or achievement in life without some
level of discomfort. It’s important to get comfortable
being uncomfortable if you want to advance to the next
level. It may take a little time to become comfortable
with these tools, but you and your patients deserve it.
References
1.J.T. Chang, R.D. Hays, et al. 2006. Patients’ global ratings of
their health care are not associated with the technical quality
of their care. Annuals of Internal Medicine, 144(9): 665–672.
2.G.B. Hickson, C.F. Federspiel, et al. 2002. Patient complaints
and malpractice risk. JAMA. 287(22): 2951–2957.
3.Chang, Op. cit.
4.T.D. Shanafelt, S. Boone, et al. 2012. Burnout and satisfac-
tion with work-life balance among US physicians relative to
the general U.S. population. Archives of Internal Medicine,
172(18): 1377–1385.
5.M. Hojat, D.Z. Louis, et al. 2011. Physicians’ empathy and
clinical outcome for diabetic patients. Academic Medicine,
86(3): 359–364.
Jeff Morris, M.D., M.B.A., FACS, is a Studer Group
physician coach and speaker and coauthor of The CG-
CAHPS Handbook: A Guide to Improve Patient Experi-
ence and Clinical Outcomes.
EHR Blues: A Barrier to Connecting with Your Patients?
Sometimes the electronic health record (EHR) becomes an impedi-
ment to engaging patients because of the way in which we position
it both physically—between the physician and provider—as well in
the patient’s mind. We may “manage it down” by sharing our frustra-
tion or wishing we could go back to paper.
Instead, set up patient rooms so providers can sit next to patients to
view the EHR together. Use key words to emphasize benefits around
quality and safety. For example, “This is difficult for me because I
don’t type very quickly, but it’s a really excellent tool. See how your
x-rays and all your records are here? In the old ‘paper days,’ it was
often difficult to get access to these at one time, but here you can see
that your primary care doctor and surgeon have both documented
everything in one place.”
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