As Medicare reimbursements have become tied to patient satisfaction, hospitals and health systems have begun to re-examine how they can improve patient experience – a topic that was recently investigated by The Beryl Institute and Catalyst Healthcare Research.  In their May report, The State of Patient Experience 2013 Findings, 70% of survey respondents reported that Patient Experience/Satisfaction was one of their organization’s top three priorities for the next 3 years.  If you are one of the many organizations in the country making the effort to improve the patient experience, here are some key findings from the report along with some recommendations for staffing solutions:

• A committee approach is most widely used to address patient experience (26%)
  • 22% of respondents have a Chief Experience Officer or Patient Experience Director
  • 14% of respondents have a Chief Nursing Officer
  • Note: Physicians, nurses, and clinical staff members are often being left out of patient experience initiatives, which might be to the detriment hospitals’ HCAHPS scores
• Those with the primary responsibility for addressing patient experience spend on average 63% of their time supporting these efforts
• Top drivers of a successful patience experience initiative:
  • 62%: Strong, visible, support from “the top”
  • 55%: Having clinical managers who visibly support patient experience efforts
  • 44%: Formalized process review & improvement focused on patient experience
• Top roadblocks:
  • 48%: Leaders appointed to drive patient experience pulled in too many directions
  • 46%: Other organizational priorities reduce emphasis on patient experience
  • 42%: General cultural resistance to doing things differently

So what are the most important things to take away from these findings?   Let’s start with the simple fact that patient experience is or should be a major initiative for healthcare providers.   Furthermore, from the results above, it is clear that patient experience committees are crucial to implementing any real changes.  Remember, the larger the team, the more responsibilities that can be divided and shared, and the more that can be accomplished.

The next question you need to ask yourself is: Do you have the right staff on board to sufficiently manage and advise the process?  When answering this question, consider whether or not your organization has enough bandwidth, has the right voices, and these voices have enough time in their schedules.  Since a top driver of successful patient experience initiatives includes strong support from “the top,” you want to make sure you’re hiring, promoting, and/or appointing well-respected, proven leaders as the faces of your formal patient experience program.

To maximize the success of your patient experience program, we suggest staffing your committee with department representatives who have direct contact with patients such as nurses, physicians, etc.  Although having clinical managers who visibly support patient experience efforts is a top driver of success, only 3% of respondents felt it was important for the person in charge of patient experience to be a physician, nurse, or clinical staff member, so it appears there is some disconnect between perception and reality.  The fact of the matter is, by leaving department representatives, who often have their finger on the pulse of the patient experience more than anyone else, off of patient experience committees, many hospitals are doing themselves a disservice and excluding too many important voices.

If you are a large organization, chances are, you have an extensive number of employees who are divided into many units.  Different departments have their own unique culture and way of doing things and department representatives may have some great insight to offer on how hospital-wide patient experience initiatives can be adapted to their department’s needs.   A department representative can help address the issue of cultural resistance by attending committee meetings and acting as a liaison between their department and the committee.  You can think of committee meetings with department reps. as a roundtable or an open forum where everyone can communicate interdepartmentally – concerns can be expressed, feedback can be shared, and questions can be asked. To successfully implement a formal patient experience program, every employee who works both directly and indirectly with patients will need to be kept in the loop about recent developments on how they can improve patient experience.   If employees have the opportunity to learn about new programs from someone they work closely with, and feel that their voices are being heard by upper management, they may be more open to change.

A good patient experience program focuses on establishing protocols for care coordination and communication with caregivers and staff responsiveness.   To be successful at enhancing the patient experience, medical facilities must first employ these concepts of communication and staff responsiveness to build a level of trust and collaboration throughout the organization.  Once your staff can understand the value in the patient experience and see how their actions can directly impact a patient’s hospital visit, you will see your HCAHPS scores rise.  New initiatives may come from the top, but leadership can be found at all levels of an organization.  Letting these leaders engage in the decision making process will allow you to implement a patient experience program both effectively and efficiently.