To ensure that your service delivers exemplary care, it is important to evaluate your services from several perspectives. First, the practice must establish a standard of care, which is a written plan or philosophy regarding the practice's approach to the medical care that is delivered. Secondly, the practice should map your customer experience to evaluate the quality of customer care that is delivered in the process of providing medical care to the patient.
It is usually helpful to engage someone who is unfamiliar with your practice to perform an objective mapping of your customer experience. Start the mapping process at all of the points of contact that a customer can begin from such as a phone call, an email, a website visit, or any other method that the client contact may be initiated. Evaluate how easy it is for the client to get what they want. What is the quality of the website and the information that is presented? If you find roadblocks or impediments that could frustrate a client, then make special note of those for future fixes. Establish a written account of your experience as you navigate your way through the service offering. What is the customer experience on the phone? How is the customer received when they arrive at the practice? How well is the practice expectation communicated? How well are questions answered? Did the technician or doctor communicate clearly regarding the patient concerns and their plan moving forward? Were fees explained clearly? Was the appointment on time? Were post-treatment instructions communicated clearly both verbally and in writing? How was the follow-up? All aspects of the customer experience should be evaluated and the process should be documented in writing so that it can be used as a teaching tool to establish appropriate customer flow for your practice.
This same process should be completed for the patient experience, too. Remember, we must manage both a customer experience and a patient experience, and they can be very distinct and different, yet equally important.
