As orthopedic practices across the country report declining reimbursements and rising costs, providers must seek new ways to continue building their practice now and for the future. Boosting your practice’s reputation within your community is one way you can work to secure a steadier stream of patients through your practice.
And the key to improving (or establishing) a good reputation? We think it lies in patient experience.
What Is Patient Experience?
The term “patient experience” is often unintentionally limited. Some people define it as the experience at the point of care — the treatment and outcomes. Others may think of it as the way a patient feels when they come to your practice. To really begin improving your patient experience, we believe you should examine the patient journey from start to finish instead.
Your patients’ experience with your practice starts before you ever meet them. It starts when they are referred to your practice by their PCP or someone in their life. From that moment, their impression of you and your practice is already being built. At this point, they may be having conversations about your practice or seeking information online.
From there, patient experience extends to functional pre-appointment factors, such as working with your software or staff to make an appointment, completing necessary paperwork and coming into the office. At this point, they still haven’t met you. And yet, their perception of your practice grows with each interaction.
When a patient finally does meet you, you have a significant opportunity to impact their experience. Their perception of you, including your listening skills, the efficacy of your treatment and personalization you can offer, can deeply impact their overall experience. Patients rank empathy among their top considerations in choosing a doctor, even going so far as to consider it with the same weight as training and experience. Empathy must be shown through your words, action and care.
And lastly, outcomes are an important part of the patient experience. After all, your patients want to be healed. Their belief in your ability to do so will influence their opinion and experience.
Influencing Patient Experience at the Point of Care
Orthopedic consultations and surgeries are of course the bread and butter of an orthopedic practice. But within that context, there are still many ways you can influence patient experience. One of the most effective ways is to approach care from a personalized perspective.
We hear all the time that patients want personalization. They want care that takes their holistic health into account and addresses the root causes of their pain, not just the symptoms. In the orthopedic world, root causes can include obesity, nutrition and other lifestyle factors that can exacerbate joint and musculoskeletal (MSK) pain. Because of this, we believe that orthopedic practices have a unique treatment path that is currently being underutilized across the industry: lifestyle health.
The Prescribe FIT Protocol is designed to help clinicians take ownership of the lifestyle health space in relation to joint and MSK pain. A fully virtual program, the Prescribe FIT Protocol can be prescribed by orthopedic providers to patients who could benefit from lifestyle health management assistance in the areas of weight management, nutrition and exercise. Built specifically to span the orthopedic care spectrum, the Prescribe FIT Protocol is designed to:
- Reduce patient pain without surgical intervention
- Prepare patients ahead of surgery for optimal surgical outcomes
- Help patients recover successfully post-surgery
Through simple lifestyle changes and a supportive, virtual care team, we can help your patients work toward the orthopedic goals and treatment you set. The virtual connection allows orthopedic practices to provide care that extends beyond the office and directly into patients’ homes, giving the provider greater visibility into patients’ lives which in turn enables you to craft more customized treatment plans. With the Prescribe FIT Protocol, orthopedic providers can deliver the personalized, surround-sound care patients will tell their friends about.
Translating Patient Experience Into Practice Value
The most important reason you should consider taking a closer look at your patient experience is their care and outcomes. But from a practice-building perspective, you may find additional value in the exercise. In fact, healthcare organizations that provide a better patient experience have been shown to achieve 50 percent higher margins than those who are only deemed average. This disparity can likely be attributed to patient retention and referrals.
Creating Value Through Patient Referrals
Word of mouth continues to play a massive role in patient choice. Conversations with friends, family or colleagues tend to stick with people — for better or for worse. No one wants a patient to walk away having had a less than ideal experience, especially if they’re going to relay that within their social sphere. Instead, strive to be the practice that your patients simply rave about.
This also extends to online reviews. While we know that many patients choose a provider based on referrals from friends or their PCPs, there is still a large component of online research that occurs. Good reviews can help reinforce to them that they’ve made the right decision, while bad ones may start their patient experience off on a sour note or turn them away from your practice altogether.
Creating Value Through Ancillary Services
Providing ancillary services such as the Prescribe FIT Protocol can generate revenue in addition to a reputational bump. Prescribe FIT’s services are reimbursable and covered by most major insurance providers. This means that your practice can open a new revenue stream while providing even more care opportunities to your patients. Your patients will benefit from the more customizable care options, potentially resulting in higher patient satisfaction overall. In the end, you and your patients both win.
Invest in Your Reputation
Sometimes the answer starts with ourselves, and with reputation that’s certainly the case. At this pivotal time in healthcare, where patients have more choice than ever before, your approach to patient experience could be one of the differentiators that helps you build and maintain a stable practice.
Investing in your patient experience doesn’t have to be costly or time consuming. Prescribe FIT works with practices to quickly and seamlessly integrate our virtual lifestyle health program so you can start prescribing it immediately.
Get in touch today to learn more about integrating the Prescribe FIT Protocol into your practice.
Published on October 15, 2024
