Customer Service

Borrow a page from the hospitality industry

Ophthalmology practices can learn a few customer service principles from restaurants.

BY ELIZABETH HOLLOWAY, PHR, COE

On a busy Friday night working at an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles, I was assigned to perform hostess duties. A line of people who stood at my podium were willing to wait more than an hour for a seat at one of our tables.

A gentleman approached the podium and gave his name for a 7:30 reservation. I looked at our reservation book but did not see his name listed. First, I thought we accidentally booked his reservation on the wrong night, but I could not find any record of his reservation. At that point, I had two choices. I could accommodate his reservation, or I could put him in the queue for standby seating.

In general, the restaurant was noisy and hectic for every member of our staff, and that night I saw the chefs, servers, food runners, busboys, and bartenders all working hard to keep up with the pace. I knew it would be challenging to accommodate an unexpected guest on a busy night.

We experience similar choices in our practices. On any given day, patients can arrive on the wrong day, or we may not have their appointments on file. Patients can also have unusual requests that may catch us off guard or challenge everyone in the practice.

Patients often expect the same level of customer service they experience in restaurants.

Although we perform medical services, patients expect us to display the same customer service and professionalism that they experience in other consumer industries. Patients demand even greater customer service of practices that offer cash options, such as LASIK, deluxe IOLs, dry eye treatments, and other cosmetic services. To meet patient expectations, many practices incorporate customer service ideas from the hospitality industry.

As I transitioned from the hospitality environment into a medical practice, I found the basic principles of working in a restaurant translated directly into ophthalmology. Here are a few lessons that I learned.

Determine your patient experience goals

In my restaurant, we worked hard to create great guest experiences. Our theme was simple: “Have every guest leave happy.” That was it.

Whether you work in a small or large practice, establish a goal for your patients’ experience. What do you want every patient, regardless of age and diagnosis, to feel when they leave your office? How do you want every patient to be treated?

For example, your practice may decide to treat every patient like “family.” How do you want your family treated when they go to the doctor — every patient is someone’s son, daughter, mother, father, or grandparent. Or your practice may want patients to feel like your clinic is a high-end, concierge practice. When you experience great customer service, how are you made to feel special?

Regardless of your customer service theme, patients should be first. To develop your customer service method, your team should meet to determine a customer service approach that will fit your practice’s patient population.

Establish a “steps of service” protocol

Our restaurant had “steps of service” protocols. These steps included greeting the guest, wine presentation, daily specials and details that made our customers feel like they had a special, all-encompassing dining experience.

Determine what “steps of service” work best for your practice. For instance, what special services can you provide so every patient feels the care and compassion from your team? Your practice may want to develop steps of service to welcome new patients.

For example, the check-in team may give each chart a different color folder or bright sticky note, “flagging” new patient charts. Electronic charts may have a code inserted in the appointment line. Then, after identifying the new patient, the staff member uses a unique greeting on their first visit. They could say, “I see this is your first time with us, Mr. Smith. Welcome to the practice! Dr. Johnson is going to take great care of you.”

Remain flexible

In hospitality, flexibility is one of the most important areas of customer service. At my restaurant, if we saw a way to improve the guest experience, we were encouraged to do it, often without asking for a manager’s approval.

In your practice, if a patient is in a wheelchair and her transport made her late, you should have the flexibility to add her back into the schedule. If a patient is unhappy with the TV channel in the waiting room, you could help him change it. If patients become upset due to waiting, can you address their concerns before they approach you?

When considering opportunities to add value to the patient experience, ask yourself:

• Is this the right thing for the patient?

• Is this the right thing for the practice?

• Does the request comply with payer and compliance regulations?

• Will this increase the patient’s faith in our office and physicians?

Take care of people

On that night many years ago, I looked at our guest and said, “Sir, I am so sorry. I cannot find your name on our reservation list. Please let me make this right. Let me put your name down now, and I will have a table ready in about 10 minutes. Is that okay?” When he left that evening, he stopped and thanked me for making his family’s dinner so special.

In my practice, patients frequently told me how well our doctors and staff treated them. These experiences, in both hospitality and medicine, formed my single most important principle of great customer service: Take care of people. OP

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