Health systems can most effectively strengthen their organization’s patient experience by addressing patient access across multiple points of entry. An elevated patient experience leads to increased patient conversion and retention, as well as a fully leveraged provider network based on the specific clinical expertise available within it. Standardizing referral management processes and streamlining their provider data management both go a long way in terms of enabling a positive, consistent patient experience around access to care.
Tangible key steps to take to enhance the patient experience at your health system include:
- Determining a specific initiative to focus on. The first step Houston Methodist took to transform the patient experience in the greater Houston area was to centralize their Referral Management Center (RMC), which directly supported their new Primary Care Group.
- Creating concrete goals around that initiative. The goals of the RMC initiative were to:
- Help new physicians understand their employed physician network.
- Develop awareness among the Primary Care Group providers of the clinical expertise within Houston Methodist to help address out-of-network referral activity.
- Delight physicians and patients who were frustrated by access barriers and the burdens these barriers placed on patients in navigating their own care.
- Evaluating if there are any major steps the organization needs to take to lay the groundwork for your initiative. The team at Houston Methodist realized the need to streamline their provider data management system wide in order ensure accuracy on their consumer website, as well as within the RMC.
After implementing these initiatives, health systems will be able to measure and analyze how the patient experience has improved across all access points: RMC, primary care & specialty groups, urgent care, discharge centers, and telemedicine. Additionally, they can use the insights gleaned from updated referral management analytics to inform physician recruitment and engagement strategies. These steps are key milestones in the journey of evolving and improving the process of care coordination within a health system to transform the patient experience and improve access to care.
To learn more about the steps Houston Methodist took to enhance patient experience, be sure to attend their session; Taking a System-Level Approach to Patient Access to Improve Patient Experience and Care Coordination, at SHSMD Connections 2017 on Monday, September 25 at 11:30 am ET.
Posted July 17, 2017 | By:
Lisa Griffin
System Director of Access
Houston Methodist
legriffin@houstonmethodist.org
Pam Ravare
Director of Referral Management Center and PO Staffing Operations
Houston Methodist
pravare@houstonmethodist.org