A Nationwide Study Conducted by Catalyst Healthcare Research Finds Innovative Ways for Physician Practices to Improve the Patient Experience

Online, July 31, 2012 (Newswire.com) - A national study, What's Reasonable? Patient and Clinician Perspectives in Provision of Service, finds new ways for improving the patient experience in the doctor's office.

"While many practices are struggling to meet basic patient expectations, some are doing very well and want to go further in providing an exemplary patient experience," says Dan Prince, President of Catalyst Healthcare Research. "Ten of the ideas we tested in this study were in that spirit. We feel that innovators in healthcare will ultimately implement one or more of these ideas as a way of building stronger patient loyalty and differentiated brands."

10 DOs & DON'Ts for Improving the Patient Experience in a Doctor's Office

DO...
(% of respondents who said that this behavior would make their patient experience better)
•...hand a patient a printed summary of their visit as they leave the office, including the diagnosis and recommended plan of action (88%)
•...talk to a patient about changing their behavior rather than immediately prescribing a drug for their situation (86%)
•...provide a patient with a reliable estimate of their charges for a specific surgical procedure that they need (82%)
•...offer an app that allows a patient to log in securely to see their test results, send private messages to the doctor, etc. (66%)
•...send a patient a text message about 30 minutes before their scheduled appointment to tell them if the doctor is running on schedule (64%)
•...use a mobile device (smart phone or tablet) to look up information about a drug before telling a patient about it (60%)
•...offer free WiFi so that a patient can connect to the Internet while they are waiting to see the doctor (35%)

DON'T...
(% of respondents who said that this behavior would make their patient experience worse)
•...spend most of your time typing on a computer, not making eye contact with a patient (84%)
•...schedule a patient to see their doctor but then have a nurse practitioner visit with them (67%)
•...avoid confronting or encouraging a patient to change their personal behaviors that are affecting their health (like smoking or obesity) (59%)

Baby Boomers were selected as the focus of this study because they represent a large and vocal segment of society. In addition, they are becoming heavy users of healthcare as they age, with 10,000 Baby Boomers becoming eligible for Medicare every day. "If we take this population's perspective seriously, doctors and practice staff have the opportunity to change their behaviors such that today's patient experience will be more in line with today's patient expectations," Prince adds.

Read the full article: http://www.catalysthealthcareresearch.com/whatsreasonable-publicstudy/innovative-ways-to-improve-the-patient-experience.

ABOUT THE STUDY - The study was conducted via an online survey of 400 Baby Boomer patients (born 1945-1960) living in the U.S. during the month of March 2012. To qualify, respondents had to have seen a doctor within the previous two years. The margin of error for the overall results is estimated at +/-5%.

ABOUT CATALYST HEALTHCARE RESEARCH - Catalyst Healthcare Research (CHR) is a full-service research firm specializing in designing and conducting ongoing programs and custom studies for health providers, health plans, and suppliers to the healthcare industry. Using a range of innovative research tools, CHR delivers key insights to healthcare organizations who want to understand, measure, and leverage "customer experience" to build stronger brands and capture more market share. CHR is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Learn more at www.CatalystHCR.com or call Robyn Burns at 615.297.6535.