4 Ways Patient Feedback Can Help Improve Your Healthcare Practice

Feedback is perhaps the only foolproof mechanism to become patient-centric and truly efficient.

Patient feedback remains an essential cornerstone of a profitable practice. It is a vital ingredient for understanding patient perceptions, which in turn facilitates the healthcare providers in improving the overall quality of care as well as patient satisfaction. It further assists in new patient acquisition and old patient retention. Once each of these elements starts working in a virtuous cycle, healthcare providers can reap the benefits of increased revenue and growth.

Here are four ways in which patient feedback can typically facilitate in improving your overall EHR Small Practice:

Feedback Helps Understand Patient Perceptions

Feedback is a strategic mechanism to understand patients’ needs, requirements, and perceptions. Having a clear picture of patient expectations is perhaps the most glaring reason why practices should seek feedback. For instance, your patients might want to enjoy the comfort of scheduling their appointment online, or they might find your billing system a little confusing, or they might feel your waiting room is drab. In all of these cases, seeking their feedback will help you streamline your work processes to deliver an above-and-beyond experience. Eventually, this will lead to improved patient engagement and satisfaction levels, resulting in patient retention.

Feedback Helps Improve Online Reputation

As healthcare providers are increasingly embracing an online presence, they are also finding ways to boost their online reputation. Patient feedback is one useful tool to help enhance their online reputation. Positive feedback on the provider’s social media will typically play an essential role in attracting new patients. On the contrary, negative feedback will trigger a negative online reputation, which will eventually deter patients from entrusting your practice with their health.

According to a survey, 85 percent of the consumers trust online reviews as much as they rely on personal recommendations. This means that positive social media reviews and testimonials are crucial to the success of your practice. Hence, it is advised that you ask your patients for reviews through automated feedback surveys and by encouraging them to post positive reviews online on your social media platforms.

Feedback Helps Offer Better Care

Patient feedback greatly assists the CureMD healthcare provider in delivering superior quality care that not only meets but outperforms patient expectations. This is incredibly helpful because providers typically have a short window to connect and catch up with the patient’s needs. Feedback then does the magic of assessing how satisfied your patients are with the quality of care you deliver. Did you provide the necessary care? Did you offer the right advice and counsel adequately? Are your patients satisfied, or do they believe you rushed care? Feedback to all these questions will essentially help you provide better care to your patients.

Feedback Creates a Culture of Open Communication

As the saying goes, “The only thing constant is change”. That’s a pretty appropriate aphorism if today’s healthcare landscape. Since the patient’s needs and preferences are continually changing, the providers need to keep abreast of retaining their patients. Seeking timely feedback allows them to build a culture of open communication at all levels and pave the path for continuous improvements in the work processes. The result is a better quality of care and higher patient satisfaction levels. Openly sharing and analyzing feedback will help you reflect on your performance and engage in constructive dialogues with your team and patients to improve the care delivery.

Patients are the customers of your medical practice. To keep them engaged, happy, and satisfied, you must necessarily solicit feedback from them on your performance to help improve your business. Feedback, then, is perhaps the only foolproof mechanism to become patient-centric and truly efficient.