Customer Service

Imagining Personal Patient Care

Customer service shouldn’t require rule changes, just the right attitude.

By Elizabeth Holloway

With all the new rules implemented (by government regulation, insurance entities, and within the practice), the trap is that practices will become so “rule” oriented that we forget the reason why we come to work every day—the patient. Patients seek a physician because they have a problem: they cannot see, they are in pain, or their quality-of-life is diminishing. When patients visit, they participate in unpleasant exams. Most patients have problems with dilation, imaging and visual fields tests. They do not like the amount time it typically takes to complete an eye exam.

Sometimes, when trying to follow all the rules, staff forget they are in a customer service business as much as a healing business. Instead of creating new “rules” for customer service, what would happen if ophthalmic professionals personally focused on the following guidelines?

Personal Responsibility

▪ What would happen if staff members did not wait for other team members to greet patients, but instead took the initiative?

▪ What if everyone felt a personal responsibility to providing kind, excellent, and efficient care?

▪ What if staff members read this article and assumed it was for them specifically, instead of assuming this article was written for other members of their team?

What would happen if you took the initiative?

Personal Achievement

▪ How different would the clinic be if every staff member made it his or her goal to make every patient feel welcome in the practice that day?

▪ How does each staff member help the clinic set itself apart from other physicians that the patients also frequent?

Personal Connection

▪ How would patients’ experiences change if staff found a way to relate to them, particularly when patients are not feeling well?

▪ How much more cooperative would patients be if they felt staff members truly understood their concerns?

Personal Problem-Solving

▪ How would patients’ experiences change if staff listened to their concerns and helped them identify solutions and options which fit them personally?

▪ What would happen if staff could help patients cut through some of the rules and regulations so that patients feel they have an advocate in healthcare?

Yes, ophthalmic professionals face unique challenges in which they must understand and navigate compliance, but also provide competent care. The only way to succeed at both is to make certain patients come first. Ophthalmic professionals can make a difference in their clinics and in their patients’ lives by remembering the patients are the most important customers they have. OP

Ms. Holloway is a senior consultant with BSM Consulting in Clearwater, Fla. Her current certifications include Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and Certified Patient Service Specialist (CPSS).