Immediately following the Super Bowl, the winning team is often asked “what’s next?”. The answer is a familiar refrain, “We are going to Disney World!”

In the mid-1960s, Walt Disney was able to take 43 square miles of swampland and turn it into what has become not only a theme park, but an experience. What makes Disney so special?

Fred Lee makes the case that Disney’s culture of over-the-top customer service is why more than 47,000 people a day travel from all over the world to visit Walt Disney World.

Generating Loyalty

There is a saying that “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” That is especially true in health care. Loyalty is not garnered simply by giving people a good experience. As Mr. Lee points out, we need to give them a story. “Loyalty is generated by memorable things that happen that we didn’t expect.” Our patients expect to get good care by competent doctors and technicians. Satisfied patients do not equal loyal patients. Satisfied patients do not go home and tell their friends and neighbors about their visit.

Mr. Lee explains how to create a culture of patient care that will have your patients telling all their friends about their visit and how much your staff cares about them.

Create a Friendly Experience

Every practice deals with day-to-day challenges, including wait times, parking issues, billing disputes, and angry or frightened patients. The way you handle these unavoidable distractions will determine whether your patient goes home singing your praises or complaining to everyone they see.

Regardless of wait times or charges, patients judge their overall experience by how you treat them. Make courtesy more important than efficiency.

Most practices have access to picture ID’s. Use these to prepare for the patients arrival. Greet the patients by name when they come up to check in for their appointment. Have your front desk employees imagine they are greeting a friend whom they haven’t seen in a long time.

Technicians should explain any testing in the same way they would explain it to their favorite relative. Reassure the patient while explaining the purpose of each procedure.

Before a patient leaves the office, ask if all of his/her questions and concerns have been addressed.

Surprises Go A Long Way

Surprise the patient with extras. Offer soft drinks or water when the patient is waiting in the exam room. Make notes in the chart when a grandbaby is born or a daughter is getting married so that you can ask about it at the next visit. Look for anything that will make a your patients feel like valued guests in your office.

Remember, Disney World did not earn the title “the happiest place on earth” by being the most convenient, cheapest or quickest.

Creating a culture that focuses on the things that correlate most with patient satisfaction will improve patient loyalty, increase patient referrals, and encourage employees to focus on giving the patient a story to tell. OP

Believing a culture of patient service is critical to both success and happiness, Ms. Parker has managed her husband’s practice in Birmingham, AL. for nearly 20 years. She looks forward to working with her son, Jack, who began his ophthalmology residency this year.